SFF system spec please

Stephen7372 · 1 Mar 2006 at 13:33

I would like a SFF computer with a 3GHz or better processor be capable of supporting 2 monitors. 1Gb +Ram small hard disk Lan port. That's about it. erm no real graphics power required It's for financial trading software.

Thanks in eager anticipation !

GAMEfreak · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:06

3ghz or better? why? you want it to be fast? what has clock speed got to do with it when you get down to it? amd chips are just as good as intel chips if you ask me ,so i dont think you should really measure performance by clock speed. its a decent yardstick thats true, but it should only only really be used to distinguish between chips in the same family. amd chips are just as good as intel, so dont be put off by low Ghz ratings.

Stephen7372 · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:19

Ok Pentium 4 3Ghz or more powerful

this needed to run the trading software

semi-pro waster · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:56

You don't give a budget but this could be suitable. I was going to use the onboard graphics but because you need two monitors I can't do that.

FS-047-SH Shuttle XPC ST20G5 Aluminium Barebones System - AMD 64 (Socket 939) (FS-047-SH)
£209.95 £209.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
CP-150-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)
£122.95 £122.95
HD-051-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 80GB ST3808110AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-051-SE)
£32.95 £32.95
CD-028-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-028-NE)
£27.95 £27.95
GX-098-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X550 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-098-SP)
£34.95 £34.95
Subtotal £538.70
VAT £94.28
Total £632.98

Stephen7372 · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:00

Thanks will the Radeon definately support dual screen ??

Stephen7372 · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:01

Could you put a dual core 3800+ would it be much better ?

semi-pro waster · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:07

The specifications don't actually clear it up any more but every picture has 2x outputs(DVI and analogue) and I've yet to come across any normal card(not half height etc) newer than about 3 years old that doesn't have dual outputs.

You could put in a dual core but it is only better if you are going to be multitasking, if you only ever have one task at a time then single core is just as good. The X2 3800 is a good CPU and should overclock well but at stock will be slower than the 3700 San Diego for single tasks, it is effectively 2x3200s on one chip.

Monstermunch · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:00

This would be much better, Dual core chip, more HDD space, 512mb gfx card(better for supporting 2 monitors):

CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£182.95 £182.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£61.95 £61.95
GX-066-XF XFX GeForce 7300 GS 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT72G-WANG) (GX-066-XF)
£41.95 £41.95
HD-055-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 120GB 1200JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-055-WD)
£43.95 £43.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£65.95 £65.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
Subtotal £531.65
VAT £93.04
Total £624.69

& Cheaper. IMO the barebones systems are a waste of money!

semi-pro waster · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:12

Monstermunch said:
This would be much better, Dual core chip, more HDD space, 512mb gfx card(better for supporting 2 monitors):

Out of interest why dual core if not multitasking? It makes very little difference right now since most software isn't coded to take advantage of the dual cores and in fact may even be slower.
The 7300gs uses some system memory at least, it says it supports "up to 512mb Ram" so isn't a true 512mb card. I can't find out how much onboard memory it does have though, not that 512mb is needed for simply running dual displays anyway.

Monstermunch said:
& Cheaper. IMO the barebones systems are a waste of money!

Can't disagree with the cheaper part but SFF PCs do have valid uses particularly where you are limited for space or simply want a neater box than you get with a full PC tower.

iraiguana · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:14

it was ment to be sff though and that looks like it would be pretty big.

Also i would note that all the dual core stuff would be a bit ott for something that is to run financial software. and any graphics could would be enough to run it, even say a fx5200 with dual out on the back (which it should have).