Need some help with understanding bottlenecking and my new build.

[tethlah]

Ok, so I have always built my own computers rather than buying, but this is my first "planned" build that is going to be designed around a specific use. First of all, I do a lot of graphic design work. I'm a web developer and sys admin. But for the most part, my primary focus is going to be on multi-monitor gaming. I'm a big BF3 fan, along with MW3 and GuildWars. When I play the FPS games, I want the Eyefinity (or Nvidia if you can convince me it's better). So I guess I have a couple questions with this build. First is that I've spent a ton of time researching Nvidia vs AMD and it seems like every day I'm leaning to one or the other, Nvidia for CUDA for my Adobe work, and AMD for the great support for multi-monitor gaming. I'm wondering if I can use Eyefinity for 3 of the monitors, and watch movies and stuff on the 4th. The second question is trying to understand bottleneck. I know the concept, I get that you create a bottleneck by introducing a component that cannot perform to the abilities of the rest of the build, effectively killing your productivity. Since this is my first real build that isn't me just piecing a bunch of stuff together to surf the web, I figured I'd give it a shot here.

So here it goes, my first post so feel free to criticize lol (But hopefully constructive)

Fractal Design Define XL Case
XION 1000W Modular PS
Gigabyte GA-Z77X Mobo
Intel i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz
Mushkin DDR3 PC3 10600 8Gb x4(32Gb)
XFX DoubleD Radeon HD 7970
OCZ Vertex 128Gb 2.5 SSD (Operating system and Programs)
WD Red 1Tb 3.5 HD (x2 Raid 1 Mirrored for Data)

I'm going to be getting 3 LED monitors, not exactly sure what I'm getting yet. Probably 21-23", and that will depend on the price or deals I can find at the time I'm buying. I have a 24" HD widescreen right now, I'm going to make that my 4th monitor that will be solely for TV, Movies, TeamSpeak, Admin Console for our game servers, whatever. Although I'm not sure if either the AMD Eyefinity or the Nvidia Surround can do a 3 screen setup with an extra monitor separate from the 3 grouped monitors.

Anyway, any input would be appreciated. Anything I listed above seem like it would be limiting the rest of the build? Eventually I'll be liquid cooling this and overclocking things (little by little over time). Let me know what you think!

[moocow]

Who made the XION PSU? I can hardly find any review of their products and the only one I found was the 750W and it uses CapXon caps (same brand that was in Samsung monitor recalls). I can't really see any bottleneck here because your build is pretty good for the task unless you want to go the Xeon route.

[tethlah]

Well, I tried bringing up NCIX but for some reason I can't right now. Here is a link to Newegg where they have it listed, I noticed in the one the comments that someone complained about the 12V rails only being 20A. I'm not exactly an electrical genius, so I'm not sure how that would affect me.

Any opinions on using the 7970 vs going with an nvidia card of the equal value? I'm torn, I've been doing so much research that some days I'm all about the AMD, then other days I'm all about the Nvidia, but I've always been a bit of a radeon fan so idk.

Anyway, here is the link for the PS, along with the Model Number: AXP-1000K14XE

I know that 1k may be a bit of overkill, but i figured that would be safe considering I want to fully liquid cool the system in the future. (its not really because it absolutely needs it so much as I just want to build out a liquid cooled system because I've never done it), plus I'm sure that liquid cooled would be much better for overclocking. (Again, just want to do it because I can, not really because I need to). Also just in case I ever decided to add another card I would know I have plenty of power to cover it.

[tethlah]

Well, I tried bringing up NCIX but for some reason I can't right now. Here is a link to Newegg where they have it listed, I noticed in the one the comments that someone complained about the 12V rails only being 20A. I'm not exactly an electrical genius, so I'm not sure how that would affect me.

Any opinions on using the 7970 vs going with an nvidia card of the equal value? I'm torn, I've been doing so much research that some days I'm all about the AMD, then other days I'm all about the Nvidia, but I've always been a bit of a radeon fan so idk.

