Zoethecus 

I'm seriously in the market to buy a new desktop PC.

I'm running three 19" Samsung screens and NT 7. Cable modem. WIN XP

Tell me what specs this needs and the best place to buy it.

Appreciate your feedback.

 cbratton 

I would personally look at a desktop with at least a quad core processor. You don't need anything expensive. I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with a Q8300 and 8GB memory, Vista 64bit. I've had no problems with NT 7 and it runs very fast. I found it on eBay (refurbished) when they were giving discounts, but also dealnews.com sometimes have good sales on desktops.

 jimbob42 

Interesting topic. I may decide to have a friend build one for me.
I'd like some thoughts on video cards in the event I add several monitors
thanks

 eDanny 

I've always thought of 2D graphics as being fast on any modern day card. I haven't read through this article yet but you might want to take a look.

2D, Acceleration, And Windows: Aren't All Graphics Cards Equal? : Part 1: Laying A Theoretical Background - Review Tom's Hardware

 aslan 

I have built 4 computers in the last 18 months, all with Nvidia 9500 GT based cards. If you are building a computer for trading only, fancy graphics cards are not necessary, as you are only doing simple 2D graphics. You also don't need a ton of memory on the graphics card, but most of the cards are 512M/1G at this point.

Most cards can handle two monitors, but be sure you look for an adapter that has two dual DVI outputs, so you can connect two large monitors in the future.

Just go to NewEgg, and search on "9500 gt". There are a bunch of brands, that are all repackaged versions of the Nvidia design. I have used the Zotec brand, but it is not always in stock. There is a passive version of the Zotec, but the heat sink is pretty big if you are putting more than one in a box. Other kinds of cards work also, this is just what I have been using.

Depending on your motherboard, you can put up to 4 of these in a computer and power 8 monitors. We have built 2 & 3 adapter machines at this point and have had very good luck.

 jimbob42 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do some research at Newegg

 Zoethecus 

Here is what I decided on:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

8GB GSkill PC3 10600 DDR3 1333mhz RAM

1TB (2x 500GB) Western Digital Caviar Black Internal HDD

XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB Video card

Antec P183 Case

650W Antec PSU

Thermaltake A2384 Noise Dampening Kit

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders

Acronis backup software

 lolu 

Zoe,

It seems you're building this desktop yourself ? If NO, what brand is it ? Is it going to be dedicated to run NT or you're using for other apps ?

Lolu

 Zoethecus 

Yes, it's custom built and dedicated for trading, strategy building and testing.

 lolu 

Zoe,

Although, I'm not an advocate for a custom-built system for trading activities, an Intel-based system should add more quality and performance to the desktop system. Also, a 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive should suffice (instead of the 1 TB HDD); the SSD don't have moving components; they are faster, more reliable, and they consume very very little power.

Lolu