Advice on a high-end PC for business apps

[drdichoso]

My old Dell is rapidly failing on me so I am in the market for new PC.
I will be running 4 19" LCDs to start and might replace one of them
with a 24" WS LCD.

At any given time I typically have 20 IE browser windows open, plus 5
Word docs, 5 PDFs, 2 excel sheets, outlook, and calc. I might in the
near future to have a small office network with 4 or 5 machines on it
total.

I want something that will perform as fast and flawlessly as possible
for me, but when I look at higher-end desktops they seem to be
customized for gamers/video editing/autocad and other resouce
intensive software.

I just want Word, IE, printer threads, and Windows itself to run
super fast and quietly no matter how much I have running at once. I
hate it when I am typing fast and it takes the CPU a few seconds to
catch up with my fingers. So...

Is an SLI motherboard and 2 SLI graphics card worthwhile versus
getting a cheaper mobo with a basic preinstalled 256M graphics card,
and then adding another $50 256M card myself so I have 4 total DVIs?

Is quad core v dual core worth the money?

Am I going benefit much from 1066mhz ram v 800?

Am I going benefit much from 10K v 7.2K RPM hard drive? Are the faster
HDs noticibly noisier or more prone to crash?

I hate CPU fan noise, and my inner nerd really wants a liquid cooled
CPU even though I think I won't be doing anything to get my CPU hot
and sweaty. Should I restrain myself or go ahead get liquid cooling?

What are people's experiences with Digital Storm? After a lot of time
on the Dell website I think the DS site is much more straightforward,
and I think its great they offer the option of a PC with no OS pre-
installed.

My trust in Dell also has gone done when I saw how much they mark up
getting 4GB RAM v 1GB compared to the cost buying the identical stuff
yourself. I also hate how their pricing and discounting is so complex.
I feel like I either spend a couple hours comparing outlet v small
business v home and optiplex v XPS and so on or else I am getting
needlessly hosed for an extra $200.

 

[darkrats]

Have you checked out the new Vostro systems? Anyone purchase one yet? I'd be
very interested in reading reviews or experiences with this model from Dell.
And, why is it that Dell computers don't come with PS\2 connectors on the
back? I know you can ask for that option, but I believe it will occupy one
of the PCI slots.

 

[dacconverter]

Is an SLI motherboard and 2 SLI graphics card worthwhile versus
getting a cheaper mobo with a basic preinstalled 256M graphics card,
and then adding another $50 256M card myself so I have 4 total DVIs?

Go for the latter, since you're not in it for games or graphics. You
won't experience a difference in real-world business apps.

Is quad core v dual core worth the money?

quad core will supposedly help your multi-tasking cause but the
current quad cores are earlier versions. If you can wait until Nov,
Intel will be releasing their improved, 45 nm quad core processors,
with some models to sell for even lower than the current quad cores.

Am I going benefit much from 1066mhz ram v 800?

Am I going benefit much from 10K v 7.2K RPM hard drive?

I don't know how to put this. Do you tend to open all your programs at
the same time? If so, then yes, you will notice a difference. But if
you tend to open applications one at a time, there's no palpable
benefit from going with the faster models.


Are the faster

HDs noticibly noisier

generally yes

or more prone to crash?

no

I hate CPU fan noise, and my inner nerd really wants a liquid cooled
CPU even though I think I won't be doing anything to get my CPU hot
and sweaty. Should I restrain myself or go ahead get liquid cooling?

Liquid cooling is very unusual and is often more trouble than it's
worth. To minimize fan noise, I'd rather go for passively cooled video
cards and a computer enclosure that's designed for a silent PC.

My trust in Dell also has gone done when I saw how much they mark up
getting 4GB RAM v 1GB compared to the cost buying the identical stuff
yourself.

You're right about that. The only benefit from Dell is the cost of low-
end PCs. I've done the comparisons, and the Dell comes out to be most
affordable when it involves similarly configured low-end PCs.

 

[Jesco Lincke]

My old Dell is rapidly failing on me so I am in the market for new PC.
I will be running 4 19" LCDs to start and might replace one of them
with a 24" WS LCD.

At any given time I typically have 20 IE browser windows open, plus 5
Word docs, 5 PDFs, 2 excel sheets, outlook, and calc. I might in the
near future to have a small office network with 4 or 5 machines on it
total.

I want something that will perform as fast and flawlessly as possible
for me, but when I look at higher-end desktops they seem to be
customized for gamers/video editing/autocad and other resouce
intensive software.

I just want Word, IE, printer threads, and Windows itself to run
super fast and quietly no matter how much I have running at once. I
hate it when I am typing fast and it takes the CPU a few seconds to
catch up with my fingers. So...

Is an SLI motherboard and 2 SLI graphics card worthwhile versus
getting a cheaper mobo with a basic preinstalled 256M graphics card,
and then adding another $50 256M card myself so I have 4 total DVIs?

Is quad core v dual core worth the money?

Am I going benefit much from 1066mhz ram v 800?

Am I going benefit much from 10K v 7.2K RPM hard drive? Are the faster
HDs noticibly noisier or more prone to crash?

I hate CPU fan noise, and my inner nerd really wants a liquid cooled
CPU even though I think I won't be doing anything to get my CPU hot
and sweaty. Should I restrain myself or go ahead get liquid cooling?

What are people's experiences with Digital Storm? After a lot of time
on the Dell website I think the DS site is much more straightforward,
and I think its great they offer the option of a PC with no OS pre-
installed.

My trust in Dell also has gone done when I saw how much they mark up
getting 4GB RAM v 1GB compared to the cost buying the identical stuff
yourself. I also hate how their pricing and discounting is so complex.
I feel like I either spend a couple hours comparing outlet v small
business v home and optiplex v XPS and so on or else I am getting
needlessly hosed for an extra $200.

Re: HD noise and cooling

I've a WD raptor running within
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=74&code=019 in an
air-cooled quiet-case.
I can hardly hear whether my machine is running or not... so is's a
matter of choosing the right fan-cooling parts rather than going for
water-cooling. Many manufacturers offer quite affordable silencing
components...