Help me build a PC for playing online poker.

A friend of mine plays online poker for rather serious money so he has decided to move away from his laptop to a dedicated desktop specifically built for online poker. Because he is very paranoid about getting malware and being cheated on this PC will literally not be used for anything other than poker. There is not any real budget limitation but because this is purely a business expenditure he would like things to remain within reason. I have played online poker myself and have a good idea what is needed for the best experience you will just need to guide me for the right parts.

1. First of all we need a very fast and high resolution monitor, image quality is the least concern here. The responsiveness on the desktop with affect the comfort of long sessions of poker and the higher the resolution the more tables can be opened simultaneously. Minimum resolution requirement is 1440p.

2. Now when we talk about the PC it's all about the speed. It isn't actually about the poker client since that doesn't really require resources but running the database software used to keep track of all the statistical history. Now we are literally talking about a huge set of statistics going into hundreds of thousands of unique data that need to be filtered and analysed as quickly as possible. The performance of this software was his biggest frustration with his laptop. As time goes on this database is only going to get bigger although it allows the use of filters which can significantly improve the speed.

I believe the 3 components affecting the speed of this software would be CPU, ram and SSD. We can certainly break the bank on these 3 components however I would like to stop at a point beyond which the diminishing returns would be just stupid. After all the speed of the PC won't directly impact on player performance but would save time and thus increase the hourly rate of return.

So I am looking for monitor, CPU, mobo, ram and SSD recommendation.

AMD A6 and a FM compatible mobo, literally the cheapest one will be fine.

You don't need an SSD lol, but if you want one, I'd go Intel personally.

RAM: 8GB Kingston HyperX

Did you actually read the post? Here are the listed requirements of the software I am talking about....

Minimum Requirement: Windows: Intel Core 2 Duo (or AMD equivalent) processor with 3GB of RAM.

Recommended: Windows: Modern quad-core processor with 4GB of RAM or greater. This includes the Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processor lines (or their equivalent AMD processors).

Optimal: Windows: Intel Core i5 or i7 multi-core 64-bit processor with 8GB of RAM or greater.

Hard Drive

The number one factor for speed performance is hard drive speed, the PostgreSQL Server which powers the PokerTracker database commonly moves gigabytes of data to allow PokerTracker 4 to perform it's reporting duties. PokerTracker recommends at least a 7200RPM hard drive or faster, Solid State Drives (SSDs) are currently the fastest drives available for optimal performance.

https://www.pokertracker.com/faq/PT4#Minimum_Requirements

To play Games like Poker you just need a Simple Computer with these components.

Any quad core Processor from AMD to Intel i3 or Intel i5

Ram 4GB is good for You.

HDD will be of 500 GB is Good + A SDD of 120 GB is great for you.

Damn why is nobody reading the thread? I guess I should have used some other title.

If you already know what he's in need of - why ask?

You've listed a number of CPUs, suggested HDD/SSD and RAM. I kind of don't see the point in asking what to get if you already seem to know what you're looking for.

Anyway....I know the last place I worked for, they use SQL for databases in their POS software. They had low end Pentium D CPUs and 4GB of RAM with Windows 7 32bit (yes, 32bit - they didn't and won't write their software to operate properly with 64bit). The server computers ran like crap - it was horrible having to utilize the POS backoffice software to pull up data, took forever.

Granted, there were a slew of tables in the databases so it probably explain a lot as to why it took forever to filter data in the reports. That should give you an idea of what not to get.

Get at least 8GB RAM (can always add more). SSD might be worth the extra cost, but I'm not sure if it really will be beneficial for the use you're looking at. I'd suggest at least an i3, but ideally I'd personally get an i5.

I don't really know what's the best SSD and monitor right now hence I made the thread. I am also not sure which platform offers highest compatibility with ram speeds. We are looking to buy really high end equipment in these categories. I have also run that software on my PC and know how demanding it is, it's definitely not a situation where you are throwing more power for the sake of it. I guess this forum isn't as useful anymore as it used to be and well that's been the case since the new Gamespot I guess.

