Hey guys! I've been watching your BF3 stream just about non-stop for the past 3 days. I'm excited about your BF3 key giveaway, and really like the idea of a competitive gaming community. I've found that finding a consistent group of like-minded gamers has been difficult for me to come by. I'm interested in connecting with like-minded gamers in order to enhance my gaming experience. I'll leave the introductions for another time, so I'll get on to the threads topic…

I'm looking to re-build/overhaul my current PC as it is about 3.5 years out-dated. I currently have an Intel 3.0 dual-core build w/ a 9600GT so I'm looking to replace just about everything except my optical drives.

I'm more than likely looking to build immediately after Christmas as to catch some sales. Here's what I have put together if I were to build today. Afterwards I have a few questions concerning this build and the cost – efficiency – longevity of it.[u:18jyukv6][b:18jyukv6]CPU:[/b:18jyukv6][/u:18jyukv6] AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz 8MB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8150FRGUBOX [url:18jyukv6]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103960[/url:18jyukv6]
[u:18jyukv6][b:18jyukv6]Mobo:[/b:18jyukv6][/u:18jyukv6] ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS [url:18jyukv6]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736[/url:18jyukv6]
[u:18jyukv6][b:18jyukv6]Video Card:[/b:18jyukv6][/u:18jyukv6] PNY VCGGTX560XPB GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [url:18jyukv6]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133397[/url:18jyukv6]
[b:18jyukv6][u:18jyukv6] OR[/u:18jyukv6][/b:18jyukv6]
[b:18jyukv6]2X[/b:18jyukv6] SLI EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [url:18jyukv6]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625[/url:18jyukv6]

[b:18jyukv6][u:18jyukv6]RAM:[/u:18jyukv6][/b:18jyukv6] CORSAIR Vengeance 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 [url:18jyukv6]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233146[/url:18jyukv6]

I'm going to stop there because other than aftermarket cooling and a SSD that I'll purchase, I think these are the most important parts. Here we go on to my questions…

1) I know that top of the line AMD generally doesn't compare to top of the line Intel, but I'm not willing to spend $500+ on that for Intel. I don't want a fan-boy response here, but how does this chip compare to like-priced Intel chips?

2) I'm very iffy on the video card situation. I have (3) monitors that I'd like to use, but can on realistically do that if I have two cards. My real question is will I see an overall performance increase in using (2) 550's rather than (1) 560? Will the GPU memory of each card combine to essentially give me 2Gb of GPU mem? If there is a performance increase using the SLI, then being able to use my (3) monitors will be a huge bonus and a way to justify the extra $.

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My overall goal is to be able to stream efficiently while maintaining near-perfect quality. I also do a LOT of heavy video editing as well as some 3D modeling/animation.