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Hi, thanks for any help here.

I'm looking at:
ASUS Maximus V Formula
- vs. -
ASUS Maximus V Extreme
I have 3 x XFX 7970 3MB Black Edition factory OC'ed cards that I want to use to drive a triple monitor setup in Eyefinity (3 x 2560x1440 LCDs for a huge 7680x1440 total resolution).

I now need an appropriate motherboard. I'd like to use an i7 3770k in this rig, and am considering the above motherboards (partly because I like the brand and looks).
First, is one the obvious choice here? The Extreme says it supports a PCIe configuration of 8x16x8 for trifire. It looks like the Formula will only do 8x4x4. Will this throughput difference actually matter or is this academic?
The Formula supplies upgraded onboard audio. I assume I'd have to plug a discrete audio card into the Extreme if I wanted anything special. I'm not sure I care about this point...this won't be hooked into any really serious audio equipment so far as I'm currently thinking.
It is very likely this system will be just aircooled for some time. The Formula also supplies some already-integrated watercooling points. The Extreme leaves that option all to you.
The Extreme obviously gives the option of quad-fire as an upgrade if I spot a deal on another card at some point, but would 4 cards mean no option for a discrete soundcard (not sure I care, just trying to understand)?
I currently have a Zalman Z11 Plus HF1 case. I know the Formula will fit. I don't know if the extra 0.6" of the Extreme will. I really love the case, but it won't break my heart if I have to replace it with something bigger (wish they may a full tower version of the Z11).

Thoughts? Is this an easy choice between the two if I'm not overly concerned with the cost difference? The Extreme definitely includes some features I'll never use (VGA hotwire?!) but it's certainly a nice board, and I will very likely get around to watercooling and overclocking when I get sick of the fan noise and want to tinker and squeeze more performance out of the GPU's (and the CPU, which should be easily accomplished on the ASUS boards).
Thanks for any help.
I'm looking at:
ASUS Maximus V Formula
- vs. -
ASUS Maximus V Extreme
I have 3 x XFX 7970 3MB Black Edition factory OC'ed cards that I want to use to drive a triple monitor setup in Eyefinity (3 x 2560x1440 LCDs for a huge 7680x1440 total resolution).
I now need an appropriate motherboard. I'd like to use an i7 3770k in this rig, and am considering the above motherboards (partly because I like the brand and looks).
First, is one the obvious choice here? The Extreme says it supports a PCIe configuration of 8x16x8 for trifire. It looks like the Formula will only do 8x4x4. Will this throughput difference actually matter or is this academic?
The Formula supplies upgraded onboard audio. I assume I'd have to plug a discrete audio card into the Extreme if I wanted anything special. I'm not sure I care about this point...this won't be hooked into any really serious audio equipment so far as I'm currently thinking.
It is very likely this system will be just aircooled for some time. The Formula also supplies some already-integrated watercooling points. The Extreme leaves that option all to you.
The Extreme obviously gives the option of quad-fire as an upgrade if I spot a deal on another card at some point, but would 4 cards mean no option for a discrete soundcard (not sure I care, just trying to understand)?
I currently have a Zalman Z11 Plus HF1 case. I know the Formula will fit. I don't know if the extra 0.6" of the Extreme will. I really love the case, but it won't break my heart if I have to replace it with something bigger (wish they may a full tower version of the Z11).
Thoughts? Is this an easy choice between the two if I'm not overly concerned with the cost difference? The Extreme definitely includes some features I'll never use (VGA hotwire?!) but it's certainly a nice board, and I will very likely get around to watercooling and overclocking when I get sick of the fan noise and want to tinker and squeeze more performance out of the GPU's (and the CPU, which should be easily accomplished on the ASUS boards).
Thanks for any help.