I use to sell servers by the dozen for my company, which is a server farm (data center, hosting company, etc.). The job of ordering hardware has not been mine for the last few years but today I did again ordered components to build a Windows 2003 Server. For the most part the same components one would use in a trading workstation. I was surprised to find a Core2 with 5 x 250GB drives, a fancy case, 4 hot-swap trays, a 4 port 3Ware RAID controller, 2GB DDR, DVD burner and NVIDIA PCI-express graphics totaled only about $1500. Most of the parts were ordered from http://mwave.com - a good online retailer, though they don't carry 3ware products. (You don't need one anyway.) For a trading system minus the LCD' s screens, I would think $1000 would get you a nice fast machine. You can use XP's built-in software to mirror two drives at no additional cost. (Which works well for trading workstations but not for servers.) In addition, you need an OS, screwdriver and two hours of spare time. I would agree in general that it does not pay to build your own system as you can buy them for less than the components but it is perhaps easier to do than one might expect and you get to select the pieces. (You order Dell and you never know what model and make of hard drives, for example.) As I say, if you know how to operate a screw driver and enjoy the brains to be a professional trader, you should not have any serious difficulty. Surely my fellow traders are a cut above the normal in brains, right? And after reading hundreds of post to this forum I reluctantly believe I am below average in the brain department so if I can do it, just about anyone can. Having just ordered three 21.3" monitors from Digital Tigers to arrive next week to replace two tired 19" View Sonics, ( http://digitaltigers.com/zenview-trio21s.shtml) I can appreciate that the displays will likely cost more than the rest of the hardware. As to how much monitor real estate is too much - I suggest we error on the conservative side and believe that the three displays ordered will soon feel like I am short of monitor space. A man really hates to find himself short on the job. I should have ordered 3 x 24" but it seemed decedent at the time. A few small recommendations that I realize many will disagree with. Memory is cheap, small jumps in CPU speed are not. Hard drives are cheap, get two - never depend on one drive. (This is another common problem with purchased systems - they typically rely on one drive.) RAID 1 (mirroring) does not detract from speed. If you find yourself defending your computer system to someone by saying it is only 3 years old - you need a new system. Nobody seems to remember how old they computer really is. Another way to put it; if your computer is running Windows 98 - it is too bloody old. If only I could order parts for "me" so easily.
It's not a bad thing, just slows you down.... more is paged out to your swap file onto the hard drive and it's slower than physical RAM. If you were to increase your RAM to 512MB, you *should* see an increase in functional speed + your hard drive would thrash about much less.
2nd option costs highly likely more and offers exactly 100% more capacity (+/- 5%, depending on the manufacturer) then the 1st option... is that clear enough, or do you need some more clarity? Just to be on the sure side!!!