Building workstation YOUR help needed

[Dymo]

Greetings,

Please look over my parts list for a new workstation? I?m replacing an aging computer in my insurance business that locks up during heavy multitasking. I want a stable system that can provide quick access to the apps and have the ability to recover the apps and especially the data should the system go down. Storage requirements aren?t big now. (OS, apps and data only take up about 14GB on the HD). I plan on keeping the system at least 2 to 2/1/2 years.

Although I am not a day trader, I do spend a tremendous amount of lot of time looking at my computer screen and with desk space being tight, would like to move to a dual screen set up. Ideally the monitors would have: dvi, dual imput, height and pivot adjustment, razor sharp text for office apps and heavy internet surfing. I?m not into overclocking or heavy gaming, but I may watch an occasional DVD.

I haven?t had much success finding 17 lcds that fit my requirements and with dropping prices, the 19? lcds like the Dell 1905FP look pretty good for the money.
(I haven?t physically seen one yet). A far as the video card goes, I'm looking at the ATI Radeon X800 XL unless there is a cheaper card with dual dvi.

Anyone using a similar setup care to comment?
I?ve got some parts that I picked up from Intel on a dealer promo and would like to use them. If you think a different board or any other parts would be better in the long run, I?d like to hear from you. I don?t want to go for overkill and I don?t want to be left in the dark either.

Parts I?ve got now
Intel P4 550 (3.40GHz)
Intel boxed cooler (bundled with processor)
Intel D915PBL
NEC 3520A DVD

Here?s the rest of the list:
Coolermaster STC-T01 CM Stacker 157.99
CORSAIR VALUESELECT Kit 240-Pin 1GB(2 x 512MB) DDR2 PC2-4200, Model VS1GBKIT533D2 $187
2 x Seagate 80 GB Barracuda ST380817AS, OEM Raid 0 $69
2 x Seagate 80 GB Barracuda ST380817AS, OEM Raid 1 $69
Antec 480 watt 120mm fan Model "NeoPower" $126.00
Samsung Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model SFD321B/LBL1, OEM Drive Only $10
Zonet ZFM5620-CF Conexant/Rockwell 56K V.92 PCI Modem Retail $14
ATI RADEON X800 XL $272.89

Thanks again!

Your help is grealy appreciated.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Why raid 0?
I can't imagine a workstation not having ECC ram.

 

[Markfw]

Welcome to anandtech ! Also, what are the specs of the old system, and what apps to you run ? This would help in making recommendations.

 

[Dymo]

For lack of a better description I?m calling the computer a ?workstation?. It?s in a home office and will eventually go into a commercial space when I add some employees later in the year.

Here?s my current system:

AMD 1.47 Athlon XP
Jetway motherboard- nVidia-nForce Kocab 18P
Display -NVIdia GeForce2MX/MX 400
1.5GB Ram
XP Home
20GB IBM HD
40GB WD(slave)
Yamahaha CDRW
CD-Rom gerneric?
IE Explorer 6.0
SB3100 Cable modem

Apps used- MS Office 97, Adobe 7.0 and Constant Contact (relational database).
Many different individual insurance programs that calculate life and health insurance premiums.

How my system is used:
Clients call in for quotes, paper notes are taken, then I run quotes with the desktop software or run quotes online. They are either printed out to snail mail or printed to pdf and emailed.

It is not unusual to have Excel running, a database open, several internet connections open to online quoting engines and several different insurance apps open at the same time.

The system locks up when too many apps are opened or when I go to print out a large pdf (insurance application or quote).

I recently installed an additional 1 GB (2 X 512) memory and although it runs faster, there are still lockups and crashes.

With the new system, I intend to ultimately go toward an almost paperless office. I?ll add a document scanner and scan client records/files to the HD.