Pretty sure i saw some mention of crossfired 6970's, thats a pretty high end setup on video cards
When i tested a high end i5, i found that there were some things where an i7 was significantly faster, despite the fact that hes just wanting BF3, id imagine he should future proof a bit and just generally for intensive tasks since hes spending 2 grand on it
But thats my 2 cents on it
Obviously i7 is faster than i5, on stock settings.
But he's just gonna use it for gaming according to his post.