Anyway, here is the link for the PS, along with the Model Number: AXP-1000K14XE

I know that 1k may be a bit of overkill, but i figured that would be safe considering I want to fully liquid cool the system in the future. (its not really because it absolutely needs it so much as I just want to build out a liquid cooled system because I've never done it), plus I'm sure that liquid cooled would be much better for overclocking. (Again, just want to do it because I can, not really because I need to). Also just in case I ever decided to add another card I would know I have plenty of power to cover it.

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by tethlah

I'm going to be getting 3 LED monitors, not exactly sure what I'm getting yet. Probably 21-23", and that will depend on the price or deals I can find at the time I'm buying. I have a 24" HD widescreen right now, I'm going to make that my 4th monitor that will be solely for TV, Movies, TeamSpeak, Admin Console for our game servers, whatever. Although I'm not sure if either the AMD Eyefinity or the Nvidia Surround can do a 3 screen setup with an extra monitor separate from the 3 grouped monitors.

Get a better PSU.

23 inch monitors make a spread of about 5 feet of monitor, I certainly wouldn't go any bigger unless you were planning portrait mode

[Generic User #2]

couple of notes here:

By going with AMD, you get better value (especially if you buy right now) and you get better performance in multi-monitor gaming. By going with nvidia, you get much, much better Adobe CS6 performance (and CS5???) and the fourth monitor support (don't care enough to learn about this, but it is a major advertising point - not sure if there is an AMD equivalent).

Make SURE you're using Windows 7 Professional or above. Win7 Home Premium doesn't allow for > 16GB RAM.

You should actually tell us which Vertex drive you plan on getting....there's 4 different models ;)

You don't really need Red drives; they're meant for NAS units. You don't lose anything by getting them (except for money), but we've survived a mighty long time without them.

You might need an 8-pin extension cable when you do your build.

Lastly, like everyone said....get a more reputable PSU. It's arguably the most important component in your system as its the only one that can really harm the other components in there.

EDIT: oh ya....about your question: your system is pretty much as performance optimized as it can get as this point. The rest will just be software.

[tethlah]

Sorry my responses are not getting posted, but for some reason I'm having to wait on moderator approval.

I'll be using Window's 8 Ultimate for my OS.
I'll be getting the VTX4 for the SSD.
Now, the red drives were because of fault tolerance while writing the RAID data, for a desktop does that not matter as much?
I'm going to do some research for the PSU, you think that I should find another 1k or is it safe to dip down to the 850 range?

[tethlah]

I think I figured out why it gave me the moderator approval before, it's because I put a link in there. Here is the model number of the PSU if you want to take a look at what I read on it: AXP-1000K14XE

[Perineum]

Windows 8? You sure?

The only comment I can make on the Vertex 4 is that it might not have warranty soon. Unfortunately that kind of thinking will guarantee there will be no warranty so YMMV.

The red drives aren't needed. If the RAID drops you can just reset the dropped drive and it'll rebuild. I have one drive that does it once every 3 to 6 months on my RAID 5 and it takes an hour and a half to add back. Not a big deal. On a mirrored array I'd expect it to be quicker.

Looks like 850W should be fine for your build but pick up a model from XFX, Corsair, Silverstone, Antec, or Seasonic. Ultimately the PSUs I pick out from those brands are typically made from Seasonic anyway. If I was buying a new PSU for myself right now I would go with:

Seasonic Platinum 860 ATX 12V 24PIN 860W Active PFC 80PLUS Platinum Modular DC to DC Power Supply
or
Seasonic Platinum 1000 ATX 12V 24PIN 1000W Active PFC 80PLUS Platinum Modular DC to DC Power Supply

Oh, and Corsair have wonderful after market support so you can't really go wrong buying anything from them.

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by tethlah

I think I figured out why it gave me the moderator approval before, it's because I put a link in there. Here is the model number of the PSU if you want to take a look at what I read on it: AXP-1000K14XE

Can't find a direct review but....

XION Power Real 1000W

and a review of their 700W unit:

Xion PowerReal 700W Review

Get a real PSU