I'm more interested in the high end PC. My next one would likely be a AMD 64X2 with 2G RAM. It's really worthwile for a trader pay $2000 for a good PC. I can't understand why some of you are interested in the low end.
how low can PCs go?
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Not sure what you get for $2000 but you can get 2GB of RAM very cheap these days (<$200) and I always buy my RAM aftermarket not from the PC maker because they overcharge bigtime. $2000 sounds like a gaming machine with a high-end video card, DVD burner, e.g. the works... not sure why you would want that for a trading PC. All you need is a solid CPU (not necessarily the latest/greatest), lots of memory. If anything throw the extra dough at bigger/more monitors.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=495589
Dell Server PowerEdge SC420-P4,2.8GHz, 1G DDR2, two 80GB HDs - $496
Not that I'm recommending this system, the (now discontinued) SC400 was a much better computer than the SC420 but just trying to show that you dont have to pay a lot for a solid platform
Unofficial Dell PowerEdge SC420 FAQ in case anyone is interested in this system : http://aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2058
Bro, it still spins me out - back then you'd get a 486-DX2-66MHz or the first Pentium -I's at 100MhZ for the prices you are mentioning.
What we get these days would be considered supercomputers by the standards of yesteryear.
Of course, software has been able to gobble up all the newly vailable CPU grunt!
LOL.
That reminded me of a friend that works for a huge car dealership. He used to joke that they sell every car below cost. I asked how they made a profit? And he says "volume". Stupid, but always struck me as funny.
Ok, I need to buy a system. Dell is fine with me. I want at least 2 screens, 19inch or better. Its going to be used for trading (and answering posts at Elitetrader). Even though I am in IT, I do not follow or care about staying current with the latest and greatest.
My question is, for 1-2k, what system should I get? Details would be helpful.
Yea, that's actually a pretty old joke, someone sells below his cost but he makes it up in volume... I would bet that no one gets Intel chips cheaper than Dell though & they must have some pretty serious pricing leverage when they go out to buy commodity items like CD drives, hard drives, etc.
I would separate buying the computer itself from the monitors (although sometimes you can get good deals by buying the monitor bundled with the system but you can get some good deals on Dell monitors too if you wait for a sale)
I would watch FatWallet.com, just search for "Dell" and watch for hot deals on Dell systems and monitors - they happen pretty often.
Quote from Equalizer:
Bro, it still spins me out - back then you'd get a 486-DX2-66MHz or the first Pentium -I's at 100MhZ for the prices you are mentioning.
What we get these days would be considered supercomputers by the standards of yesteryear.
Of course, software has been able to gobble up all the newly vailable CPU grunt!
i bought (i believe in 1995-96) acer P1 133 with MMX, ati mach card,cd etc.(still works perfectly on windows 95,never have single problem) for about 1K. it's not a high end, but good one for that time.
good, but not high end computer today(low end dell xps for example) will cost you about same.i'm not comparing comps from 95 to 2005, i'm comparing prices.
correct me,if i wrong.