I've been looking my self and belive i am going to go with a dell 2.26ghz w/512 ddr RD not SD ram with the cheapo graphics card and will swap it out once i get it with a nvida geforce 4 mx440 (dual vga) You might wanna look into a faster chip if you have many programs running and thats also why i like the rd ram its much faster bus speed . the system i was looking at without monitors and including shipping and tax is about $1100. The rd ram is very expensive and the processor is kind of pricey too but i have a pII 750mhz now with 830 mb ram and when i run my programs during the day the processor is running at 99% capacity Good luck What ever you decide! The system your talking about doesn't sound bad though But check out www.marketpro.com its a computer show nation wide they have great prices and they will build what you want right there The one by me had a 2.0 ghz for $700 i belive
http://www.tomshardware.com/ Built several pc's over the years based on their recommendations and haven't been disappointed. My two cents worth. Bsulli
I just got my trading system running on a new Athlon XP 2000 with a KT333 motherboard, a 1G PC2700 memory on Win XP. Very fast. Wow. The trading system only uses bet 2 and 11% of CPU I used to have a PII 233 (not a typo) and it ran between 60% and 98% of CPU utilization. BTW either get a hardware RAID mirrored array or a 2 drive IDE system where you automatically do a backup like the previous poster. It is too much trouble to have to rebuild a system these days. No one really does manual backups so it's best to have the system do it for you. (The Promise card which is what I have has good utility and management software, but the 3Ware 2 port card is a true 100% hardware card.)
I have been working with the following system: P4, 1.8 Ghz 18 GB SCSI hard drive 1024 GB RAM Appian Rushmore Video Card Windows XP Pro Great system. Very reliable and you can find someone to build it for you a lot more inexpensively than going to Dell or Gateway.
Hello andy4!!! Whatever you get... do NOT get 1.4Ghz Athlon "Thunderbird"!!! Not because it's a bad cpu.. but because it's old and runs hot. I have one that I bought last year! Thunderbird is great but will be extinct soon! If you are going to get Athlon buy AthlonXP "Palamino". It is same price or cheaper, faster, newer and runs cooler! I think Athlon XP 1600+ is 1.4 Ghz speed. I am buying Athlon XP 1800+ "Palamino" soon.. or might even wait for "Thoroughbred" 1800+ which will be coming out soon I hope. I don't know why someone will want to use Thunderbird now for new computer. Very strange.
Hey There, Sounds like an older system to me also. Good for a dabbler but if you're going to really use this monster, upgrade it. You'll thank yourself for it later. It also seems a bit pricey and you have received several good recommendations of sites to look to for some comparisons. Give it the effort, go look. The 3Com network card advice is a must also. Windows 2000 and most of the pro versions will serve you much better even though you can get by with the 98. Just know that you can improve the resource demands on the whole system with the OS upgrade. Multiple hard drives raid mirrored is a definite mind relaxer. Or at the least dual IDE drives as hardware for safety is cheap today. And fear not, with a little patience and courage, you can build it yourself. Good luck.
Just curious about this.....I have never used a Mac, and I don't have any serious plans to get one. BUT....Why are Mac users so passionate about them? What is the reason you made this statement? (excluding availability of software if that is an issue). Thanks for any input....(from anyone, if Anchor is not around to answer). I don't use my home computer (a 500mhz p4 that is getting a little long in the tooth) for trading. My wife is thinking about the Mac as a replacement for our home use, (which is really pretty much email, and word processing) only because it seems like it is cool looking and takes up far less space than what we have now. Particularly the 19" Optiquest CRT, which does take up a ton of space (But was a lot for the money when I got it a few years back). Oh, and the new tv ad campaign for the mac seems very effective (at least it has made an impact with her). Also, it seems that the flat panel monitor alone is a decent value with that new Mac...since it is included. What am I missing? And though I have not used my home computer to run any trading software, if I were to decide to occasionally trade from home, is the Mac an impossible alternative? RS7...the tech retard
Honestly, dont buy a Pentium......its a good chip, but is way overpriced due to Intels name....P4 is largeyl a marketing gimmick. Go with the AMD Athlon 4....its faster, cheaper and more stable than a Pentium. An Athlon 4 at 1.4 gHz runs as fast or as faster as a Pentium 4 at 1.8 gHz. BTW I have had bad experiences with Dell in the past fromhardware and service related issues. (Ive had 2)