How do you primarily use MetaStock? Professional or End-of-Day? Do you use any specific plug-ins / indicators (custom/built-in)? Do you look at large number of charts at the same time?

Generally speaking, MetaStock is not very video intensive. so strictly speaking of our application on-board video should be fine, just be aware that these typically will take some of your system RAM and use it as video RAM. That said, MetaStock is not really that RAM intensive either. With how cheap RAM is, you should be able to have 1GB-2GB easy when putting a new system together, which should be plenty.

MetaStock does not support multiple processors. However, to my knowledge dual core works via threading to "talk" to the other processor. MetaStock is a multi-threaded application. Individual components within MetaStock will open a separate thread to your processor (i.e. Expert Advisor opens a thread, your charts open a thread, Enhanced System Tester opens a thread) but each component will only open one thread (i.e. The Expert Advisor will not open two threads). You should at least see some performance increase by going with a dual core system.

Regardless of whether or not you get a mobo with onboard video, I suggest you make sure it has a PCI x16 slot so that you can add a high-performance video card later on if you wish.

You won't need a fast graphics card like the gamers use, but I'm using a Quadro 440 Nvidia-based board from PNY to drive 4 LCD displays in DVI digital mode for maximum sharpness at high resolution - having multiple monitors makes a lot of sense when you're running multiple apps, and if I need to I can drag MS open across 3 displays, giving me a very wide desktop with lots of open charts. This board has 512Mb of fast video memory and dual graphics processors, so it doesn't demand many resources from your CPU and RAM. It refreshes instantly and looks great with zero flicker or delay. And one thing I really appreciate: it doesn't have or need its own fan (a huge heatsink does the job), so it doesn't make your computer noisier either.

My monitors are arranged in an inverted T-shape, with a single one on top and 3 below horizontally. With LCDs getting relatively cheap these days, it's a practical setup and WinXP Pro can handle up to 10 displays as I recall, so setting it up is easy.