Let's make it simple.... 1. If you select a spinner drive, go with the cheapest.. it will be fine. 2. If you select an SSD, I'd suggest Intel.. X25-M... the X25-V, while also very good, is almost too small to use in a W7 rig.
You Know that if this PC is just needed for trading you roughly need no more than 50-80 GB space on the HDD. Smaller the size - you can Dfrag it every night. Easy to creat Back-up/ Image of a fresh Install for your replacement drive if you need one later. If you plan to save music/movies/pics etc - get a fat hard drive. STILL buy a smaller and fatster to INSTALL OS (primary Drive) and TRading software etc.
So this is what you guys are saying: 80 GB Intel X25-M 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk (Single Hard Drive) [-107] More Options ...
The X25-M will serve you well and hold your OS and a fair number of apps. If you get into storing lots of other things (like movies or music), you can add a large spinner drive as a secondary. And one more thing... you're buying a leading edge X58 mobo with fast RAM, fast bus, fast CPU... why would you then try to save a few bucks on a slow spinner drive? The hard drive is the slowest component in the system. (Well, not as slow as the DVD or USB devices... but you know what I mean.) Doesn't make much sense to have "fast everything else", and a slow drive for the OS.
Great, thanks. We're up to noise reduction. What do you think about this: Noise Reduction Technology: Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels, and more(2) Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels [+29] Power Supply Gasket [+5] Anti-Vibration Fan Mounts [+9]
Not sure about that... could be self-defeating. The metal case will act as a heat dissipater.. but if "insulated for sound", may also "thermally insulate" and cause the fans to run faster/noisier. Suggest trying the computer without "noise reduction"... then if necessary replace fans and components with fans for quieter ones. The biggest noise offenders these days are usually video card fans. For other components, manufacturers appear to be at least somewhat "noise conscious".. and try to minimize. "Noiseless fan mounts", however, might not be a bad idea. They're silicone grommets to isolate fan vibrations from the case. And for only $9, perhaps worth it.