new build type... "Browser speed" help me out guys

[oneofusjustin]

ok so i build gaming rigs but my brother is into online ticket sales and he needs blistering fast browser speeds so my expertise of just stacking up video cards isnt gonan help him much... so help me out with anythign you guys know... is this the kinds thing where fast ram and SSD's will pay off? also what operating system ? do expensive Ethernet cards get some gains? this computer doesnt have to do anything but run a modern web browser so i dont care if it has linux or xp or 7 we are just goign for pure speed so maybe the lightest OS is best? internet connection is not an issue we are on fios... so lets discuss this and give em any tips you can

 

[mfenn]

Raw CPU speed and a fast Internet connection (like FIOS, not a NIC) are king as far as rendering HTML goes.

 

[oneofusjustin]

multiple cores help much?

 

[mfenn]

multiple cores help much?

Depends on the browser, but yes the Javascript engines are getting more and more multi-threaded.

 

[oneofusjustin]

ok bringin this back because im ordering parts this week finally, so should i go for the faster ram and SSD just to get that slight edge? and should i go with a faster dual core or slower 4 core?

 

[oneofusjustin]

also would an actual ethernet card give em any advantage?

 

[darkewaffle]

Unlikely, since the real performance bottlenecks on internet performance are beyond your modem, and thus, beyond your control. It wouldn't hurt, but the change (if any) would be pretty insignificant.

An SSD might be nice for faster cache reads, but even value RAM would be sufficient for you.

Processor is pretty much negligible. The amount of processing power needed to render most pages is quite low. Though more cores may make heavy browsing more responsive.

Best upgrade you could get would be a better ISP

 

[oneofusjustin]

cant get better than fios, and he is runnign a dell p4 from 2004! so im sure upgrading the comp is better than isp

 

[piasabird]

Pay for a faster internet service.


Any good dual core processor will do with just a standard video card or integrated video should be good enough. What you want is stability, fast opening for internet ( Any decent dual core processor), and s stable motherboard. Overclocking will not help. You might try an average video card to take strain off of RAM and Processor.

Any entry level I-3 processor would be more than fast enough.

It is the Internet service that needs to be fast.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Don't forget Firefox 4 beta 4, it utilizes Direct2D on Windows 7, and supports GPU-accelerated text and graphics rendering. I'm using it on a dual-core AMD Athlon II 2.1Ghz P320 with integrated 4250 graphics, and it's pretty darn fast.

Another option to consider, would be running a server in between you and the internet, to cache web page content and DNS queries. Something that can run Squid and a DNS server.

 

[RebateMonger]

After this is done, I'd love to hear to the results of any before/after testing of browser speed. I'm not even sure how to test it.