I know nothing about computers, yet I need to buy a new computer for my office for trading but due to my lack of computer expertise, I'll be buying a pre-built computer. I'm located in Canada and I'd rather buy the computer at a store rather than buy online. I'm a very active trader so I need something relatively fast. I have quite a few programs open at the same time, however, I don't do too much intense charting, but everything must run in a very smooth manner. I also need the computer to support atleast 3 monitors. What pre-made computer do you guys recommend and where should I get it?
drukes - You could always go to dell.ca and pick any mid-high end computer and you should have more than enough power. Might have to call them and explain that you need 2 video cards to set up 3 monitors. What province are you in(to find stores)? Are your monitors DVI or VGA? How much were you looking to spend? PM me if you want.
I just buy/bought the pre-made Dell E520 for about $500 USD. It's dual core, 2.0 per CPU, 1 gig ram and yes it has onboard video, but I was able to disable and install a used Matrox G200 4 head card and all works fine. You do have to do some research to make sure it will work, if you want to save money. PSU seems to strong enough, 3 months now and dual core makes a big difference. Now I am experimenting with RM Clock overclock for AMD cpu's and for the last 2 months its zips along and stay relatively cool. I think know it is cheaper since quad core is coming out. Just go to dell, get dual core , make sure you have atleast 1 open PCI and PCI-E slot and depending on the video card, you should be fine.
drukes, if you're in BC I can help out. Check out www.ncix.com they have a pc builder option(top of page), I could go through and help you set up a system. They will put it together and test it for $50. You can pick it up and talk to their customer service reps in Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond or Langley. I purchase all my computer parts from NCIX.
If you shop locally or have one built at a clone shop*, these will be important... 1. Operating System... WinXP Pro or Vista... XP would be my choice. 2. Core 2 Duo CPU... 3. 1GB of RAM likely enough, but you can check your Task Manager to see if you need 2GB. 4. System board which does not have "onboard video" chip. 5. Enough card slots for your needs. Most modern boards have 2-3 PCIE slots, but only one of which is PCIEx16 for video card. You can get one with 2 or 3 PCIEx16 slots for a bit more money. You'll also want 3 or 4 PCI slots.. for extra monitors, sound card, modem, etc. 6. Enough USB ports for your needs. Running 2-4 montors is no problem at all except with the crappiest of mother boards, so don't be concerned. *or, you could just buy a Dell Dimension 9200