Hey guys which would you choose?

[RedRory]

Hey all, I'm an old player looking to get back in to PS.
What do you make of these?
Which should I choose?

This:
http://yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4372685

Or this:
http://yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4370509

Or this:
http://yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4372790

If you know of any other systems/websites you think are better, I am open to all suggestions.
Any help appreciated.

[Death2All]

Oh dear, buying a PC specifically for Planetside...

Well you didn't say just for Planetside, but I assume it's mostly what it's for...

I'd go with the one you first linked, only because it was the cheapest, but if you want some advice on buying a PC just for PS then I'll give you some.

PS is more of a CPU/RAM dependent game more than anything. A graphic card won't really make much a difference in performance at all.

I had a 8800 GTX that burnt out on me (after 2 years of use might I add). I decided to upgrade from my previous card and go with a 280 GTX card. I had next to no increase in performance.

8800's, or anything in that series is probably the best card to go for with PS. PS doesn't really take advantage of any newer cards. Not to my knowledge at least.

As for CPU: PS doesn't take advantage of quad core, so avoid that if it saves you money. Most new games don't even take advantage of it yet so I kind of don't see the point at all. I'm really not up to date with all this i7, i5 crap. I don't think it will make a huge difference with PS in mind. For new games, I'm sure the higher end i7's make a difference but not with PS. Go for something semi decent but nothing to expensive. Also, stay away from AMD, it's been known to fuck with PS. Same goes with ATI cards, graphic problems and performance issues are known to stir up with PS.

RAM? Around 2GBs will do. Pro tip: If you get more, make sure your OS actually takes advantage of all of your RAM. Don't be an idiot like myself and get 4GBs of RAM and a 32bit OS that only takes advantage of about 2.5 of that. Of course you can always change your OS, but still.

As for your OS...You'll get optimal performance from XP, as that's the last OS that was actually compatible with it. While it is compatible with the newer OS's now, XP is still the best performance-wise. You could 7 and dual boot it with XP if your tech savvy enough. It really isn't that hard.

Oh yeah, and buy a shotgun and kill yourself because you just bought a computer for a piece of shit 8 year old game with absolutely no developer support and that is also apart of a dying company and failed genre.

[BorisBlade]

First off, go with a P67 board and the sandybridge processors, dont get those overpriced outdated x58's and the i7 950's etc. Games are gettin smart with usin the multiple cores, but most dont use more than 2 or 4 (and thats only the very new stuff that uses the multiple cores). If you want cheap go for the 2500 (K version if you plan to overclock), but i personally like the 2600k for its performance you'll need down the road. Its not just a speed difference between the 2500 and 2600 or it wouldnt reallly matter which ya got.

Careful on the overclocking (i wouldnt get that 4.8ghz pc). I have mine overclocked to 3.9 and I'd be careful about goin too much past 4ghz unless you replace pc's regularly. Yes you can do it and do it well but its a risk thats not really worth it, especially since games nowadays are much more graphics card dependant than CPU. I can get games to max out my overclocked gtx 580 if i really want, but the cpu still has tons of breathing room and games will just get more and more dependant on graphics cards and less so on CPU's esp if you have an Nvidia card with physX.

Make sure you get atleast 6gb ram for future games. Its too cheap to not get atleast that.

Your main focus should be a graphics card. Honestly a gtx 570 is a great deal and has tons of power. Get a slightly overclocked quality brand version with the best cooling you can find and you should be set.

Obviously you dont want this for just PS1 since it will run on anything just about. (it runs at 600+ FPS on my new machine) PS2 should be your goal so keep it in mind when pickin out parts. Once PS2 beta starts PS1 will pretty much die anyway.

[RedRory]

Thanks for the help.

The system is not just going to be for PS it has to be future proof to (ps next, whatever else comes out etc) hoping it will last me at least 3-4 years. I just want a system that I am going to get the maximum performance possible on PS with as well as future games. I just don't know what PS is like with the newer components.

Any idea how the ATI cards are like with PS?

[Rbstr]

#1 Build it your-fucking-self.
It's easy and FAR cheaper most of the time.
#2...don't build a new computer for old planetside...that's just dumb. Get something cheap that was top of the line 5 years ago. and windows XP.

I really mean that #2...if you're looking for a planetside playing computer, there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to spend any significant sum. That game is OLD. And not very compatible with win7 and modern hardware(though your mileage may vary).

If you just want a new rig for modern games...
My rule: Get the stuff at the top of the midrange. Stay away from bargain basement parts and top of the line junk. You're either obsolete in a day or paying 100% more for 1% more. (for CPUs and graphics cards the $200-250 price point is usually the best band for the buck, IMO)

My "with some age" lesson:
Overclocking is hardly worth anything in terms of real performance. A couple frames means shit and a voided warranty. And noise...screw loud fans.

If I was putting a new system together: Sandy bridge i5, 4 or 8gb of ram (use only two slots in both cases, to leave room for an upgrade), GTX 570 or the ATI equivalent (I use CUDA stuff...the ATI cards are often better at gaming performance). I like Asus motherboards..no particular reason but they've never really failed me.

