In a thread from earlier this year we found interesting, posters on PocketFives bantered back and forth about the best PCs to use for online poker. How much memory do you need? How much processing power do you need? What if you’re on a budget? With computers coming in a limitless number of shapes and sizes, finding the ideal one for your online poker experience can be quite daunting. To help you out, let’s take a look at what a few PocketFives members believe are the best poker PCs.

One of the first responders in the thread gave his advice when it comes to owning a top-tier poker PC: “Main issue you would need to be concerned with is having a fast processor speed and sufficient memory to run multiple programs [and] have a fast ISP upload/download connection. Probably want to have 6 GB to 8 GB of processor memory… If your current PC is more than four or five years old, then you would probably benefit by getting a new system with the latest OS.”

A Connecticut online poker player outlined, “Windows 7, i7 core, motherboard with at least three 6 Gbit/s SATA ports, and three SSD with similar read/write speeds connected to 6 Gbit/s SATA ports. Cheaper SSDs have write speeds significantly lower than their read speeds. [Also, get] a 2 TB hard drive for storage, 12 GB of RAM, install Windows 7 on one SSD, poker clients on the second SSD, and Holdem Manager on the third SSD.” The same poster also stressed the importance of having an above average video card.

While some posters in the thread noted that the above machine would likely be quite pricey, others reiterated the importance of using an SSD, or solid state drive: “If you are using Holdem Manager, then the one of the most important things you can do is use an SSD instead of a standard one. I have found it makes a huge difference, especially with a lot of tables open.”

What if you don’t need or want a poker computer that is tricked out? Can you get away with something more cost-effective? “Most new PCs these days have more than enough RAM and everything,” one PocketFives member from New York argued. “If you just want a PC to play poker, then even something basic with 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive is plenty. But if you can afford more, go for more RAM and a better processor.” He added that a computer with 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive would likely cost around $400 to $500.

Another poster reinforced the notion that a fully featured computer wasn’t necessarily needed: “I can run 4-5 sites (20 tournaments), other software, chat on Skype, check emails, surf the internet, listen to music, etc. on a 17″ laptop with 4 GB of RAM, not the greatest processor, and an additional 24″ monitor.”

Owning twice that number of GB of RAM was a Costa Rican PocketFives member, who described, “I use a Dell XPS with 8 GB of RAM and it runs Holdem Manager, multiple sites, and as many tables as I can play without a sweat.”

PocketFives Mod Alex RedIceRapGerlach, who hails from Germany and has nearly $500,000 in tracked online cashes to his credit, shared his poker setup: “I have a 17″ Macbook Pro with 750 GB and run both Mac and Windows on it. Really great laptop, but quite expensive. It cost me 2,300 Euros, which should be about $3,000.”

For those of you out there interested in Holdem Manager, the program’s stated system requirements are as follows: 1.0 GHz CPU, 512 MB of RAM (2 GB recommended), 1024×768 screen resolution, Windows XP, and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 or newer. Holdem Manager officials suggested, “Having a fast hard drive helps Holdem Manager’s performance drastically. We suggest using a 7,200 RPM hard drive or faster.”

We want to hear from you. What PC setup do you use for online poker? And what advice would you give to others? Post here or visit the thread in Poker Community.