Hi. Can I get some help with specs for my new PC? Having struggled playing on my laptop for the last 2 years it's finally time to upgrade.

He's what I need: a system that can comfortablely 12 table (some of this play will be on Betfair which uses more memory that other sites - my laptop can't cope with it). I'll be having HEM running and I want to support 2x 30" monitors (although I'll be starting off only with one). Other uses of the PC will be standard home computing (no gaming). I want to keep the cost down as much as possible, but am happy to spend where needed or recomended.

I've got a rough idea of what I might need and the system below is one that I've drawn up. I've got a few specific questions about it:

1) Does it look about right? Is it balanced? Am I spending too much in one area and not enough in another?

2) From speaking to people it seems that multiple hard drives are the way forward - one standard one and one faster one for HEM. I've got a few options here:

(i) The system below is for one standard 500GB ATA and one superduper 120GB SSD. (£375)
(ii) Two 300GB Velociraptors would cost £310 - about the same price as option (i), so which is better?
(iii) The standard 500GB ATA and a 250GB SSD would cost £585
(iv) I could go stupidly overboard and have a 300GB velociraptor and a 250GB SSD for about £730
(v) The cheapest option would be the 500GB ATA and a 300GB Velociraptor for £165

Is the 500GB ATA good enough for everyday use? If I go with a SSD is 120GB big enough?

3) Is the processor suitable?

4) 4GB v 8GB RAM?

5) How's the video card? Suitable for dual 30" monitors? I won't be gaming at all.

6) Anything else I should be considering?

Ok so here's the system (with a few extras not shown below it works out at about £1000):

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q8200 (2.33GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
8GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR 1066MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY (4x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (£88)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX SERIES SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 250MB/sR | 180MB/sW)

Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8400GS PCI EXPRESS

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio PCI Express


Thanks - in advance - for your help.

mrpink

As I recall, that graphics card can't handle a 30" at full resolution. I think stepping up to a 9500 or a 9600 would work though.

I also don't use and haven't ever used an SSD but as I understand there are detractors which include obvious price-per-GB considerations and the fact that there is no analogue to defragging a standard HDD, and thus when an SSD slows you need to reformat (I could be wrong about this last part, I just know what I have read). I honestly think that a 7200-rpm is completely adequate, but understand if people feel the need for more juice. I prefer the Velociraptor option personally (if you MUST go faster), but I think others here will be better informed on those options than myself.

4GB would be fine by most accounts, though if that ends up not being adequate, you can always add more in later.

Processor seems fine. It isn't the fastest beast out there, but it should be plenty fast and would be a very solid multitasker.

Get the SSD, it's not close. 99% of the people who say otherwise haven't tried it.

I'd definitely get 8gb since it seems to be the direction where the industry is going.

If you gonna get SSD, get Summit instead of Vertex. Its a new line, very similar to Vertex but a little cheaper. The problem with SSD is I'd ideally like about 300Gb for a DB, 120 does not seem quite enough if you plan on data mining and playing on different sites.

A 30 inch monitor with a 2560 by 1600 resolution, requires something really special (compared to ALL other 22-26 inch 1920 by 1200 monitors):
a videocard with a DVI-DL (dual link) port. So you'll need a videocard with two of those. (or with one HDMI and one DVI-DL)
Most new videocards have that, but I'm not sure if the GEFORCE 8400GS does.

Get a SSD. Option (i) is best: one standard 500GB ATA and one 120GB SSD. (you could consider 2x 30 GB SSD in RAID0, it's cheaper and faster.. but only totals 60 GB... or get a Intel X25-M Postville 80 GB!)


Pokerdatase on a SSD - more SSD info here

Thanks for the help so far.

About the video card: what's my best option? The site that are building the PC appear to offer three video card series (ranging in size from 512MG to 2GB):-

NVIDIA GEFORCE SERIES (ranging from the 9400GT to the 9800GT)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS/GTX SERIES (ranging from the GTS250 to the GTX295)
ATI RADEON HD 4000 SERIES (ranging from the 4350 to 4870X2)

Where do I fit in this scale? I only need it to cope with 2x 30" for poker. I wont be gaming or anything similar.

Thanks again.

mrpink

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: July '09

+Radeon HD 4650 512 MB
++GeForce 9600 GT
+++Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
++++Radeon HD 4870 512 MB

The Sapphire VAPOR-X series (for Radeon HD 4xxx) is very quiet, the GeForce 9600 series can be found with 2x DVI-DL and passively cooled: no fan = no sound. Cheapest still great videocard would be the Radeon 4650, get a R4850 if it's within your budget (or a cheaper 4770)

These appear to be the specs I'll be going with. Any final changes necessary? I've included some of the extra bits I'm ordering to make sure those appear to be inline with the rest of the system:-

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9400 (2.66GHz) 1333MHz FSB (Special Offer)

Memory (RAM)
8GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR 1066MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY (4x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (£86)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX SERIES SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 250MB/sR | 180MB/sW)

1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Graphics Card
512MB ATI RADEON™ HD 4850 PCI EXPRESS

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio PCI Express

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£24)

Processor Cooling
ARCTIC COOLING FREEZER 7 PRO QUIET INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Cordless 1500 Keyboard & Rechargeable Mouse (£38)

Surge Protection
Belkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector with £25,000 Protection! (£8)

Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return