Looking to purchase a completely new rig ready for PS2.

[Praetor]

Here are some UK sites that I've been looking at to purchase a new rig from:
3XS Scan (http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=20) - I am seriously considering this (http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1395) machine as my purchase from this site, but would appreciate your honest opinions.
Overclockers UK (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/)
Dino PC (http://www.dinopc.com/)
Chillblast (http://www.chillblast.com/)
PC Specialist (http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/)

1. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
£2000 not including shipping & taxes.

2. Where do you live (Please list if possible town, state, and country)?
UK.

3. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Purely gaming.

4. What parts will you need for the computer? Please list what parts specifically.
Everything apart from peripherals.

5. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so please say what parts.
N/A

6. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
1920x1080

7. Do you have a legit OS? If so what OS and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
N/A

8. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
The best you would recommend for my budget.

9. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Yes - To it's safe maximum.

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
Planetside 2 release.

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Any help is much appreciated guys.

Thank you.

[Vancha]

I get the impression you want to buy a pre-built rig. Is self-assembly not a possibility?

[Bags]

If you're building for purely gaming I think a $500 CPU is a waste of money: http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1395

Anyway, PS2 release is still months off so I imagine you'll get told to come back in half a year or so.

[Praetor]

I get the impression you want to buy a pre-built rig. Is self-assembly not a possibility?

I wish I had the confidence and the patience to do so, because I know I’d save a fistful of cash, but I don’t.

Plus buying a new rig is something I can justify shelling out on because it will get put to good use every day.

[Praetor]

If you're building for purely gaming I think a $500 CPU is a waste of money: http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1395

Anyway, PS2 release is still months off so I imagine you'll get told to come back in half a year or so.

It's that bad is it?

I'm looking for purchase within the next 3 months.

[Vancha]

I wish I had the confidence and the patience to do so, because I know I’d save a fistful of cash, but I don’t.

Plus buying a new rig is something I can justify shelling out on because it will get put to good use every day.
I might go through those sites and try and figure out which is the least of a rip-off. Definitely don't buy the one you've planned out so far though. Get the Z77 Performance GTX and set it like so...

Case: Whichever you prefer.
Motherboard: Default
CPU: 3570k
Overclock: Can you overclock yourself? Otherwise go with extreme, I guess.
CPU Cooler: Default
Memory: Kingston Genesis
Graphics: EVGA 2GB 670 SC
Power Supply: Default
Solid State Drive: 128GB Crucial M4
System Drive: Not Required
Storage Drive: 1-2TB Western Digital Caviar Green (whichever you'd prefer)

Everything else is default, though you could probably remove the sound card and I don't know enough about monitors to recommend one by name. Make sure you choose between "System Delivery" and "System Delivery and Setup" carefully.

[Goku]

In general its a bad idea to plan that far ahead for getting a computer due to how prices change and if anything new comes out. Thats why I tend to at least say what you can expect now, but I'm not going to go crazy doing a build when its going to be changing several months from now.

Now getting down to it. You are wasting money going the 3930K CPU. Total overkill for your needs. Stick to the 3570K or 3770K. The extra two cores on the 3930K are not beneficial for gaming. Either a GTX 680 or 670 will be good for your resolution also.

[Ailos]

Agreed with Goku. Bump this up when we know PS2's release date.

Also, the rig you linked as your candidate is powerful, but a bit dated. The HT-enabled hex-core is not really worthwhile for gaming. Ivy Bridge also includes a lot of optimizations and stuff that will make a normal quad-core seem like it performs better for your every-day tasks than a hex-core Sandy Bridge. The general rule here is, if you already have Sandy Bridge, the relatively small jump in the bleeding-edge performance isn't worth the price of a whole new CPU, but if you're buying a new rig for gaming and every-day use, it's hard to justify buying anything other than an Ivy Bridge. (The only time that hex-core monster gets put to use is with specialist-designed engineering applications, video and sound editors. The rest of the time, 4 of those 6 cores pretty much sit idle, even if you're playing BF3.)

[Rbstr]

If you want to go with a prebuilt from that site I'd recommend this one
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1015 with an upgrade to GTX670 graphics
Or this one
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1430
It's basically all of our most commonly recommended parts with a little upgrade on that graphics card (680 instead of the fav. 670) and they've already overclocked it for you.

But I'd also like to parrot everyone else: If you are only buying this for PS2, wait. And building your own is an afternoon job. Super easy.

[Praetor]

Thanks for the responses guys.

What case would you choose from out of these 2?

Cooler Master HAF X
Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX

Both get a lot of love in the reviews I’ve read so far. My gut feeling is the Cooler Master because everyone raves about the decent air flow?

Thanks.

[Bags]

The HAF and 500r have almost identical airflow, and is $50 more expensive.

I love my 500R; good room, good cable management, good airflow, silent fans, looks nice. My front panel is half dead tho; one USB slot and the LED controller do not work, but the reviews are good on newegg.

http://i.imgur.com/XT3fd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7DCSX.jpg

[Rbstr]

I don't like full towers and you really don't need the bajilion fans unless you're doing lots of overclocking and/or running SLI/crossfire with a higher end card.

Besides my soapbox....I don't think you can really go wrong with either, which do you like best?

[Vancha]

If you're going to spend that much, I'd look at...

Silverstone TJ04-E (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163188)
Silverstone KL04 (Window (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163191) / No Window (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163190))
Lian Li A04 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112315) (mATX)
Lian Li PC-A55 (Silver (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112375) / Black (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112376)) (1 GPU)
Lian Li PC-9F (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112304)

Or if you want a huge case...
Bitfenix Shinobi XL (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345004)
NZXT Switch 810 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146088)
Lian Li PC-90 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112338)
Silverstone RV02 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163173)