4 monitor workstation used for trading and financial modelling

I'm looking to put together a workstation. Cost is not a concern although cheaper is obviously better and I'm not looking to throw away money for insignificant performance gains.

General usage includes all of the following simultaneously on a daily basis.
- Real time trading applications
- Computational intensive financial modeling and simulations(unfortunately the main model is currently single threaded)
- streaming video, web surfing, outlook, very large excel worksheets, word, !ACT, local SQL server, XP in windows 7 virtual machine, ect

I have 4 monitors, three 24 inch and one 30 inch(I will likely swap out a 24 and add a 30). I'm currently running an NVS 450(seems slow? but maybe maybe system?) Do I need to replace with a better graphics card?
I would like to upgrade the CPU to the i9 when it comes out so I'm thinking pairing a i7 920 with a top of the line motherboard. I have no problem OCing.

I need applications and data files to be extremely responsive without any load times. In my business speed is essential and even the loss of a couple of seconds could be critical. I either want to go with SSDs in RAID O(new intels MLC or the vertex MLC) or go with the new OCZ Z drive as the main drive. I already own 2 WD Raptors 300s I can use as storage drives.
I also want something that is extremely quiet.

Other than than the video card and WD drives, my hardware is old and needs to be replaced. Complete system build ideas would be a tremendous help and would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced for your help.

Jeff

You probably won't need to OC, but I agree with the cores. 4 minimum and 6 would be great. You don't need a top-end MB, as far as X58 goes, just a decent one.

Raptors are old tech and not that fast. Just grab a 640GB Caviar Black to replace them... get a retail one with the full warranty.

SSD is still pretty new. Here is what I am seeing. I know you want a "G2" version of the Intel drive for maximum performance and less degradation.

I see two versions for sale, and the only difference I am seeing is the retail box and some mounting hardware.... and a $220 price jump.

Retail box at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820167024

Barebones drive at zipzoomfly:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10010798

Intel product description:
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/re [...] /index.htm

Anand's one-page comparison of G1 and G2:
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] =3631&p=11

(I'm not just researching for you, no need to get all grateful )

As to your MB:
This Asus P6T has 8 SATA ports
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

This Gigabyte UD5 has 10 ports and may be the best choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product


As to video card... wait a few weeks. The next gen ATI cards will support up to 6 monitors all on the same desktop.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3635

Is there any benefit going with a super high end mother board? I want this machine to last for a long time and I don't have a problem upgrading CPUs which I intend to do to the i9 when it comes out. Something like this ?

EVGA 141-BL-E769-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 Extended ATX SLI Classified Hydro Copper Intel Motherboard - Retail

I'm also completely lost in terms of cases. Does anyone have an idea of something of reasonable size and extremely quiet with good airflow. I'm going to want OC whatever I have but only with heatsink + air.

Also seems like super high end PSU is worth it. Is there a specific one that is the best ? Thanks again for your time and help.

Thanks again for your help. Do you think this makes sense + is everything compatible? Would you change anything here?

Case: COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU: Antec Signature SG650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply - Retail

Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

MB: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail

Primary HD Option 1: 2 x Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM

Primary HD Option 2: OCZ TECHNOLOGY OCZSSDPCIE-1ZDRV250G Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD

Seconary HD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Graphics Card: New 70xx 6 Monitor Radian Card.

Thanks. Is there any real benefit to going to 12gb of RAM? What's going to be the botleneck on this machine? Thanks again.

Great. Thanks everyone. I'm going to go ahead and order everything except the video card and hard drive as I intend to get the new ATI card and an OCZ PCI Zdrive as my main HD. I'll use my raptors and NVS 450 in until they are available. Anything I'm missing or doing incorrectly here? Thanks.

If you really do get the ZDrive PLEASE post the benchmarks for it. Overall, good build. Also DO NOT go RAID0. Go RAID 01/10. If one drive fails on a RAID0 array you're sunk. Also consider a RAID5 array + a good backup plan for your DATA (assuming this is a mission critical build/data). It's fine to just go RAID1/01 for your OS/programs. If you want a quiet system, it may be worth it to consider these fans: YateLoon, Scythe Slipstream, Scythe SFlex, Noctua.
Check out reviews here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html and http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page1.html
(Note: They don't mention the YateLoons but they are popular with the WCing arena due to a good noise to CFM ratio. ). Also investing in a good fan controller may be a good idea.

Thanks again for the help everyone. I got everything put together and have been running the computer all day.Very quiet! It runs at about 43C under normal conditions (all my apps running). Is this okay? As for the graphics card, will this support 4 graphics cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Thanks.

its reading about 42-43 with real time trading apps running, outlook, excel, word, streaming video and some random apps. What do you think the best option is for 4 monitors. Currently 3 24 and 1 30. This NVS 450 is horrible. Thanks.

SAPPHIRE 100270SR Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] =4850%20x2 ($239.99)

Has 4 DVI connectors

Cheaper option;

(2) HIS Hightech H467QT512P Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product ($149.98)

Correct that I am not gaming.

Unfortunately 30" takes either 2 DVIs or a displayport(which I am currently utilizing with the NVS 450).

I ran prime95 for a half hour earlier and it average around 60C.