setting up my new build, but have a few questions and concerns

[obliviousmike]

whats up guys, im not new to computers but ive never actually built one of my own, and being out of the computer world for about a year now im seeing a bunch of things im not used to(SLI, Physx, and 500s from nvidia). ive spent the better part of the last few months looking at parts and researching as many options as possible. this is what ive got so far, still holding a few doubts and questions

case: antec 193 (huge and at home)
power supply: antec 850w (compatible with my case and sli compatable)
monitors: (asus 2x23 and 1x27 led backlit 1080p)

processor: amd phenom II x6 1100t BE
cooler: corsair h60 water cooler

motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD80

ram: corsair vengeance 4x4gb ddr3 1600 (not too informed about memory but this should be good)
cooler: corsair CMXAF2 fan and heatsink

hdd: seagate baracuda 2tb 7200rpm sata3 (hate wd, and seagate has been good to me so far, probably end up with at least 5 of these)

ssd: corsair force 2 series 3 60gb (im using this just for my boot, considering changing it to a 128gb)

videocards: MSI gtx570 twin frozr III PE/OC (main portion of my questions)

left out a few bells and whistles that i already ordered but shouldnt affect the internals of this build

ok i want to apologize in advance for any newb questions. ive got a pretty extensive budget for this build but i have a few concerns about the selection of video cards now adays. ive litterally changed my list in newegg about 20 times over the past month doing research trying to figure out how i should set up my sli and physx. ive heard of people using a card to dedicate memory to physx, does that mean that they have 3 hards setup? 2 for SLI and 1 for physx, and if thats the case would the motherboard ive selected be able to do thati dont really want to pay $1000 for two cards that im using to run sli and im confused by specs on a few of them.

msi gtx 570 TFIII PE/OC 770mhz core clock, 1540mhz shader clock, 480 processor cores, memory clock 4000mhz, memory size 1280mb, 320 bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127582

msi gtx 480 TFIII Lightning 750mhz core clock, 1500mhz shader clock, 480 processor cores, memory clock 4000mhz, memory size 1536, and its 384 bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127532

it just seems that this 480 is matching a higher end 570, and i see specs of people overclocking them higher than alot of the 580s specs 2000mb memory, and 950mhz core clock. it has the same processor cores, and memory clock. but it has more memory size and a higher bit. what makes the 500 series so much better? again im new to this area, and couldnt find any strait answers

[Perineum]

I'm not sure if you are but you can't compare CPUs and GPUs by the MHZ of the cores. Some cores can do 2x the work at the same MHZ.

IE: Pentium 3 was faster than the Pentium 4 clock for clock..... they were just able to push the P4 to much higher speeds than the P3 core.

Also, your statement of " im going for reliabillity over speed " could be misconstrued to sounding like an AMD fanboy.

Reliability of cpu has never been an issue that I've seen. Even heavily OC'd setups (either AMD or Intel) work just fine. I've never seen a CPU die.

[obliviousmike]

so the 570 should definately handle a heavier work load than the 480. just wanted to make sure i was getting the most out of my money. and i didnt mean to sound like a fanboy for amd, after looking back at what i posted it was a fanboy statement. ive used both amd and intel and like you ive never seen one die, but just from my experience with the two ive always seen higher temps on my intel processors. not that i think im going to run into any major cooling issues. would just prefer to keep anbient temperature minimized.

[_dangtx_]

i wouldnt necessarily get the 570. not that great bang per buck,especially for non reference designs, which is what you should
get if you were to get one.

why dont you build a 2500k for gaming or 2600k for heavier workloads instead,though?

[obliviousmike]

i had a 2500k in a computer i sold not too long ago and it idled around 60c, plus im interested to see the new bulldozer.