New computer - opinions

Steve C · 3 September 2012

Hi everyone,

I am currently customizing a budget system that will get me the best gear I can for around the $1000-1200 dollar mark. Main uses of the system will be for work/study, some gaming and of course systems testing through amibroker/ninja trader (eventually!)

Can I please get your opinions on the below hardware I have selected - please let me know if there is anything you would consider changing or paying that little extra for.

Thanks,

Steve

Joules MM1 · 3 September 2012

Steve C said:
systems testing through amibroker/ninja trader (eventually!)

get a bigger budget, dual graphics/dual screens.......most def.....you'll see

Steve C · 3 September 2012

Joules MM1 said:
get a bigger budget, dual graphics/dual screens.......most def.....you'll see

Thanks Joules - at the moment I am a beginner so I think that may be overkill at this point in time.

One thing I realised is to pay a bit more and get a USB3.0 supported case.

pixel · 3 September 2012

Steve C said:
Thanks Joules - at the moment I am a beginner so I think that may be overkill at this point in time.

One thing I realised is to pay a bit more and get a USB3.0 supported case.

I'd consider a Coolmaster tower; and definitely a dual head video card; you don't HAVE to plug in the second monitor right away, but it's good to know you can when you want to. The i5 processor is definitely sufficient.
Make sure you budget for MS Office - afaik, MS make you pay extra once the trial period is over.

btw I had PLE (Bentley) build me a similar box 2 years ago; they're a great bunch of people.

Steve C · 3 September 2012

pixel said:
I'd consider a Coolmaster tower; and definitely a dual head video card; you don't HAVE to plug in the second monitor right away, but it's good to know you can when you want to. The i5 processor is definitely sufficient.
Make sure you budget for MS Office - afaik, MS make you pay extra once the trial period is over.

btw I had PLE (Bentley) build me a similar box 2 years ago; they're a great bunch of people.

Thanks Pixel, trying to decide between these two cases (both USB3.0 supported)
Coolermaster Silencio 550
http://plecomputers.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=607717&CategoryID=442

Thermaltake V4
http://plecomputers.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=609449&CategoryID=442

I am thinking I will go the Thermaltake as the Coolermaster ironically has had some bad reviews in regards to running hot.

I will also look into the dual head video card - any budget recommendations?

MrBurns · 3 September 2012

Just bought this - with Telstra Extreme connection I can download at 6.5 MB per second.

And because of the SSD it's silent..........

INTEL I7-3770 CORE I7 PROCESSOR, 3.4GHZ
8GB DDR3 MEMORY ( 2 X 4GB MODULE )
GIGABYTE / Z77 / 4 X DDR3 / 2 X PCI-E3.0 X 16 MAINBOARD
GEFORCE GTX550 TI 1GB 192BIT GDDR5
INTEL 120GB SSD 520 SERIES SSD
MS WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64 BIT
22X DVD R/W DRIVE WITH SOFTWARE
MIDTOWER ATX CASE WITH 420W PSU

Total inc GST $1,265.00

drsmith · 3 September 2012

MrBurns said:
Just bought this - with Telstra Extreme connection I can download at 6.5 MB per second.

And because of the SSD it's silent..........

Sounds like it won't be long and you'll need to add one of these,

http://www.netplus.com.au/product/H..._WD20EARX_SATA_6Gbs_64Mb_Cache_SATA3_SATA_III

If in Perth, it's worthwhile price comparing system/components with Austin and Netplus.

As for graphics cards, even cheapies these days have dual digital outputs.

MrBurns · 3 September 2012

drsmith said:
Sounds like it won't be long and you'll need to add one of these,

http://www.netplus.com.au/product/H..._WD20EARX_SATA_6Gbs_64Mb_Cache_SATA3_SATA_III

If in Perth, it's worthwhile price comparing system/components with Austin and Netplus.

As for graphics cards, even cheapies these days have dual digital outputs.

I dont use a lot of space but I could get a HD installed as well or just use an external drive for storage which I do now.

Logique · 3 September 2012

Hi Steve C.
Budget? That looks like a big expensive power guzzling system to me. Are you sure you need that much capacity? Although you mention some gaming. Do you have fast internet to make it all worthwhile - ADSL2+ or better.

drsmith · 3 September 2012

Logique said:
That looks like a big expensive power guzzling system to me.

I havn't purchased desktop PC parts for a while, but I do wonder whether it would be better today to use a solid state drive for the OS (as Burnsie has done) and a large capacity 5400rpm green drive for storage.

