Overkill?

M

Mvic

Hello all:

I am currently using a P3 450Mhz 256K ram for IB's TWS and Esignal, one 19 inch LCD. Things are a little tight on the screen (massive understatement) and I want to be able to check e-mail and surf web and be in IRC while also having TWS and Esignal up so time for an upgrade i think...

I am thinking Dell Dimension 4600, 2.6 Ghz with HT, 1G Ram, 128 AT Radeon (for 1 19" LCD and 17" CRT both of which I aleady own) to be used as trading and esignal platform, IRC, sp live audio feed.

Then use current PC for e-mail, and surfing simultaneously.

I have DSL and would like both PCs to be able to share (so I guess I would need some sort of router, no need for wireless).

Any comments? Is it overkill?

Any recommendations as far as allowing both PC access to the DSL line at the same time (will I need another DSL account from my ISP SBC?) and ability to transfer files between, not necessarily networked though.

Thanks very much for any insight,
Mvic
 
well,everything is looking pretty good.no overkill just about right in my estimation (i like matrox dual cards) yes a router is best bet to network couple pc's,no you don't need two addresses existing dsl as is will do just fine.easy to setup,just get the router.
 
you are always better off going with the 3 month old technology nowadays. everything is so lightning fast and is suitable for most everything (unless you are gaming). anything newer is gonna cost you exponentially more $$$. I just got a 1.8ghz laptop from dell that's 3x faster than my trading computers, and does everything that i could imagine. oh yeah, it costed me $699 after rebate. i remember when i bought my 133 mhz for $3k back in 95. was the hottest computer at carnegie mellon. lol!!!
 
I don't think it's overkill, I usually like to make sure my PC's last me at least 4 to 5 years before replacing them and I opted for 1 Gig Ram w/ one of the fastest processors when I purchased my last computer. Some other things you may want to take into consideration:

1) Power Supply: Will you ever need more than 250 watts due to adding multiple video cards, multiple hard drives, etc.

2) Memory Chips: Consider getting the 1 Gig RAM in 2 chips instead of 4. (The difference is usually a small bump in $) 1 Gig of RAM is great now but you never know what amount of RAM software will be eating up in 2 to 3 years. I used to hate throwing away memory to upgrade. (Note: I just checked Dells site and they only offer 2 chips for this upgrade on the 4600 but I'll leave this in for other readers to consider)

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks very much all and thanks for the laugh Funky (great sig) :)

Any recs as far as the right router to get?

Am I right in thinking that I just need one peice of hardware to plug the line from the DSL modem in to then the two lines out, one for each PC. I love my Zone alarm pro spoftware firewall so I don't need some fancy firewall router (or do I) especially if it is going to cause problems having my pc's behind it.

After reading the comments above I wonder if I could get away with a Dimension 2400 P4 2.4Ghz 533Mhz FSB, 1GB Ram 333hz (2 chips)? It costs about a grand less than the other system. I mean the TWS and Esignal works fine right now on my old P3, I will be adding more charts to my screens, adding an IRC window and the live spoos squwak. Would a P4 2.2Ghz be enough? Will be running XP pro.

Thanks again for your comments,
Mvic
 
Mvic,

Here is my take - if the 2nd system (Dimension 2400 P4 2.4Ghz 533Mhz FSB) costs $1,000 less, take it. You may need to replace it earlier than the more expensive system, but not much sooner - maybe 4 years instead of 5 at most. However, for the $1,000 that you save, you will be able to buy a new computer by then, that will be a few times faster than anything you can buy now.

As for router - yes, get a simple Linksys wireless router. You can plug in direct into it or use wireless - your choice. Think of the firewall as a bonus. You just plug your cable or DSL connection into it instead of the computer. Then, you plug the computers into the router. Thats all. You can still use ZoneAlarm since it blocks unknown outbound connection attempts which a router firewall will not do.
 
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