Can someone help me buy / build a trading computer

Quote from Bolimomo:

Many seemed to recommend Dell desktops. All I want to say is: check the available expansion slots. If you have only one PCIe X16 slots (as this is common with most desktop models these days), to drive 3+ monitor you would need to purchase a quad video card. And quad cards are expensive. Can be looking at USD $500 for the video card itself and this will blow your $1000 budget right out of the water. Though perhaps you can use a USB-to-VGA adapter to drive a third monitor with a dual card. Just something to think about.
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Not really - the PC i'm selling only has one PCIe x16 slot but has several PCIe x8 slots - you can buy an NVIDIA NVS 290 PCIe x8 or X1 dual monitor card for $60-$80 on ebay.

I'm giving the machine away with any old video card but its NVIDIA so it would be compatible with any NVS card and someone could run up to 6 monitors for an additional $150 (ebay prices).
 
I was going through newegg.com and microcenter.com and it seems I can build a decent quad core + 8GB Ram + 80GB SSD + 2 21 inch monitors for under $1000. I might visit microcenter tomorrow and have them assemble the PC for me for $49 ;o)
 
Quote from Pekelo:

Save some money. I bet you, ANY desktop nowadays at $400 can handle 2-3 monitors. Buy the cheapest one....

But here, the cheapest Walmart desktop with Intel Core i5 is only $650:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/ZT-Systems-2TB-7645Mi/17615967
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Thanks for the link. But if I buy this and then buy 2 monitors for $220 - $240 I come very close to $900 ...

I researched on newegg.com and microcenter and can build a better config computer for $950 - $1000
 
http://ark.intel.com/products/43546/Intel-Core-i5-650-Processor-(4M-Cache-3_20-GHz)

i5 that you mention is not a quad-core CPU. it is a dual-core with hyperthreadding.

You will waste an 80gb SSD, trading isn't a read/write intensive sport so it'll go to waste (but you'll be able to brag to your friends that you can "boot up fast")

8GB RAM is dumb - its DDR3 which is triple channel which means you are way better off with 3x sets of 2GB or 3x sets of 3GB but 2x 4GB or 1x 8GB will be slower.

External HDD (whether eSATA or USB) is foolish - get an internal HDD or two and put it in RAID so you won't lose your stuff - especially now after the flooding the infant mortality rate in HDD is so far off the charts getting an external HDD is even more foolish than putting 8GB in a DDR3 box.

the NVIDIA 8400 cards are terrible - I have PILES of 8600 cards that I'll give away because they only go for $5-$10 each on ebay but at least they are 512mb of DDR2 vs. most 8400's are just DDR or 256mb

the $600 box I posted about is 2x the machine you are looking at and you could still get the monitors and be done for exactly the same price, have a better machine and server-grade parts.
 
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