PC build - Best Possible Web Surfing Computer - Help Please

[scaryfast]

Hello,

I have a budget of about $2,300 to build a Windows computer with. (U.S.A)
There is no need to purchase monitors.
(1920x1200) (1600x1200) (1920X1080) (1600x900) Whatever is best.
It needs to be air cooled and use, at most, minimal overclocking.

The computer will need to handle, at least, 3 monitors at once.

I want to build the best possible web surfing computer.
It needs to open 10 to 30 random internet pages at once and have them completely load as quickly as possible.
Once in a while, I'm sure, a page will be graphics intense.
The system should be very responsive also.

The computer will not be used for anything else.

Available internet speeds are at least 60 Mbps with 6 Mbps uploads.
It will be wired. (But how much more money and what parts are needed to have it set up for wireless too?)

Thank you for your advice.

 

[nsafreak]

In all honesty you really don't need much in the way of horsepower to do nothing but just render webpages even if they are graphics intense. Yes, even with multiple monitors it really doesn't take much at all. So you don't need to spend anywhere even remotely close to $2,300 to get a PC to do what you want. So here's a system that should do the job just fine:

CPU: AMD A4 3400 - $65.99 (newegg)
Motherboard: Asus F1A55-M LX Plus $64.99 (newegg)
RAM: 4 GB (2 x 2GB) G.Skill DDR3-1333
Video: XFX Radeon HD 6770 - $124.99 (newegg) - Overkill for web pages but I couldn't seem to find any motherboards that supported tri-monitor output. Most I found was dual
SSD: Samsung 830 64GB SSD -$89.99 (newegg)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 430 watt PSU - $59.99 (newegg)
Optical - Sony OptiArc - $17.99 (newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 - $39.99 (newegg)

Total build cost (not including taxes & shipping) - $486.92

 

[mfenn]

In all honesty you really don't need much in the way of horsepower to do nothing but just render webpages even if they are graphics intense. Yes, even with multiple monitors it really doesn't take much at all. So you don't need to spend anywhere even remotely close to $2,300 to get a PC to do what you want. So here's a system that should do the job just fine:

CPU: AMD A4 3400 - $65.99 (newegg)
Motherboard: Asus F1A55-M LX Plus $64.99 (newegg)
RAM: 4 GB (2 x 2GB) G.Skill DDR3-1333
Video: XFX Radeon HD 6770 - $124.99 (newegg) - Overkill for web pages but I couldn't seem to find any motherboards that supported tri-monitor output. Most I found was dual
SSD: Samsung 830 64GB SSD -$89.99 (newegg)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 430 watt PSU - $59.99 (newegg)
Optical - Sony OptiArc - $17.99 (newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 - $39.99 (newegg)

Total build cost (not including taxes & shipping) - $486.92

:thumbsup: This is a pretty good build. "Best Possible Web Surfing Computer" is kind of an oxymoron.

One thing to consider is that Javascript interpreters aren't the most heavily threaded programs out there. While the Llano would be fine, something with better single-threaded performance like an i3 2100/2120 would probably feel snappier.

i3 2100 $120
ASRock H61/U3S3 $60

 

[scaryfast]

Best Possible

Even if that means only 50 milliseconds at times.

So, let's aim for about $2000 please. How can I best spend that amount?

 

[lehtv]

Agree with above posts. Also, the GPU doesn't need to be a 6770. Even the cheapest graphics cards, when combined with the video output of the iGPU, will support triple monitors. E.g. XFX 5450 $20 AR

 

[nsafreak]

Best Possible

Even if that means only 50 milliseconds at times.

So, let's aim for about $2000 please. How can I best spend that amount?

Rendering webpages has more to do with your connection speed/latency than it does with the speed of your PC when it comes to modern processors. Spending $2000 is not going to make a bit of difference in this whether you went out and purchased an i7 3770K or the build that I came up with and mfenn suggested a slight alteration to is going to make zero difference in the speed of rendering these pages.

 

[nsafreak]

Agree with above posts. Also, the GPU doesn't need to be a 6770. Even the cheapest graphics cards, when combined with the video output of the iGPU, will support triple monitors. E.g. XFX 5450 $20 AR

You know I had forgotten about the DVI/VGA/DisplayPort connections on my motherboard until you said that. Now I'm tempted to go out and get a third monitor and hook it up to one of those. Wouldn't really be able to use it for tri-monitor gaming but it is very tempting for multi tasking...........

