Can you build your own? I just built a computer w/ the AMD 3800 x2 chip (dual core). I bought everything from Newegg except for the video cards...even with overnight shipping it was <$1200. $2k would get you a mighty fine setup. Get a coupla Matrox G200 quad cards off of eBay and you're set...they're so cheap I'd get a spare one too. For that matter, I like redundancy in all possible ways, so I kept my old trading computer just in case...
Any modern P4 class machine with a gig or two of RAM will be plenty. (But be sure to allocate a few bucks for a neck brace... you know, to treat the whiplash from watching so many monitors.)
I've bought two workstations through the outlet and can report no problems in two years at all. Unless, of course, you need to deal with customer support, but that's a dell general inadequacy, not the outlet. One of the boxes was actually a pre-release of the p4 64b 3.6ghz prescott for less than $1000. The only catch was a single 1M cache instead of 2. The equipment from the outlet is not necessarily "refurbished". A lot of the equipment has been ordered and returned un-opened by the customer. It's cheaper for dell to keep the box on the "dock" and sell it at a discount then it is to re-stock it. Other times it's simply a product version liquidation to make way for the new. Lastly, sometimes components are intermixed in models that ordinarily won't contain it.
I have bought most of my computers over the years from the outlet. Desktops, workstations and laptops. I have never encountered any problems of note over the years. However, recently it looks as if you can get as good as, if not a better deal, from Dells regular site through some of the deals they have. Keep an eye on these sites for dell specials: http://www.dealsea.com/ http://www.gotapex.com/ I have not done a side by side comparison between prices between the 'deals' and the outlet, but it just seems on first look that the deal prices are as good as the outlet, especially since the outlet prices don't include monitors.
I stopped building machines from parts since I can't build them and populate them with software for the cost as compared to the outlet deals........... you can piece together a machine from flea markets and other odds an ends if you have the time to spend.....but the price / time arbitrage isn't worth it for me...........