I've had two of the green drives installed for a few years without any problems.

Steve C · 3 September 2012

Logique said:
Hi Steve C.
Budget? That looks like a big expensive power guzzling system to me. Are you sure you need that much capacity? Although you mention some gaming. Do you have fast internet to make it all worthwhile - ADSL2+ or better.

Hi Logique, as stated the budget is about $1k but I have spent a touch more getting some decent hardware so that when the time comes that I have the sufficient knowledge and skills to start system trading, the hardware will be capable of doing so (backtesting etc). I probably won't utilize most of the system potential but at least if I get a well specced system now I should be able to get a few more years out of it - and for around $1k it seems reasonable.

Can anyone confirm if the graphics card selected can hook up two monitors?

Thanks for all the replies.

Steve

Tannin · 3 September 2012

Better again is to use a hybrid drive - the seagate Momentus XT range is the go-to product here. Performs like an SSD, capacity like a real hard drive, zero management overhead. That's zero - it just works and you don't even know it's there.

To the OP: unless you are seriously gaming (in which case you need to detail which games you play and buy accordingly) the money you spend on a bigger graphics card is 100% wasted. For non-games usage (outside of a handful of specialised apps) on-board graphics or at most a very cheap graphics card is every bit as good as an expensive white elephant card.

Steve C · 3 September 2012

Tannin said:
Better again is to use a hybrid drive - the seagate Momentus XT range is the go-to product here. Performs like an SSD, capacity like a real hard drive, zero management overhead. That's zero - it just works and you don't even know it's there.

To the OP: unless you are seriously gaming (in which case you need to detail which games you play and buy accordingly) the money you spend on a bigger graphics card is 100% wasted. For non-games usage (outside of a handful of specialised apps) on-board graphics or at most a very cheap graphics card is every bit as good as an expensive white elephant card.

Tannin, thanks for your input, I may have gone over the top selecting this card, it was only $60 more than the standard card so I thought why not. I am not a big computer gamer, but I do enjoy the odd game of Call of Duty etc...Not sure what card I would require to play the lastest versions of games such as that?

Thanks,

Steve

drsmith · 3 September 2012

Steve C said:
Can anyone confirm if the graphics card selected can hook up two monitors?

If it's the GT 640 as indicated on Nvidia's website, I would be very suprised if it couldn't.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt640/product-images

Steve C · 3 September 2012

drsmith said:
If it's the GT 640 as indicated on Nvidia's website, I would be very suprised if it couldn't.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt640/product-images

Thanks Dr Smith - greatly appreciated.

Tannin · 3 September 2012

Steve, that's around a $150 card (depending on brand and so on). Not by any means required but - agreeing with Dr Smith here - it will serve you very well for what you are after and at that price won't break the bank. (Some people spend $800 on a graphics card to run Firefox and a spreadsheet. No joke.)

Logique · 4 September 2012

Liking the idea of SSDs raised in here. Power efficient, but still expensive per MB.

I never look further than 3 yrs ahead on computer specs. Still think Steve C. you're buying more computer than you need, but hey it's your dollar.

chrislp · 4 September 2012

Steve C said:
Tannin, thanks for your input, I may have gone over the top selecting this card, it was only $60 more than the standard card so I thought why not. I am not a big computer gamer, but I do enjoy the odd game of Call of Duty etc...Not sure what card I would require to play the lastest versions of games such as that?

Thanks,

Steve

You are much better off getting the GTX 550Ti for gaming especially with the resolution that monitor in your list runs at. The GT 640 is a budget card & won't perform well with newer games.

drsmith · 4 September 2012

One thing to consider with a higher end GPU in a stock system is its power consumption. The PSU may also have to be reconsidered as well.

pixel · 4 September 2012

Steve C said:
Can anyone confirm if the graphics card selected can hook up two monitors?

Hi Steve,

I've finally got around to checking the video card in my 2 year-old 64 bit machine.
It's an ATI Radeon HD 4550 that connects two monitors with any combination of three connectors:
HDMI
DVI
VGA

In over 2 years, it hasn't missed a beat, whether it's multi-charts, training videos, or the HD movies at ABC iView (when the wife wants to watch Poirot while the Footy is on Seven ;-)) OK, I'm not a gamer.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/pc_components/amd/ati_radeon_hd_4550/264357

suggests it's of limited use for gaming, and lists a few alternatives. Check them out yourself.

New computer - opinions

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Logique

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