[SgtMAD]

building a computer is pretty easy these days,you can read the MoBo instructions and just proceed according to the directions and you will be fine.

I just built my own from the ground up for the first time,the only real experience i had before that was swapping out vid cards and adding hard drives and I had zero problems,I didn't save any money because i went off the deep end.

I use NewEgg amd Frv's for all my parts(I live in Vegas so there is a Fry's here in town,great store)

I went with the l7-960 but most of these younger guys love the 2500/2600's for overclocking.

I bought the Asus Rampage III extreme MoBO for all the bells and whistles on the MoBo

NZXT Phantom case,a shit load of fans and the case is the size of a friggin piece of furniture.

Asus GTX-570,I have to buy one more card so i can SLI them

Corsair H-70 liquid cooling

Corsair HX-1000 1000 watt power supply,power supplies run best at 80% power demand so figure that correctly

Corsair Dominator 12 gb 1600 DDR3 (3x4gb)

Corsair H60 SSD for a boot disk

WD Black Caviar 1 TB sata3 HD

Creative XB x-Fi

AverMedia CO27 HD Capture device

Vizio 32" LED TV for a monitor

I am 50 years old without a wife to bitch at me about whether I need to buy all that shit,if i was married it would have resulted in some friggin argument.

[BorisBlade]

And you dont have to build it yourself. Just dont buy a name brand PC (dell/alienware/etc) as you just pay out the nose for the name and get alot of fluff that just inflates the price but doesnt do much or anything at all for performance. I like cyberpowerpc.com, but there are many like em, shop around and ask your friends what they use.

Sites like that one dont charge much at all for building a pc, and thats because building em can be done by a monkey and in no time flat, you plug in the parts and attatch the wires, its fast and easy. No need to do it yourself, you dont really save anything (unless you just enjoy doin it). Seriously, go get all the parts individually, add in shipping, then add it all up and you'll see you dont save much over a site like i mentioned. I stopped building my own once i realized the savings were largely a myth. Plus the free warranty and other bonuses (great deals on accessories that more than made up for any "savings" of building my own) , kinda made it a no brainer.

I have even seen sites that sell parts will often also assemble it all for like 50-100 bux if you want.

The name brand PC's like Dell will often be bloated and not really "gamer" pc's with not very durable parts, too much integrated junk and so many bottle necks that your actual performance isnt that good. And ones like alienware are super overpriced, tons of flash, but little substance for the price. I have a friend who has one he got right after i got mine, cost him twice as much as mine, and its significantly less powerful than mine. I'd even say mine will be more durable than his with the parts i got.

As far as ATI cards go, they are more budget oriented. I used to love ATI (AMD now), but their latest stuff just hits performance ceilings very early on. The lack of physX also puts more work onto your CPU. In this current generation, go with Nvidia. Your bang for the buck is best with them. And as i and others have said, the 570 is a very solid choice with great performance for the money.

[Traak]

Asus G73 laptop. The one for sale on Newegg.com that has the dual 500GB hybrid drives. Should keep you going for about five years.

[RedRory]

Thank you for all the suggestions I ended up getting a core i7 which is clocked at 4.8 8 gig of ram a gtx 570 and an ssd.

[SgtMAD]

make sure you spend good money on a cooler for the I7,its going to run hot turned up like that

[Baneblade]

If you are going to overclock, you might as well put the entire get up into mineral oil. It will run a lot better than simply adding thirty fans.

I always forget you live in Sin City too MAD.

[Rbstr]

I wouldn't go to turning your case into a tank of mineral oil. It doesn't really lower operating temps.
The oil will end up roughly homogenous temperature and it won't dissipate heat to the air as well as conventional cooling. Reason being, you've just eliminated lots of heat transfer surface area (all those fins on the heat sinks, the PCBs, both sides of your case) and all the forced convection venting you used to have.
Now all you've got is the natural convection around the box. Which is very, very, low. (You also have the mineral oil's heat capacity, which is very high, but once you system reaches a steady temperature that matters no longer, and it will take AGES to cool back down)
Think about how long it takes for nearly boiling water to cool to room temp when it's sitting in a lidded container.

If you do this LEAVE FANS IN THE OIL TOO, the natural convection setup by the temperature/density gradients around components will probably not be enough to properly circulate the oil to prevent serious hot spots. If you want it to be more effective than air cooling, you'll need to set up a pump and radiator system with a fan blowing over it.

All in all it's a dumb option. Water cooling is going to be much more effective...hell you could just dump mineral oil in that, instead of water, as long as you used the proper tubing. (I wouldn't, oil is more viscous, thus flows slower and has worse heat transfer properties...typically).

Now...filling a water cooling system with mercury...that'd be cool and potentially very effective. You'd have to be careful with the what metals you've got, so they don't dissolve, and to have high quality seals and tubing so you don't poison yourself.

Also...google "mercury cooling" and hit the overclocking link for some lolz about people's understanding of mercury's risks and properties.