Advice for a new system...

[EricJapan]

Hey Guys

I'm going to either buy or build a new system and I wanted to get some
advice. What I need is a bit unique so I don't think buying a system
already made will help me very much.

I need a desktop that will support 3 monitors. I have an internet
business and I have a ton of windows open and need to drag and drop a
lot. That's one requirement.

I want 2 gigs or RAM as long as it's not too expensive, meaning not
more than twice as much as 1 gig.

I won't be doing any big video programs, and I don't need any special
sound cards. From time to time I watch a DVD or an MPEG file but
that's about it. I don't really listen to musc on my PC and I don't
play games.

Most of what I do is creating web pages (no video or sound) and
updating products. I use email a lot and Word documents. I use Adobe
Photoshop to do light editing for pictures. Nothing fancy, but when I
have 5-6 programs open at once I need something that can handle it
easily.

Everythig else is pretty much standard except for size, like the hard
drive and DVD-Rom, Windows XP, wireless LAN, etc. These are things I
can just add on.

So, any tips? Is there a good place that you know of that can custom
build? Mostly it's the issue with the monitors. I've been reading up
on it and it looks like there are sometimes conflicts with the video
cards that might be too much for me to understand. But, other places
don't really offer tri-monitor set-ups as an option. If you recommend
that I give it a try myself, any tips on that?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Marc Hulsebosch]

Hey Guys

I want 2 gigs or RAM as long as it's not too expensive, meaning not
more than twice as much as 1 gig.

Using twice as much RAM will only be more expansive if you have less
than 4 slots on your motherboard: in that case you will have to buy 2x1
GB, wich is usually more expansive than 4x 512.

I won't be doing any big video programs, and I don't need any special
sound cards. From time to time I watch a DVD or an MPEG file but
that's about it. I don't really listen to musc on my PC and I don't
play games.

Then i would use the onboard soundcard, and a simple budget graphics
card. Wich brand is up to you, though i would recommend Nvidia, because
i have experience with their multi-monitor options and i find those
quite good. If you choose a motherboard with onboard video, you might be
able to use that one too, and use three monitors with one graphics card.