looks awesome, but i don't have a pc powerful enough to play it on. you've played it?

Yeah I've put waaaaay to much time into it already. Sadly the game is far from being anyway close to optimised so I'm running a GTX 560 Ti on a Phenom II X4 @ 3.2Ghz and still only hitting ~23fps in the big fights. Still though, it is far beyond anything else out there. I can't really describe how awesome it is to be just wandering on some hillside, turn the corner and to see a huge friendly armoured column with air support advancing up the road. It's like seeing some of the best scripted scenes in modern FPS' happening live. 

now thats my kind of action. i was going to create a thread showing a vid i found on ign orgamtraiers, but i wasn't sure of any interest this site

If you get to play it, it is worth getting into a good outfit asap. I somehow managed with some r/l friends to get into a German corp. Ambushing tanks in a canyon and reducing them to smoldering wrecks with just troops is hilarious, but you need good team work to set it up. I'd like to think people on this site play it/ are interested in it as a)it's free and b) it's great.

i hope to do so soon. i was interested in planetside when i first saw it. i was hoping it would get cross platform support with PS3. anyway i'm looking forward to playing this game.

yes i was looking at some components and the 660ti seemed to be the best option for me,thats expensive for me too,is the i5 quad core fine then for a few years,i don't have to max out games personally,i just want to play them without a hassle

with the standard asus p8Z77,decent psu,1tb CB WD,16gb that is £1000 i just can't afford an ssd,how vital is an ssd for these modern times it seems to be all the rage

with the 16 gb memory what effect does say 1333mhz to 1600/1866/2400mhz what does that actually mean is it important to have the more expensive one

oh and a antec P280 case

A SSD is not essential. 
Get memory around the 1600Mhz or 1866 Mhz range CL9 if you can afford it, and make sure it's 1.5V. 

I run old school DDR2 1066 Mhz Ram (CL4), a phenom II X4 940 @3.2Ghz and a GTX 560 Ti. I haven't had to look at game requirements since I got the GTX 560 Ti. Only the absolute nut busting games give me grief when set on ultra (Metro 2033). Other then that everything works without a hitch. Your set up should last for years. 

No issues so far. It's one of the best air cooling solutions although it is huge. If you are interested in getting it first check to see if you're ram is compatable as some can get in the way.

Er. An SSD's lifespan doesn't decrease in regards to how much data you have on it, it's life however does decrease with the amount of writes you do.
I've had my SSD for years now, been absolutely perfect and I'm far from a "light" user.
As for the link between dropping performance and SSD space, well. That's what garbage collection and Trim, is for.

As for Power Supply requirements, they have pretty much held steady for a few years now, if anything it's decreased with the dropping power requirements  of processors and chipsets these days.
Something like a Corsair HX/AX 750 can run SLI/Crossfire just fine...
It's when you start going 3-4 cards and tons of devices you need more PSU grunt.
Heck I used to run Crossfire Radeon 6950's unlocked into 6970's on a "modest" Corsair HX 650w PSU for a good 12 months without any drama and that was on a pretty power hungry (And old) Phenom 2 x6 @ 4ghz.

I wouldn't worry about Metro 2033 to much, I'm not even able to run it with smooth performance at my native resolution with everything on max.
It *is* a system killer! Haha.
Maybe early next year when I get 3-4x Radeon 8970's it might be better. :)

Oh but an SSD's life span does increase with the free room you have on it as it's to do with the number of writes per block. The more room you have free, the more it can move the load around the SSD and equally space out the writes.