Planning new build

[richardt]

The computer I built a little over 2 years ago, with help from these forums, is still going strong, but the need for speed has hit me and I'm ready for something with real speed.

I'm still in the planning stages. Although I've looked at motherboards and processors, I haven't firmly decided on anything. Here is how I use my computer:

1) Quickbooks. I'm an accountant, so I use Quickbooks every day. The 2007 version is very slow to start, and I'm hoping a faster processor with dual core will change that.

2) Internet and email. I use Firefox and Outlook Express I never use IE unless I want to visit a website that requires it, and there are a few. I'm sure there are better email programs out there, but so far Outlook Express does what I need. I use lots of Message Rules to sort messages into folders.

3) No gaming or 3D graphics. About all I do with gaming is Hearts and maybe Solitaire now and then. And Pinball! But not very much of this anyway.

4) Online currency trading. This involves real-time charts of price action and the broker's trading station to place and monitor the trade. These programs will run all the time. Involves as many monitors as I have available.

5) Microsoft Office 2000. I use Word and Excel all the time, and sometimes Access.

6) When I participate in an online seminar I like to record the screen and speakers so I have a record of it. I have the software for this.

Further, I always have many of the above going on at the same time, plus all the background stuff like AVG, CounterSpy, and Kerio firewall. (The last two products from Sunbelt Software.)

My current setup has 3 monitors, and I often feel too cramped with that. I want my new computer to be capable of using up to 6 monitors, although I may settle for 5 due to space limitations.

I want to limit my costs on the new build as follows:

CPU $175 - $225
Mobo $150 - $250
Graphics cards $75 - $100 each (3 of them, matching)
HD nothing really pricey, 200GB or so, maybe more

I'll decide on case, power supply, DVD/CD drive, and so on after the above is planned out fully.

I believe my desire for 3 identical graphics cards limits my options on motherboards. What I've seen is that few mobos have enough PCI express slots for this, so I've decided to go with PCI graphics cards. Another possible twist in this is that I could get a mobo with an AGP port, and then get only 2 graphics cards, thus allowing a max of 5 monitors.

I'm wondering...

1) Intel or AMD? I'm using an AMD Athlon 64 2800+ now.
2) Is is possible to get a mobo that uses two dual-core cpus in place of the more expensive quad core? If I did that, would I notice a difference?
3) ATI or NVidia?
4) Am I pricing any part of it too low?
5) What should I be thinking about but haven't mentioned?

If you've read this far, thanks for reading my long post, and I welcome your comments.

[Krazeee]

Depending on what your 2yr old system is like, this might be a very useful article to you. It was to me. I was looking at spending about 2k on a new system in the near future, only to find out that the socket types were going to change in less than a year.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/08/23/how_to_spend_money_on_component_upgrades/

[richardt]

To Krazeee ... That is an interesting article. Thanks. I forgot to mention that I will be keeping my old computer up and working as I still have a use for it. The new one is not an upgrade - it's a complete new computer. Also, having a computer is so vital for my work that I want to have two working computers in case one crashes at a bad time.

[Cricket]

Why do you need 3 video cards? Most of today's video card support 2 monitors so getting 2 video cards will give you support for 4 monitors...unless you want 6 monitors.

:) Cricket

[richardt]

I want to build a system that can support 5 or 6 monitors. I can use that many.

[flanzig1]

For more than 4 monitors, would look at Matrox video cards: http://matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/products/home.php
For a CPU, would look at the Q6600 quad core, they are under $300 at Newegg. Better bang for the buck over 2 Dual cores(2 E6420 C2Ds will be close to $400).

[Gen.Ben]

For the Processor, I'd go intel. Like flanzig1 said, I'd go for a Q6600 Quad core from Intel, they are a very good deal and will only require a normal motherboard.

Unlike two Dual core processors, that would require a pricey motherboard and two processors. That would be much more.

I would also look at a Matrox setup, as they are very good for a multiple monitor setup. If you cant get your hands on a Matrox setup, Three PCI x1550's would be great for your needs. Just make sure you get a good motherboard with enough PCI slots.

You should get at least 2GB of memory, 4GB would be even better for the kind of multi tasking you do.

[Gen.Ben]

Also, if you do get 4GB+ of memory you will need a 64-Bit Operating system for your computer to recognize all 4GB.

[richardt]

To Flanzig1 and Gen.Ben ... Thanks for the excellent advice. I never knew about Matrox. That looks like what I need. And that Q6600 looks great. Much appreciated.

I may go with a 64 bit version of Vista, but I need to check if the software I want will be compatible. Or, do I even NEED 64-bit? Will I be able to take advantage of it? I know about the 3GB limit on memory if one is using a 32-bit OS. I still need to study about Vista, as there are so many versions. I'm looking at probably Home Premium or Ultimate, in either 32 bit or 64.

[Gen.Ben]

I think 32-Bit would be the best for compatibility reasons, also, your not going to be gaming, so you dont need directX10... so you really don't need Vista. But if you would like to go with vista, thats fine too, but you might run into some compatibility issues with vista in general.

If I were you, since you do so much multi tasking, I'd get 3GB of memory if you were getting a 32 bit os (2x 1GB and 2x 512mb)

Also, with such a huge multi monitor setup, you might want to look at the program "UltraMon" It makes a multi monitor setup very nice and has features that windows SHOULD have to begin with.

Also, the Matrox setup is very expensive, It would be nice but I think 3 PCI cards (x1550) would be just as effective and cheaper. Alot cheaper. If you are going to go with a Matrox setup, Go for one beefy PCIe card like a x1950xt if you are going to be powering two TripleHead2Go's

[richardt]

Ok. I'm leaning toward 32-bit, maybe Vista, maybe XP Pro. 3GB is good. I'll check out UltraMon.

You're right about Matrox. I checked the website. The cards will definitely do what I want, but the prices are higher. I will look at other options before I spend the big bucks.

I want to get three identical graphics cards and put them in 3 identical slots. I could not find any motherboard that accepts Quad core that also has 3 PCIe x16 slots. There is one ASUS board (P5K64) that has 4 PCIe x16 slots, but it doesn't take Quad core. Then I found one MSI board (P6N Diamond) that could run 3 PCIe cards at x8, which I believe would be totally satisfactory for my setup. I'm guessing that I don't need the extra bandwidth that x16 provides.

Except for that MSI board, I've found that in general the Quad core boards don't offer a sufficient number of identical slots to do what I want. It's either the MSI board with the Q6600 or the Asus P5K64 with a core 2 duo, maybe the E6750.

I'm not ready to buy all of this yet. Maybe by the time I am ready (2-3 months) there will be some new mobos available.