Currently, I have a Q9550 on an Asus P5E main board running on 8GB with an ATi 5780 GPU.I am looking to replace with:i-7-2600K on an Asus Sabertooth P67 (b3) with 8 GB and EVGA GTX580. Also considering water cooling with the Hydro H70. I am also planning on a SSD for the OS and WD Black for FS. My questions are... GTX570 vs. GTX580 , and the Sabertooth vs. P8P67 deluxe? I Have read the thread How to choose a Sandy Bridge Motherboard.I was planning on reusing my CM EVO 830 but the Corsair Obsidian is tempting - I like the cable management better on this.All in all I am trying to keep it under $2,000ThanksKevin

Currently, I have a Q9550 on an Asus P5E main board running on 8GB with an ATi 5780 GPU.I am looking to replace with:i-7-2600K on an Asus Sabertooth P67 (b3) with 8 GB and EVGA GTX580. Also considering water cooling with the Hydro H70. I am also planning on a SSD for the OS and WD Black for FS. My questions are... GTX570 vs. GTX580 , and the Sabertooth vs. P8P67 deluxe? I Have read the thread How to choose a Sandy Bridge Motherboard.I was planning on reusing my CM EVO 830 but the Corsair Obsidian is tempting - I like the cable management better on this.All in all I am trying to keep it under $2,000ThanksKevin

I5 2500K since you don't need HT for FSXThe GPU won't help with performance, just higher IQ. A GTX570 is what I would go with. Even a 460 1GB 332SP will do the jobNot sure what thread you're talking about, but none of those boards are good options IMO. The sabertooth is all about the looks, but lacks power phases and the Deluxe is not any better than the PRO either. Actually, if you are going to only run a single GPU, the plain P8P67 is just fineAs for the cooler, and this is a matter of personal preference, the H70 is too expensive for what it offers IMO. A Megahalems performs just as well if not better and costs less. Those sealed water cooled loops will degrade sooner or later. Might be 5 years, maybe 20, but it will fail at some point.. Looks better in a windowed case and you have no RAM clearance issues, but personally I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot poleIf I was to go WC, it would be a proper custom WC setup