 

[lehtv]

Best Possible

Even if that means only 50 milliseconds at times.

So, let's aim for about $2000 please. How can I best spend that amount?

Perhaps the only thing slightly lacking in nsafreak's build is the CPU. However nothing in what you do is CPU intensive so I highly doubt there will be any discernible difference between nsafreak's build and one that has superior CPU performance:

CPU i5-3570K $240 + 212+ $20 AR OC'd to ~4.2GHz
Mobo Biostar TZ77B $80 AR
RAM Samsung 2x4GB $48
GPU HD4000 (onboard); the board provides DVI+HDMI+VGA. Add 5450 for third digital output.
SSD Samsung 830 64GB $90
DVD Samsung burner $15
PSU Corsair CX430 V2 $30 AR AP
Case Antec One $50

= $573 AR AP

I can't even imagine what a $2000 build would entail. It's just so ridiculously beyond overkill to even think about. i7-3960X hyperthreaded hexacore worth $1000, for web surfing? F yeah!

 

[scaryfast]

Will these $700 systems open 30 web pages at once, just as fast as a $2000 system?

Would a Quad CPU have any advantage compared to a Dual CPU for this task?

Would it matter if the SSD were Sata 3 or Sata 2 ?

What about 4 GB of memory as opposed to 8 GB ?

Thank you!

 

[T_Yamamoto]

if you have an SSD, a duel core will work as fast as a quad core -_-
the quad core will be good for......well....rendering PHOTOSHOP and other CPU INTENSIVE tasks....

opening like 30 tabs? you can do that with a pentium!

SSD sata3 vs sata2? you wont be able to tell, but in benchmarks it shows, sata 3 is usually cheaper

4gb vs 8, 8gb is the norm.

why do you need a 2K computer when you can invest in a 500 dollar computer and then buy like 5 monitors.

 

[mfenn]

Will these $700 systems open 30 web pages at once, just as fast as a $2000 system?

Yes.

Would a Quad CPU have any advantage compared to a Dual CPU for this task?

No. Even supposing you had a Gigabit Ethernet connection to the Internet, downloading the page from the remote server is still the bottleneck.

Would it matter if the SSD were Sata 3 or Sata 2 ?

Theoretically, yes. In practice, you won't be able to tell a difference. There are plenty of SATA 6Gb/s SSDs available for low prices though, so it's kind of a moot point.

What about 4 GB of memory as opposed to 8 GB ?

And now you want to save $20????? 4GB would be fine unless you were opening hundreds of tabs, but 8GB is so cheap right now that's it's kind of pointless to consider 4GB.

Thank you!

You're welcome.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Depends on the pages, there are some pretty heavily coded pages out there, and many based on Silverlight/Flash can build up without you realizing it (especially if every page is loaded with ads). With your budget I say why not just get the 3570K and 8 GB of ram? Hell if you don't care about the money you could up to a 3770K and 16 GB of ram, I couldn't think of a combination of 30 web pages that would make either system really struggle.

 

[yinan]

Might want a little bigger SSD just to be safe, 128 or more.

 

[Ken g6]

For really fast web browsing, you want to look at software more than hardware. You should get:

- A caching proxy. I'm using Polipo right now, but it's hard to set up and has to be built from source to get the latest, fastest version. And it can cause problems with web pages very occasionally. Another option I've heard about is Squid.
- A DNS cache, but if you're using Windows there's one built-in.
- A fast web browser. Google Chrome, perhaps?

Also, Adblock helps pages load much faster. If using Firefox, NoScript helps a lot too. But you said you want pages to load completely.

Finally, I agree on a 128GB or more SSD. The cache from a caching proxy like Polipo can build up surprisingly quickly.
Edit: For crazy-fast SSD performance, get 2 128GB drives and RAID them. Edit2: Or, more simply, put the OS on one and the cache(s) on the other.

 

[jacosajh]

Why would you ever get AMD, especially since he wants multiple monitors, which means he'll need to get a dGPU anyways.

The main components I would be worried about are
Intel G530
any motherboard with 2+ PCI slots
any 2 half-decent low-profile GPUs (like HD 5450s)
a Crucial M4 SSD
about 8GB of RAM

That's all you really need.

 

[piasabird]

Where you gonna put these 30 web pages. How about hooking up a dual monitor system to 2 HDTV's? That will push it to over $2,000.