New Computer (Is this a good deal?)

L

larryj

I'm looking to purchase a new computer that will support 2 or 3 monitors and was checking out www.tradingcomputers.com Does the set-up below look like a decent deal? Have any of you dealt with this company before? Any recommendations on other vendors where I can get a cheap entry-level trading set-up? Thanks for the help.

$1,177

• AMD Athlon64 CPU
• HyperThreading Enabled
• PC-3200 DDR System Memory (1GB)
• Dual Channel Memory Architecture
• Chipset: SiS755 + SiS964
• Integrated 6-Channel Surround Sound
• Windows XP Home or Professional installed
• DVD-ROM Optical Drive
• CD or DVD Burner
• Floppy Drive
• 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• x2 USB ports in front
• x2 USB ports in rear

• 80GB Drive Storage

4 Monitors Supported x2 DVI + x2 VGA:
512MB video memory
x2 Graphics Processing Units
x1 AGP x8 video card + x1 PCI card
Max DVI resolution 1600x1200
Max VGA resolution 2048x1536
 
Quote from nitro:

It looks pricey to me. Here is a machine that will obliterate that machine for trading purposes only at a fraction of the cost:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat73200050029&id=1124431815424

Add multimonitor graphics card for $150 and you are ready to go.

nitro
More...

A fraction of the cost? After adding that $150 for the graphics card, you're up to around $1,050 or so, which is only about $130 less than the real thing from Tradingcomputers.

TC gives great CS, and has a good product. Wish I woulda bought one instead of the HP I settled for.
 
Quote from traderdon56:

A fraction of the cost? After adding that $150 for the graphics card, you're up to around $1,050 or so, which is only about $130 less than the real thing from Tradingcomputers.

TC gives great CS, and has a good product. Wish I woulda bought one instead of the HP I settled for.
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That is 10% less. If you go to eBay you can get the card for $75. You can also get the machine from BestBuy at 0% interest rate till 2008.

Where you get a computer these days makes zero difference as long as you get a decent brand. Also, I have bought several products from HP in the past - the level of support you get from a DOW component is unmatched.

nitro
 
Quote from nitro:

It looks pricey to me. Here is a machine that will obliterate that machine for trading purposes only at a fraction of the cost:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat73200050029&id=1124431815424

Add multimonitor graphics card for $150 and you are ready to go.

nitro
More...

Thanks for the replies guys! Hey Nitro, I did a lot a shopping and the HP a1250n that you pointed me to is indeed a solid deal. Final price after the rebate is $849.99.....plus over two years of free financing, if I can find this model in my local Best Buy store.

At this point I'll only be using two monitors, so do I really need to purchase another graphics card. The HP a1250n has a ATI Radeon Express 200 card........doesn't this card support two monitors?? or no? If not, what graphics card would you recommend to use with the AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual-Core, 3800+?

Thanks again for the help.
 
I have had problems in the past getting two ATI cards to work together. They may have sorted out those issues by now though. The Matrox dual head Ive never had any problems with. Brand names. in pc's, dont mean much, imo, except perhaps for support issues. They all use the same components. El cheapo Emachines I bought a couple of years ago has never given me a problem while a Dell I recently bought has some issues so you never know.
 
Quote from larryj:

I'm looking to purchase a new computer that will support 2 or 3 monitors and was checking out www.tradingcomputers.com Does the set-up below look like a decent deal? Have any of you dealt with this company before? Any recommendations on other vendors where I can get a cheap entry-level trading set-up? Thanks for the help.

$1,177

• AMD Athlon64 CPU
• HyperThreading Enabled
• PC-3200 DDR System Memory (1GB)
• Dual Channel Memory Architecture
• Chipset: SiS755 + SiS964
• Integrated 6-Channel Surround Sound
• Windows XP Home or Professional installed
• DVD-ROM Optical Drive
• CD or DVD Burner
• Floppy Drive
• 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• x2 USB ports in front
• x2 USB ports in rear

• 80GB Drive Storage

4 Monitors Supported x2 DVI + x2 VGA:
512MB video memory
x2 Graphics Processing Units
x1 AGP x8 video card + x1 PCI card
Max DVI resolution 1600x1200
Max VGA resolution 2048x1536
More...

If you *care* about cost and are minimally savvy about computers, you can buy a Dell 8300 off of eBay, upgrade the RAM to 1GB, add video cards, and be in the thing about $500.

So yes, your consideration is *pricey*.
 
Quote from easyrider:

I have had problems in the past getting two ATI cards to work together. They may have sorted out those issues by now though. The Matrox dual head Ive never had any problems with. Brand names. in pc's, dont mean much, imo, except perhaps for support issues. They all use the same components. El cheapo Emachines I bought a couple of years ago has never given me a problem while a Dell I recently bought has some issues so you never know.
More...

I've *never* had trouble getting multiple, *genuine* ATI cards to work together. However, any 3rd party card or OEM is likely to have driver issues in multi-card setups.
 
Quote from gnome:

I've *never* had trouble getting multiple, *genuine* ATI cards to work together. However, any 3rd party card or OEM is likely to have driver issues in multi-card setups.
More...

Second that .... we use only ATI cards - various combinations ... various OS's ..... no issues.

We still primarily buy used equipment: there is still a vibrant market of used, fairly high performance equipment on the market and cheap prices. Often all you need to do is as Gnome suggests: buy a cheap used box and upgrade a few components - often again with used pieces.
 
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