How good should a PC be for online gambling?

[idxox]

I need to buy a new PC and I figure I might as well get one that can completely handle the online poker world, playing 8 tables at once or whatever.

I want to get another monitor as well, so I have the dual monitor thing going.

What would you say is a minimum process speed and RAM requirement? Does the video card matter?

I'm also wondering if I should get a package deal, because they usually include the monitor. Any suggestions or websites?

What about a website that describes how to set up the dual monitor? Is there some hardware requirements I should know about before I buy a PC and realize I can't do it?

Thanks

[AncientPC]

Poker programs (with the exception of Absolute Poker) are not very taxing on the computer, any normal computer out there is more than fine.

[atomicbran]

Don't worry about anything other than your video card and monitor. Video card needs to support 2 monitors, the monitors need to support at least 1600x1200 resolution.

[Cubswin]

[ QUOTE ]
What about a website that describes how to set up the dual monitor? Is there some hardware requirements I should know about before I buy a PC and realize I can't do it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not a expert by any means but will pretend i am for this post. I have been doing some reading on this subject so i will take a stab at a meaningful reply. If any of my information is wrong someone please correct me.

It has been said you should aim for a monitor that runs at 75 MHz or higher at 1600x1200. Snope around some of the monitor manufactors websites (NEC, Viewsonic etc)and see which models meet your specs then check for deals on pricewatch.com. Many suggest using two of the same monitors. While this isnt necessary it will make the whole set up look nicer and make it may make dual set-up easier to use/calibrate.

You will need a dual head graphics card and there are a load of them out there at a decent price. If you find one that has one VGA out (CRTs use VGA) and one DVI out but want to run two VGAs dont worry because there are DVI to VGA adaptors you can buy (the video card might even come with one). If you are going to run your graphics card from an AGP port make sure you buy a card that is compatible with your AGP slot. If you dont have an AGP slot you can run your video card from a PCI slot assuming you bought a video card that runs from a PCI slot.

Do a google search because there is a load of info out there on multi monitor set-ups. You might find this (http://www.matrox.com/mga/multidisplay/home.cfm) link helpful also.

cubs

[Blarg]

You don't need much of a computer, but you might like to get a good amount of memory. That prevents your hard disk from slowing you down when you are importing and saving hand histories with Pokertracker, as well as web surfing, etc. You can get by with 512 megs of RAM(memory) for many things, but these days I feel much better with 1 gig. This will make hard disk reads fairly uncommon for a lot you will do with a computer.

Poker doesn't do much to slow your computer down, but it can be critical not to slow down sometimes so you don't get folded out of hands. Especially if you're playing 8 tables at once, you want and deserve a quick response from your computer. So get a 7200 rpm (ATA) hard disk and a gig of memory.

On CRT's, you can get 19-inchers that do 1600x1200 for not much more than $100 if you check sales at the right places frequently. I'm on one right now and it's fine. You probably don't even need one good enough to do 75 hz refresh rate at that resolution, but it is easier on the eyes if your monitor can do 1600x1200 at that refresh rate.

As far as package deals, they almost always include many very substandard components. Terrifically substandard. If there are any computer fairs where you live(they're all over the place where I live), you can often get smallish local computer builders to get you a very nice deal on components you choose yourself, and those computers will usually be better and (often be cheaper) than anything you get from a major manufacturer. Plus, prices at computer shows are often at least 10% or more cheaper than the cheapest price a shop owner will sell for at his shop. And you can bargain extremely HARD because another seller two feet away from the guy can always seem to find a way to get you the very same thing, on the spot, for less. Come in late in the day, too, and sellers don't want to lug all their unsold crap home either, and get even happier to give you a great deal. I'm not a big fan of negotiating, but it's very easy in these shows because you really are holding all the cards in the deck.

Anyway, don't get a celeron, they're slow and outdated, and for not much more you can get a nice AMD Athlon or Athlon 64, or an Intel chip more modern than a celeron. Their more modern ones are not just more powerful in a number of ways, but they also have hyperthreading, which can handle things like 8-tabling very well, because it handles different tasks independently of each other instead of one after the other like normal CPU's always used to. A sweet spot in pricing now is the Intel Pentium 4 2.8 and 3.0 speeds, and the AMD 2800, among others(Athlons are virtually always cheaper than Intel CPU's, and are also of excellent quality -- no hyperthreading though). Athlons also are 64-bit, which helps in future proofing your buy.(Look it up, I'm tired! /images/graemlins/smile.gif )

[HeartsKing]

[ QUOTE ]
You will need a dual head graphics card and there are a load of them out there at a decent price. If you find one that has one VGA out (CRTs use VGA) and one DVI out but want to run two VGAs dont worry because there are DVI to VGA adaptors you can buy (the video card might even come with one).

[/ QUOTE ]

While it's probably true that you will be able to use an adapter to convert your DVI to VGA, it may not necessarily be so. It is going to be contingent on the type of DVI on your video card; there are 3 types of DVI: DVI-A (analog), DVI-D (digital), DVI-I (integrated). If your card is of the analog or integrated type, then you will be able to use an adapter; however, if you've got a DVI-D, then you can only use this with a true DVI-D monitor (mostly FP LCDs, very few CRTs). Well technically you could still get a converter to use the DVI-D to plug in a VGA monitor, but this converter would cost more than your computer.

HeartsKing

[Playaz]

everyone has given good advice, and a GREAT place to buy anything to do with computers is www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com)

i just built a new computer for Half-Life 2, i think its a little overkill for just playing poker though so i dont recommend all of this stuff...
AMD 64 3200+
ASUS K8V SE deluxe
1gig ram
ATI 9800 XT 256mb
that and the case and other stuff ended up around $1300ish on newegg.com, other places it was much more

for you, just make sure you have a vid card that can handle 2 monitors and get some monitors that can do 1600x1200 at least

[Cubswin]

Thanks for that info... my learning continues....

[Neil Stevens]

It seems to me that stability, not power, is the most important attribute.

You don't want to play on a system with bad memory or a flaky CPU. The crashes will cost you.

Stability means a cool CPU, good cooling, a ventilated room, error-correcting memory, and hardware with stable drivers.

Make sure your motherboard isn't a first revision. Get one that's had a few revisions of fixes in hardware and BIOS.