looking to purchase new computer for trading

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by kraft84, Mar 18, 2003.

  1. kraft84

    kraft84

    I am looking to purchase a new computer system for day trading. I will use my existing computer for chat room but I want two LCD monitors for new system. Have been looking at DELL's and MICRCENTER's in house brand called PowerSpec. Any ideas or resources I can go to?? I have read some of the reviews in Traders World to get some ideas . Thanks
     
  2. jlcarey1

    jlcarey1

    What is your budget?
     
  3. kraft84

    kraft84

    budget is $2500
     
  4. 2 LCD's + a new machine = $2,500.00

    I am assuming you want analog LCD screens. Depending on what size LCD's your looking at, 2 new ones could easily run you a grand alone.

    For wholesale prices on LCD's
    check:
    http://www.directron.com/

    Also, there are some great rebates presently available on Samsung 17" LCDs for 100 bucks.

    Leaves $1500ish for the machine. VPR matrix makes a very competitively priced machine in this ball park. I believe the only retail place you can get it is Best Buy online. THey DO NOT cary this model in the store. It runs upper $1600sih with a nice rebate. The specs are very very good for a stock computer. It comes with a P4 3.06GHz processor w/ Hyper Threading technology, a great AGP Nividia card. Several PCI slots open. Plenty of RAM running at PC2300> not the crappy kind.

    If you are going to go retail, Circuit City is a great place. You can get Vaios there pretty cheap less than $1300ish with a nice $100 rebate. Their return policy is unbeatable. If your going online, Dell does indeed offer a great bundle of services and functionality for the price. I am not that big on Dell however. A friend ordered from them, and I think one of the machines I personally built blows away the Dell workstation, which did come too cheap.

    This is a start, if you have some additional specifics, drop a line.
     
  5. nitro

    nitro

  6. gnome

    gnome

    Adding to optionslayer's remarks...

    I would suggest "economizing" on the computer if needed to leave more $$$ for the displays.

    1. MicroCenter's PowerSpec is a good, "open architecture" value choice. As is BestBuy's VPR Matrix. My trader is a Dell Dimension... works just fine with 4 video cards.
    2. Big power not necessary unless you're doing heavy duty number crunching. Any P4 will be plenty.
    3. I'd avoid a MB with "onboard graphics".
    4. 512mg Ram, minimum.
    5. Win XP Pro or Win2000 OS.
    6. Low cost dualhead video card will be just fine.

    Samsung 172T LCD is excellent. I've read that the Hitachi CML17 line is also.
     
  7. hey gnome, how have you been??? I finally got all of those issues worked out with video cards. I seemed to find a similar problem with running a card that had one CRT/VGA/Analog output with the other being for DVI. The DVI/VGA adapter from the DVI port can cause a very moody response in certain analog LCD screens. I noticed a large loss in pic quality along with fuzziness. I think your solution was best. Running single video cards and more of them seems to work allot better, unless of course you can find a dual monitor card with 2 ports that are both analog CRT made.
     
  8. jay567

    jay567

    I'm not sure why manufacturers would make a dual output card with one analog and one dvi output cuz using an adapter on either head would create a fuzzy image. I had this problem with my ati 7500 and got fed up with it so I just replaced my old monitor with a digital lcd (that's my excuse).

    It seems that using multiple cards can be quite a problem to get working correctly... Is there a guaranteed way to do it properly?
     
  9. Ebo

    Ebo

    I just bought a DELL DUAL 17" Monitor 1024 MEG 2GHZ P4 setup.
    It is super powerful and came with DUAL Video Card.
    The whole kit and caboodle was under $3000 including new Printer and premium sound. It is plenty for my charts...etc.
    I still have my old WIN 98 machine for backup. Thinking about Networking another box.

    Trading is not about saving nickles and dimes but having the fastest machine with a TON of Memory. DO NOT scrimp on memory TRUST me.

    Dell support sucks but I like the product otherwise.
    This is my third DELL.
     
    #10     Mar 19, 2003