Budget Trading System- Complete Noob

[daviand]

Approximate Purchase Date: Some time in the next few months- not in a hurry

Budget Range: As little as possible, not really sure- 400 or 500?

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Stock Trading with the ability to play HD in my living room

Parts Not Required: Already have a PX2370 Monitor, only want 1 monitor to trade with for now at least.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Pretty much anywhere, I know Newegg, Amazon and Tiger Direct can be good but am not too picky

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Not necessary?

Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Additional Comments: I really do not know where to start but I have found this cpu:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1165016&CatId=1946
and this graphics card:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=747628&Sku=P450-9619
Are they good/would they be good in this situation?
I'm not really sure on how to pick out a good motherboard, but I know that I will need a lot of ram (8+?) and that an SSD will probably be unnecessary. I will use Metastock Pro and will not really need to save a ton of data so I'm thinking 500 GB will be plenty (I have an external hard drive for the movies)

 

[daviand]

I also found this motherboard: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=744425&CatId=5528
case:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Window-RC-310-OWN1-GP-Orange/dp/B002XIST1Y/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322515411&sr=1-3
ram:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=7162756&sku=K24-9918
power supply:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4362113&sku=O261-2016
Would that be a good power supply to use?
dvd drive:
http://www.amazon.com/Lite--LightScribe-Layer-Drive-IHAS424-98/dp/B002SIMPXM/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322515569&sr=1-1

For the hard drive, I will probably get a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda Green once the prices drop again (I bought a 2 TB Barracuda Green over the summer and haven't had problems with it so far). What would be a good inexpensive case to buy? What cooling should I get on top of the one with the cpu? Would it be better to buy a cpu with a gpu included?

Would it be worth it to pay another $30 for this cpu over the 631?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FVNC0Q?linkCode=xm2&tag=invihand-20

 

[g-unit1111]

No - with AMD go 990FX or not at all - most AMD motherboards are already 2 or 3 generations behind the comparative Intel hardware (H61/P61/P67). The only AMD chipset that can even remotely begin to compete with SB is the 990FX and variants.

If you want a trading station you want the fastest and most reliable system you can. Any failures will result in tremendous downtime for you and could result in lost revenue. You also don't want to skimp on the power supply - lost downtime again.

For the hard drive, I will probably get a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda Green once the prices drop again (I bought a 2 TB Barracuda Green over the summer and haven't had problems with it so far).

For a primary drive - no. 5900 RPM hard drives will slow your system to a crawl. It's perfectly fine to use as a secondary drive if you get an SSD to use as your primary, but using a 5900 RPM hard drive is a big no no.

What would be a good inexpensive case to buy?

My personal recommendations would be the Antec 300 Illusion or the Cooler Master HAF 912 - both can be had for around $60.

What cooling should I get on top of the one with the cpu?

The Hyper 212 is usually one of the best choices you can get for not a lot of money.

Would it be better to buy a cpu with a gpu included?

Not really. The only time I would recommend it would be to get the AMD Llano series, but even then I'd still recommend SB with a dedicated GPU. Especially if you're going to setup multiple monitors in the long run.

Would it be worth it to pay another $30 for this cpu over the 631?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B [...] nvihand-20

The 1055 is a great CPU but if I were you I'd seriously take a look at the i3-2100 - it's one of the best price / performance CPUs on the market.

Try this - it's pretty similar to what I use.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX600 - $69.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P - $154.99
CPU: 3.10GHz Intel Core i3-2100 - $124.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 - $25.99
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw 8GB 1600MHz - $42.99
SSD: 64GB Crucial M4 - $111.99
HD: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue - $109.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 - $144.99
Keyboard / Mouse: Logitech MK260 - $28.99
Optical: Lite On 24X DVD Burner - $17.99
OS: Windows 7 Pro - $139.99

Total: $1039

 

[daviand]

So basically the pecking order for components should be CPU/Motherboard first, then RAM, GPU, etc?

The reason why I initially chose the 631/1055 because they ranked higher than the i3 on cpubenchmark.net. (12% lower than the 631, 24% lower than the 1055 and cost about the same) If I did get a 990 FX motherboard, would that make the 1055 a better buy?

Since I am only looking to use 1 monitor, would the graphics card I initially mentioned be alright or would I need to go to something higher like a GeForce GT 340?

I like the rest of your build, however I'm not sure how badly I will need a SSD. I know they are very fast but I don't know if I would want one on my budget.

 

[daviand]

Best answer selected by daviand.

 

[g-unit1111]

So basically the pecking order for components should be CPU/Motherboard first, then RAM, GPU, etc?

Yes. You want the CPU and motherboard first, then everything else falls into place.

The reason why I initially chose the 631/1055 because they ranked higher than the i3 on cpubenchmark.net. (12% lower than the 631, 24% lower than the 1055 and cost about the same) If I did get a 990 FX motherboard, would that make the 1055 a better buy?

The biggest problem with those types of benchmarks where they throw everything into a huge pot like that is you don't know what other equipment they will use to test the CPU with. They could use the best CPU on the market and pair it with a crappy video card, slow memory, things of that nature.

The higher-core CPUs always test better in those situations but if you take a higher end SB CPU like the i3 and pair it with some pretty decent hardware it will balance out in the end.

Since I am only looking to use 1 monitor, would the graphics card I initially mentioned be alright or would I need to go to something higher like a GeForce GT 340?

No. The lower end Geforce cards are meant for HTPCs where you're going to be streaming internet video and doing nothing else. Go for at the bare minimum - the Radeon 6790, but for a few bucks more you can get a 6850.

I like the rest of your build, however I'm not sure how badly I will need a SSD. I know they are very fast but I don't know if I would want one on my budget.

I will admit they're nice to have but if you don't need it you can definitely skip it at first and add one in later if you feel you need to.

 

[daviand]

Thanks for the response, g-unit. It was very helpful!