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[GlyphGryph]

This is what my current build is looking like so far, mostly pulled from the budget pc linked above:
Motherboard   MSI PH61A-P35   $75
   CPU      Intel Core i5-2400   $190
   RAM      Corsair Vengeance 8gb $80
   Case      Xigmatek Asgard II B/B CPC-T45UC-U01   $30
   Power   Antec EarthWatts Green EA430D 430 W   $45

Which brings me to $420

You may have noticed the lack of a video card. (and hard drive, but ignore that, my current HD is fine)
I don't think I need a video card with the stats of the one they suggested, and it seems like a good place to save some money. However, gotta keep in mind I have two monitors, and don't really want to purchase 2 cards. Any suggestions?

[nenjin]

There are at least 3 places you want to invest serious money. That's your processor, your mobo and your video card. If you're going to go with a 1 card setup for 2 monitors, you're going to want a fairly powerful card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608 - $269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683 - $279

You could knock $100 or so off by getting a 1gig memory card instead of a 2gig memory. But I think you'd want more memory for the 2 monitor setup.

Considering your initial budget was $1k, you have some wiggle room to get a really good card.

[GlyphGryph]

But how much does a video card REALLY matter, anyways? I don't watch stuff in hi def, I don't play any fancy 3d viddy games... is it really that important?

[Mullet Master]

For what it is worth : I have successfully run dual monitor setups on the following :

nvidia 8800GT (one card, two outputs)
Radeon HD 6850 (one card, two outputs)
Radeon HD 6850 and on-board video card

[nenjin]

But how much does a video card REALLY matter, anyways? I don't watch stuff in hi def, I don't play any fancy 3d viddy games... is it really that important?

Well, you're asking a hardcore PC gamer, so my answer would be "a lot." Put it this way. With those cards I listed, in two years, you'll be able to play everything that's current right now with no issues. But if you really have no interest in the gaming of the last 4 years, you could run with the above-mentioned cards (which are very cheap by now), and downgrade to a duo-core processor instead of that i5. That's probably around $150 to $200 down from where you're at now.

And with the "not for fancy gaming" setup, you might still be able to run something as fancy as Skyrim, albeit at fairly low specs. For the stuff you listed as priorities, the amount of system memory is probably where you get the most benefit, and you've got that covered already. (A fast hard drive helps a lot too, actually.)

Because in reality, you budgeted yourself almost twice as much as you need to accomplish what you wanted. So, might as well leave yourself the "fancy" option should you feel the need to be fancy one day.

[GlyphGryph]

The CPU+RAM I've got is mostly so I can run a database, test suite, local server, gimp app with several images open, browser and a couple other things at the same time, at a good speed. I do some computer gaming, but I mostly play strategy and tactical games, with limited graphical requirements but a good deal of computational intensity (games like, for instance, dwarf fortress. Cellular automata. Simulation games). And I tend to run a great many apps through an emulator which adds some obvious overhead. Maybe the cpu I've chosen is overkill for that? Would I be better swapping out for the lower end cpu and getting an SSD for the OS and common stuff, do you think?

[nenjin]

Well it does sound like you're both juggling a lot of applications and hitting the HD frequently. Maybe getting around an 8800 GT just to cover your bases and putting the rest toward that SSD (keeping the i5) is a good bet. Not sure what they're running right now though.

[Thief^]

If you're not after top-of-the range, look closely at building an AMD Fusion pc. They have the graphics processor built in to the main cpu, and so strike a really nice balance between Intel's motherboard graphics (crap) and a separate graphics card (good / costs more).

EDIT: If you want to run two monitors, the vast majority of graphics cards have 2 outputs these days (and some AMD ones have 3 or even 6).
EDIT 2: I would recommend a new hard-disk, one that's a few years old will be somewhat degraded in performance and have a lot less life remaining than a new one.

[LoSboccacc]

about that i5 2400..

if you can, go for the i5 2500k it has all reworked internals and the top of the line of integrated gpu.

the curiosity about the i5 2500k is that it can drive duel monitor all by itself. the trick is to find out the right motherboard that supports multiple video output.

this one http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3769#ov

has multiple ports on the back driven from the integrated gpu BUT I'm unsure if it will allow multiple output enabled concurrently AND if you're going the linux route, expect lot of unsupported stuff from the intel driver (up to not supporting multi monitor)