will the quad core sandy bridge e have any real advantages over the 2600k?

The only true benefit you'll see in gaming is the fact that Sandy Bridge-E has a lot more PCI-E lanes. The first 2 PCI-E x16 slots will run at x16, x16. Which would give your dual card setup a measly 2%-4% performance increase.

The Quad-Channel memory might help with the encoding.

All the benefits are really tied to the features and not the processor's performance. The x79 setup has 40 PCI-E lanes compared to the 1155 having 16 PCI-E lanes. Next the x79 setup can handle 50Gb/s of memory bandwidth compared to 1155 handling around 21Gb/s.

Like the x58 motherboards at their release... I would assume the cheapest x79 motherboard will cost at least $300. On top of that you will probably have to spend at least $100 on the memory. Right there that's an extra $150 over a Core i7-2600k setup. If it was me, I would wait and just buy into the X79 platform.

the problem is you're comparing the beneficial properties of the two processors. The actual beneficial properties are in basic terms a factor of processor what makes use of them is the form the processor has. the stronger shape and inclusion of on chip GPU makes the 2600k better in terms of overall performance according to cent. because of new shape the sandy bridge can actual surpass the 4 Ghz barrier without using high priced overclocking kit. you're precise that the 990x has extra actual uncooked potential than the 2600k however the version is amazingly small and does not rely except your working a server

If you have Core 2 Duo it will improve your speed and FPS by hundreds or even thousands %. And the EVGA LGA2011 board has 5 x16 PCI-E 3.0 slots, 10 USB 3.0 slots etc. so you'll get the most out of your GPUs.

Not in games.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-...