[Obsidian]

When you compare prices, check the mainboard (asus and gigabyte preferred)...and check if gfx card is on-board or separate

Custom Build Gaming PC, Desktop PC, Custom Computers, Gaming Laptops looks like a good website

[TheNegotiator]

Originally Posted by Obsidian »

When you compare prices, check the mainboard (asus and gigabyte preferred)...and check if gfx card is on-board or separate

Custom Build Gaming PC, Desktop PC, Custom Computers, Gaming Laptops looks like a good website

I've heard of them before but no experience as such. Just make sure you read reviews from somewhere you trust before you spend your money.

[bathrobe]

I just built an i5 2500 system for around 500$. I am not doing overclocking so the k does not matter for me. Trading is no where near as intensive as gaming so any chip with four cores would work

[TheNegotiator]

Good point bathrobe. However, if you were going down the road of a self build(and I would remark if you have never done it before and don't have a good backup pc, it could be very frustrating and time consuming), the difference in price here in the UK between retail 2500&2500K chips is about £10 and you can actually get an OEM 2500K(1yr warranty as opposed to 3yr and no stock cooler) chip ever so slightly cheaper than a retail 2500. Basically though, the chips are exactly the same, but because the manufacturing process isn't 100% consistent, Intel(and many other chip manufacturers) grade the resulting chips. Many are disgarded completely. Others in this example become 2500 or 2500K or 2500T etc depending on their ability to handle voltage (and temperature). Thus, a 2500K is at stock speeds more likely to be reliable and have a better lifetime. Imho, £10 extra is therefore worthwhile.

Either way, Intel will likely be reducing prices of sandybridge chips between April and say July time anyway to account for possible lower demand due to the new 22nm Ivybridge processors being released. If I were looking to do a new budget self build, I'd hold off for a bit if I could.

Edit: I forgot to say that actually the onchip graphics core is a slightly higher spec in the 2500k aswell, although this still doesn't mean that it is particularly powerful!!

[Marubozu]

i5 Processor 3.3 GHz
6GB RAM
1TB Hard Drive
2 HEAD 1GB ATI Radeon Graphics Card
2 x 24″ Full HD Monitors
Windows 7 Professional

[TheNegotiator]

Wow. Sorry Marubozu, but even with 2x24" monitors that is very pricey for an i5 pc.

[TheNegotiator]

by my reckoning, those parts(educated guess at specifics) sell retail at about £1175. So they are making at least £600. Seems expensive. A very similarly speced dell will set you back £528.99 inc vat/shipping. Plus your 2x24" and you have a whopping total of let's call it £850. Despite not being "highly configured" for trading, I know which I'd choose.

Edit: sorry I didn't point out that the system in question according to the TiG website costs £1750.

[Perrin]

I got my PC from pcspecialist.co.uk. I didn't have any problems. You can select the various parts that you want to have in your pc (e.g. how much ram, hard disk, etc) and they build it for you. The only down side might be if you don't know much about computers or computer parts. I had to do some googling to find out what some things were. I ended up spending more than I initially planned because you look at the options (eg 4gb, 8gb, 12gb) and, in my case at least, I ended up picking the larger / faster / better / cooler looking parts

I agree with comments from TheNegotiator and bathrobe that trading does not require an expensive gaming pc. It's nice to have a gaming pc for gaming But if you want a trading pc, it does not have to be top of the range.

I would agree that two monitors is useful, but in no way essential. For a long time I did not have two monitors. Now, with two, I have one monitor with (for example) the weekly chart on, and the second monitor with the daily chart. That's what I do when I am going through my list of possible trading stocks. It's a time saver more than anything, so I don't have to switch from the weekly to daily chart - as they are both there in front of me. The other useful thing is I can play poker on one screen while typing this (or reading Traders Laboratory) on the other screen It just gives you more room to do things on.