I think many of the i3 and i5 (low end i5) boxes (and equivalent AMD processors) can fit the bill. Ranging from $400 to $700. Most have 1 available PCIe x16 slot. You can get a PCIe x16 dual card to drive the 2 monitors. I think the 10k rpm drives and SSD are overrated for their prices. If you are not back-testing or doing a lot of scannings, probably won't benefit you. Since you seemed to be on a budget, having RAID would be a straint on the money too.
So here it is. Any input is appreciated. With the limited 40gb; I dont plan on storing any music, songs,pictures, videos, porn etc. I should be fine correct? I will probably buy an external hardrive in a coulple months anyway. And I didnt purchase a video card yet. I plan on getting it when i order the second monitor. Case: Thermaltake Element-T Mid-Tower Case CPU: AMD Phenomâ¢II X2 555 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology Cooling Fan: XtremeGear Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) Motherboard: ASUS M4A77T/USB3 AMD 770 Chipset Hardware Core Unlocker DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand) Power Supply Upgrade: 450 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply Hard Drive: 40 GB Intel X25-V 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk Optical Drive: Sony 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO Speakers: 120 Watt Stereo Speakers Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR) USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition) total is 688 before shipping
I suggest more RAM (as much as you can afford) and run an online psu calculator to make sure that 450w is sufficient; seems light.
If I were in your shoes... "College student, poor, wanting to run only 2 monitors and for a rig to run 2-3 years"... I'd scour Craigslist for something to fit the bill in the $250-$400 range. There is lots of junk on CL, for sure. But there are some gems also. (For example, I just checked CL here... there is an "HP desktop, Q6600 CPU, 4G RAM, 640G HD.. likely a WD Black.. AND Office 2007".. all for $250. It's been for sale since Dec 7, so if offered $200 seller might take it.) Also, Dell has deals for $399-$439 frequently ... budget, but modern and fairly speedy stuff... and that price usually includes a monitor. Plus, you get a 1-year warranty and can up that to 3 years for not much $$. Seems I bought Dell monitors a few years back right after the first of the year when they had a big sale.
You don't play computer games, so why would you need a gaming computer? Why look for something fairly fast? Your needs are basic. Typical trading processes are a piece of cake for current lower tier hardware. Here, $500 would easily do it, and it would be cheaper in the US.
you want at least 80GB, trust me 40gb will not be enough even if you think you wont put anything on it. And get the x-25m not x-25v, there is a considerable difference. This is the best i could do, $100 more than yours but comes with a very decent graphic card and 80gb x-25m. I think it's a much better value than your config for $100 more. Take a look. * CAS: CoolerMaster Elite 430 Mid-Tower Gaming Case with Side Panel Window * CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR) * CPU: Intel® Core⢠i5-760 2.80 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1156 * FAN: Intel LGA1156 Certified CPU Fan & Heatsink [-20] * HDD: 80 GB Intel X25-M 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+127] (Single Hard Drive) * MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand) * MOTHERBOARD: MSI H55M-E23 Intel H55 Chipset DDR3 LGA1156 mATX w/ Onboard Graphics, HDMI, DVI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II, 1 Gen 2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI * OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition) * POWERSUPPLY: 450 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply * VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [+23] (Major Brand Powered by ATI) $795 before shipping.
I think the Phenom II X2 555 chip is too slow for today's market. You may be getting boxes at the tail end of their life cycle (or odds and ends clearance). Passmark score of that similar class of process is only 2110. (Compare to a fast retail market computer using i7-930/950 process with passmark score of over 6000 for just a little over $1000.) For under $700, I think you can get some boxes with Intel i3 or i5 class of processors (passmark 2800 - 3200). You will like the faster speed. e.g. HP desktops: HP Pavilion p6670t series Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-540 dual-core processor From $499.99 HP Pavilion p6680t series Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-650 dual-core processor [3.2GHz, 512KB L2 + 4MB shared L3 cache, DMI 2.5GT/s] From $599.99 http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...p/psg/desktops/leftnav_starting_price_400-700 Passmark rank: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
So here she is... $791. Codeword Myspace saved me $30. I also managed to get free shipping for total saving of 95 bucks... Ordered it last night. I ended up adding a second 500GB harddrive, which I think was a good decision in the long-run. Thanks for the help everyone. I'll try and get a pic up when I get everything set up. CAS: Thermaltake Element-T Mid-Tower Case [+16] (Original Color) CD: * Asus BC-08B1LT 8X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo [+3] (BLACK COLOR) CPU: AMD Phenomâ¢II X2 555 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+54] FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR) HDD: 40 GB Intel X25-V 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+9] (Single Hard Drive) HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+43] (Single Hard Drive) MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand) MOTHERBOARD: Asus M4A87TD EVO AMD 870 Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394a, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 7 Home Premium [+104] (64-bit Edition) POWERSUPPLY: 500 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
You mind a brutally honest opinion? This box you just ordered, with an "AMD Phenomâ¢II X2 555" chip, with passmark score around 2100, is very different from the CPU you cited in the opening post in July "AMD Phenomâ¢II X6 1055T Six-Core CPU", which has a passmark score of 5182. The latter is 2.5 times faster. And I honestly think the 40GB SSD is not much useful than just a $100+ spent. In an analogy you have a car that has excellent shock absorbers but a VW engine. Why would the disk input/output speed matter that much if the CPU cannot keep up with the calculations?