Anybody use IB TWS with an old computer?

chud · Jun 6, 2005

I have a Pentium 2 450 MHz w/ 384 MB RAM. IB's site lists a minimum recommendation much faster than this. I'm wondering if anybody uses their software with a similar computer as mine. I'm wanting to change brokers to IB but would like to put off getting a new computer a little longer.

Thanks.

Lucrum · Jun 6, 2005

This probably won't help much but I use a laptop with an AMD 900mhz and only 256MB ram.

vikana · Jun 6, 2005

FWIW, that's exactly what my trading computer was until about ayear ago. I ran TWS with no problems. Only difference was I had ~700 MB of memory.

stock777 · Jun 6, 2005

I'd think if you don't run too much else at the same time, that should be ok. Might take a while to load up.

NYSEProTrader · Jun 6, 2005

Quote from vikana:

FWIW, that's exactly what my trading computer was until about ayear ago. I ran TWS with no problems.
Only difference was I had ~700 MB of memory.

What trading computer set-up do you run TWS with now?

AmbushHillbilly · Jun 6, 2005

Quote from chud:

I have a Pentium 2 450 MHz w/ 384 MB RAM. IB's site lists a minimum recommendation much faster than this. I'm wondering if anybody uses their software with a similar computer as mine. I'm wanting to change brokers to IB but would like to put off getting a new computer a little longer.

Thanks.

Ran it fine with same computer, except 512MB memory, with eSignal running as well.

chud · Jun 6, 2005

Thanks for the replies. I'd add memory but my memory banks are already maxed out. It's good to hear that people have run it with similar setups though.

I should've asked in the original post, but did any of yall run it under Windows 98? That's all I have for now.

late apex · Jun 6, 2005

Quote from chud:

Thanks for the replies. I'd add memory but my memory banks are already maxed out. It's good to hear that people have run it with similar setups though.

I should've asked in the original post, but did any of yall run it under Windows 98? That's all I have for now.

Sure did. I don't mean to brag (my PC is more outdated than yours...

) but, as recently as late 2003, I ran stand-alone TWS, among a couple other apps, on a 1998-vintage, Pentium 2 266MHz (Dell Dimension XPS D266), 384MB RAM (that's the max for that motherboard), tiny / slow hard drive. And, yes, Windows 98 SE. No problems handling the load, as I recall.

To minimize the use of (slow) virtual memory on a Win 98 system, notorious for memory leakage as you open and close apps, you'll definitely want to use good resident memory management software and/or reboot frequently, perhaps daily.

AmbushHillbilly · Jun 7, 2005

Quote from AmbushHillbilly:

Ran it fine with same computer, except 512MB memory, with eSignal running as well.

I concur with the Windows 98 memory issues. I crashed occasionally on Win98. XP fixed that problem - can't remember crashing that setup.

vikana · Jun 7, 2005

Quote from chud:

Thanks for the replies. I'd add memory but my memory banks are already maxed out. It's good to hear that people have run it with similar setups though.

I should've asked in the original post, but did any of yall run it under Windows 98? That's all I have for now.

I'd suggest that you replace the memory you already have if possible. Java really "likes" at least 512MB. Given the age of the PC you may actually have a difficult time finding memory. It's definitely not being manufactured anymore in volume. In the end, you're probably better off buying a cheap new PC.