Planetside Rig Suggestions

[Sentrosi]

Greetings one and all. Rbstr tasked me with putting up computer rig suggestions for those looking to gain the ultimate Planetside experience. I split up the suggestions based upon a budget scheme.

The low end will be for around $500 and will be for those working on a tight budget and want the best bang for the buck.

Middle end will be a budget of $1000. If you are looking for your first system, here is a nice place to start.

High end has a budget of around $1500. This is for the hardcore gamer who has either money from mom and dad or does not care how burned their credit card will get (or their credit rating!).

Systems over $1500? I personally do not think a customized PC should ever run more than this. With Alienware and FalconNorthwest you are paying for the name. Granted both of those companies do put out a really nice system, but for almost 3/4ths of their ultimate rigs you can have one that works just as well.

You may find that the suggestions I put up here do not meet with what you think is better. That is ok. These are suggestions, mostly for those people who come into the forum wondering what to upgrade or if they need to ditch their old PC for a new one. Ok, enough blabbering. Here are the recommendations;

None of these systems includes shipping and handling. All prices in American dollars.

Low end system (around $500)
CPU: AMD XP 2800+ ($81) Link
CPU Fan/Heatsink: ThermalTake Volcano 9 ($12) Link
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-X ($59) Link
RAM: 1 GB (512 x 2) Dual channel DDR PC2700 ($160) Link
Hard Drive: Hitachi 80Gb SATA ($60) Link
Video Card: Radeon 9600XT ($131) Link
Optical Drive: LG Combo 52x32x52x and 16x DVD ($35)Link
Total = $538

Middle end system (around $1000)
CPU: AMD64 3200+ ($230) Link
CPU Fan/Heatsink: Zalman CNPS7000-CU ($39) Link
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum ($133) Link
RAM: PDP 1Gb (512 x 2) Dual Channel DDR PC3200 ($195) Link
Hard Drive: Hitachi 160GB SATA ($97) Link
Video Card: eVGA GeForce 6800 ($275) Link
Optical Drive: Lite-On 16X DVD Dual Drive, Model SOHW-1633S ($79) Link
Total = $1048

High end system (around $1500)
CPU: Intel P4 - 550(3.4Ghz) LGA 775 ($270) Link
CPU Heatsink/Fan: Thermaktake Jungle 512 ($27) Link
Motherboard: ABIT AA8-DuraMAX i925X Chipset ($152) Link
RAM: 3x Geil 512Mb DDR2 PC4200 ($179 x 3 = $537) Link
Hard Drive #1: Hitachi 160Gb SATA ($97) Link
Hard Drive #2: 2x Hitachi 80GB SATA configured in a RAID 0 Array ($60 x 2 = $120) Link
Video Card: Nvidia 6600gt ($215) Link
Optical Drive: Lite-On 16X DVD Dual Drive, Model SOHW-1633S ($79) Link
Total = $1469