There really isn't a "best" in things. You need to research and find things that get good reviews and make a call on what to get. I've had a quality brand GPU crap out on me. I've had a quality, high end HDD crap out on me after a few weeks.

As for the forums here - yeah, they've went way downhill since the change from the old gamespot format to this one. I see so few posts in the hardware and so few responses, it's kind of a joke now. Those that do help, they're not around as much or pick and choose what they want to respond to.

For monitors, I don't have on myself, but I see a lot of people suggesting ASUS ROG. I think it's a 27" 1440p monitor.

SSD - new ones are constantly coming out. Realistically, if you're not benching, then most SSDs won't make a huge difference. Just do a search for 2015 or 2016 top SSD and pick one that sparks your interest.

RAM - I'm not into benching and I don't need the fastest RAM out there. I don't usually suggest checking out Tom's Hardware, but you can see DDR 4 RAM reviews they've done following this link.

Depending on the RAM speed, you'll need to make sure you find a motherboard that can support the RAM you pick up - then you just find an i7 or i5 CPU. As for which is better for compiling info for SQL databases - I'm not entirely sure. I never looked into it. My guess would be an i7.

Hopefully this'll get you going in the right direction. For most of my computer needs, I tend to use techpowerup or anandtech forums. I don't frequent the hardware forums here as often as I used to.

Thanks for the info I'll look into it. I guess you are right it's time to move on to some other forum. When this forum used to be called "PC Hardware discussion" it was just so good and in my opinion one of the best hardware forums on the internet at that time. We had so many knowledgeable and insightful users and also many more people coming here for help. We even had fanboy wars which goes to show how much the traffic has declined. Certainly my most memorable forum on Gamespot as I personally learned much of what I know about hardware from there as well.

Fanboy wars good times heh. I miss ionus on here already, dat amd love!

I'll go with the latest i7 or Haswell if you want to save from ddr4.

I'll look for this qnix if its cheap there. Overclockable beyond 60fps, so 80-120 depending on your luck. If you can't get that for cheap than for anything 120hz obviously. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4JH2CA3490&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Monitors+-+LCD+Flat+Panel-_-9SIA4JH2CA3490&gclid=CjwKEAiAxfu1BRDF2cfnoPyB9jESJADF-MdJlXGlviFVfkj6xcCoCNGl3G2tcx4qMm3litjqhXhOJxoCWbDw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

As for ssd go with something reliable. I have the samsung evo which has been serving me well.

@Gambler_3: Hi.

So depending on what you need, this is the best I could do by combining the optimal settings and best value for money products.

CPU is the cheapest quad core Skylake without power limitations. RAM is DDR4 2800MHz CL16 which is very good for only $46. And as for storage, Crucial's BX100 has great speed (using Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller) and it has great durability since its MLC (Micron 16nm)!!!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vvWf6h

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vvWf6h/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.98 @ OutletPC)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($46.97 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.00 @ Amazon)

Total: $310.95

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-13 09:36 EST-0500

You should notice I didn't pick a monitor.

I didn't choose cause the budget here can go far off for a monitor with 1440p and 1-2ms latency.

Here is the list of what you could buy with these specs.

AOC Q2778VQE is the cheapest ($287.58) offering 1440p and 1ms.

Acer B286HK ymjdpprz is a more balanced 4K Monitor with 2ms at $379.99.

Asus PB287Q and Samsung U28D590D is as far as I would go with the price ($479.99-$499.99), offering 4K with 1ms (and a good brand).

Thanks guys that pretty much covers it all. I think I'll go with a 1 ms 4k monitor as the price seems reasonable for what they are offering and it's a component that doesn't get outdated so it will be worth it in the long run.

@adamj2020: don't bump dead threads. Especially not to advertise whatever spam crap you're selling. GTFO, bot.