hi all i have been trading on a Dell laptop (inspiron 5000) for a while and all has been well, of corse i stripped it down and loaded it up with memory and all that jazz. typically i run real tick, an execution platform, one or two web pages and occasionally some other filtering software. I know this is not really enough CPU for me, but i don't know what to buy as I have a small budget. what should i get ? who has the best deals and how much will it cost including a monitor (15 or 17 inch)? thanks
Changed thread title to reflect this thread is about the specs of a new system rather than the speed of the CPU.
I have bought my last two PC's from Cyberpower....for $599 you can get a great computer. Not a re-furbished one like others often refer to from Dell. Here is what you get and the link.... -Intel Pentium4 @ 2.8GHz 800 FSB -I865PE Chipset 800FSB 8X AGP MB -512MB Dual Channel DDR400 RAM -80GB 7200 RPM ATA 100 HD -ATI Radeon 9200 128MB AGP 8X -52x32x52x CD-RW -AC97 3D Wave Surround Sound -600Watt Subwoofer Speakers -X-Blade Medium Tower 450W Power -Build-in LCD Temperature Display Special Offer: -Free 1-Year Onsite Service -Free 6-in-1 Flash Media Reader -Extra $70 Mail-In rebate when purchased with Epson C84 -Upgrade to NU 6X DVD+RW $39 Total Price: $599 http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/highendsystem/sp3.asp?v=d
If you don't want to build one, you can get a pretty well loaded Sony Vaio, Systemax, eMachines, or even a Dell for under a grand. If you build a machine youself from components, you can load one up even more (or a comparable one for less). What's your preference? Doesn't make sense to detail specs for a home build if you're not looking to do spend the time doing that.
you may want to spend a little extra money and get a system that has hyperthreading. better for switching applications (absolute speed of CPU is not important)
The $599 computer from CyberPower is a hyper threading chip (800fsb). You are right, it does make a big difference. He could probably pick up a 17'' monitor on sale at Office Depot or Staples for $99 and be ready to rock. He could also selectively upgrade some of the components....$40 for a Corsair memory upgrade, $10 more for a Western Digital Special Edition hard drive upgrade, or $117 for an ATI 128 video card with a DVI interface. You can also upgrade the keyboard and mouse to Microsoft brand for a few bucks (comes with King-Fung brand or something like that...lol). You can order it just the way you want. Some of these things might make sense to be more future proofed performance wise later on if the budget permits (or since machines like this take parts you can buy anywhere, you can always buy stuff later on and just plug it in).
the size of the cache has a major influence on performance. The bigger it is the less time is spend getting the data in and out of the CPU. Cannot help you with more than that, have no personal experience.