Alright, my friend's dad has come to me because he wants a new computer because his Dell just isn't cutting it anymore. At first I figured I could wip up something decent on Newegg for his basic needs for $350-400ish, until he tells me that he wants to run 4 monitors.
=O
He does stock market stuff using his laptop and regular computer at the same time, but I guess he wants to go all the way and have a huge setup. I would tell him that's a bit excessive, but he said that's what he wants, and I'm getting paid, so how can I complain?
His wants:
-Needs to be able to handle 4 monitors
-Wants a bright/weird colored case
-Needs to be fast (I think his perception has been skewed by that POS Dell he has)
-120GB hard drive is good enough
-One disc drive is good enough
-No fancy sound card required
-$1000 tops (just for the tower, nothing else)
Here's what I came up with
Admittedly I haven't kept up on computer hardware as rigidly as I used to, but I feel I still have a grasp on what's decent. At first I ended up at $1100, but realized that, while this thing is running 4 monitors, this isn't a gaming machine and the biggest thing that's going to be running is stock software. So I turned it down a little, and here are my choices (in order of the Newegg list):
Raidmax Green Case - I've always recommended (and myself use) this case to other people, although I usually choose black It's very solid, comes with decent fans, and has plenty of room for fan expansion. Not sure if I should stick with the old put one fan on the side sucking, and one on the back blowing out, or if I should get a fan or two more. Need some help here, because I've never dealt with running two video cards before. And that color green was about the funkiest color I could find.
ASUS SLI Mobo - Best rated in that price range, and I know ASUS is always top of the line. I also considered saving some money and going with the Gigabyte equivalent. Keep in mind that it doesn't need to be some wicked overclocking board. Should I save some money and go with the Gigabyte?
2x eVGA 6600GTs - One of the things I was sketchy about. I really don't know if this card is the best bang for the buck these days. I've got one myself, and it's awesome, and eVGA has probably the best tech support and warranty service I've ever encountered. I'm iffy because I don't think that this level of video card is needed for what he's going to be doing. Need opinions on this big time.
500W Antec PSU - I think Antec has always been considered the best/one of the best power supplies you can buy. I think 500 watts is plenty since we're not running two monster video cards here.
Athlon64 3700 939 - I was contemplating dual core, but decided against because there's no money room here, and I think that if my 3000 is still kicking most video games' asses, a 3700 should be able to handle stocks.
2x512MB Corsair RAM - Only issue here I can see is if I should step it up and go with 1.5-2gb instead of just 1
Hitachi 250GB - There's always ****** over Maxtor/Seagate/WD, but I've never really heard anything bad about Hitachi. And now your only options are 80, 160, 250 or above, so I decided to spend a little more than a 160 and get something that will last a long time
Samsung DVD Burner - Again, best rated one. I don't think there's a wide variety of options when it comes to this anyway.
Not much else to say. Comes out to $850 shipped to 91344, which he'll be happy about. My one big question is: can you even run 4 monitors at once? I've done dual monitors on one video card, and an SLI setup with one monitor, but never 4 monitors on 2 cards. I doubt it's a problem, but you can never be too sure.
Also, he needs 3 more 17 inch monitors. What's the best bang for the buck when it comes to this? Just from looking at popularity/rating on Newegg, these two seem to be the best option: Samsung and Viewsonic.
Sorry if there's little grammar/spelling mistakes. I'm tired
=O
He does stock market stuff using his laptop and regular computer at the same time, but I guess he wants to go all the way and have a huge setup. I would tell him that's a bit excessive, but he said that's what he wants, and I'm getting paid, so how can I complain?
His wants:
-Needs to be able to handle 4 monitors
-Wants a bright/weird colored case
-Needs to be fast (I think his perception has been skewed by that POS Dell he has)
-120GB hard drive is good enough
-One disc drive is good enough
-No fancy sound card required
-$1000 tops (just for the tower, nothing else)
Here's what I came up with
Admittedly I haven't kept up on computer hardware as rigidly as I used to, but I feel I still have a grasp on what's decent. At first I ended up at $1100, but realized that, while this thing is running 4 monitors, this isn't a gaming machine and the biggest thing that's going to be running is stock software. So I turned it down a little, and here are my choices (in order of the Newegg list):
Raidmax Green Case - I've always recommended (and myself use) this case to other people, although I usually choose black It's very solid, comes with decent fans, and has plenty of room for fan expansion. Not sure if I should stick with the old put one fan on the side sucking, and one on the back blowing out, or if I should get a fan or two more. Need some help here, because I've never dealt with running two video cards before. And that color green was about the funkiest color I could find.
ASUS SLI Mobo - Best rated in that price range, and I know ASUS is always top of the line. I also considered saving some money and going with the Gigabyte equivalent. Keep in mind that it doesn't need to be some wicked overclocking board. Should I save some money and go with the Gigabyte?
2x eVGA 6600GTs - One of the things I was sketchy about. I really don't know if this card is the best bang for the buck these days. I've got one myself, and it's awesome, and eVGA has probably the best tech support and warranty service I've ever encountered. I'm iffy because I don't think that this level of video card is needed for what he's going to be doing. Need opinions on this big time.
500W Antec PSU - I think Antec has always been considered the best/one of the best power supplies you can buy. I think 500 watts is plenty since we're not running two monster video cards here.
Athlon64 3700 939 - I was contemplating dual core, but decided against because there's no money room here, and I think that if my 3000 is still kicking most video games' asses, a 3700 should be able to handle stocks.
2x512MB Corsair RAM - Only issue here I can see is if I should step it up and go with 1.5-2gb instead of just 1
Hitachi 250GB - There's always ****** over Maxtor/Seagate/WD, but I've never really heard anything bad about Hitachi. And now your only options are 80, 160, 250 or above, so I decided to spend a little more than a 160 and get something that will last a long time
Samsung DVD Burner - Again, best rated one. I don't think there's a wide variety of options when it comes to this anyway.
Not much else to say. Comes out to $850 shipped to 91344, which he'll be happy about. My one big question is: can you even run 4 monitors at once? I've done dual monitors on one video card, and an SLI setup with one monitor, but never 4 monitors on 2 cards. I doubt it's a problem, but you can never be too sure.
Also, he needs 3 more 17 inch monitors. What's the best bang for the buck when it comes to this? Just from looking at popularity/rating on Newegg, these two seem to be the best option: Samsung and Viewsonic.
Sorry if there's little grammar/spelling mistakes. I'm tired