Building My Trading Rig (A Documentary)

[gnome]

Quote from Landis82:

I'd rather purchase the Corsair VX-450W with a single +12v rail at 33A for $80.00 at NewEgg.

I replaced the stock PSU in my Dimension 9200 with the VX450. It's still pretty quiet, but not as "nearly silent" as my SilenX.... Unfortunately SilenX has apparently stopped producing PSUs and now makes only fans.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Quote from gnome:

I've had NVS 285x16 + 285x1 to run 4 monitors..

Also had 285x16 + 280 PCI to run 4 monitors...

Tried both combinations in the same machine. There was no difference in video quality nor performance. Settled on 285x16 + 280 PCI to satisfy my TV tuner.

ALL mobos should have 3 or 4 x16 slots and 3 or 4 PCI slots.... screwing around with x1, x4, x8 has all been really lame so far.

Sure, it's doable. I've mixed PCIe and PCI video cards on some systems in the past. I was thinking a little more about reliability than video quality or performance. For a person starting from scratch, or experiencing problems, it's better to have all the same PCIe (nVidia) video cards, in my opinion. Some systems seem to have issues with mixing.

I agree that all mobos should have three or four slots that accomodate PCIe x16 cards -- even if the slots all run at x4 or x8 speed.

My top choice for a fanless video card for a pure trading PC:

XFX nVidia GeForce 7600GS 2x dual DVI fanless PCIe x16 PV-T73P-UDJ3

There is a fanless 8600GTS card by MSI that I spec'd in the second post of this thread, but it draws more power, throws off more heat, and is of no further benefit to trading. It's a pretty thick card too, so that has to be taken into account.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Quote from jonnyy40:

The kids who've grown up with desktop pc's already common place perhaps don't realise what an amazing piece of technology they have access to.Very interesting thread.

My first system was a Commodore VIC 20 with 5K, yes "K", of RAM. If you are thinking that isn't much RAM; don't worry; you could buy an extra 3K RAM module, heh heh.

It was very reasonably priced and I suspect it got a lot of kids into technology. I think I got mine for around $100.

The storagle device was a tape recorder that recorded the digital information as an analog sound signal. No hard drive.

The big deal at the time was that it had color video.

Your "monitor" was your TV.

It could display 22 characters of text per line.

Ah, the good ol' days, heh.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Quote from bighog:

...to get the box as silent as possible and even my picky bro in law said "man it is QUIET" when under stress ..

...

Forget cheap so called silent fans..........for quiet you need to spend a few dollars. http://www.jab-tech.com/Noctua-120mm-Fan-NF-S12-1200-pr-3629.html Those fans were recommended to me from Willie "Long Dong" from hong kong in the chat, they are well worth the money. I cheap fan will not get the job done.

ah, it's all coming clear now -- we see where you get your technology information -- from "Willie Long Dong of Hong Kong." Can't argue with that.

Kidding aside, the Noctua NF-S12-1200 you selected is an excellent fan. Can't go wrong with it. It's my strong second choice to the Nexus D12SL-12.

The Nexus is a quieter fan. The Noctua NF-S12-1200 that you selected produces 25 dBA of noise and the Nexus D12SL-12 produces 22 dBA.

The Noctua is made by an Austrian company that holds itself out as a research institute. They have a very creative blade design that produces more airflow than usual but possibly at the expense of reduced case pressure. Actual real world cooling is slightly less than it 'should be' for its airflow measurement, so possibly not the best heatsink fan...but still an excellent case fan.

The cost of the fan is not relevant because they're all inexpensive in absolute terms -- all under 20 bucks or so.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Quote from Landis82:

I'd rather purchase the Corsair VX-450W with a single +12v rail at 33A for $80.00 at NewEgg.

Although it is interesting to note that both the +3.3v rail and +5v rails are rated at 20A while the "Silencer-470" by PC Power & Cooling are rated at 28A and 32A respectively. ( +12V rail at 26A ).

As I say, Watts and Amps are not a measure of power supply quality. A Kia Sedona has a 3.8L engine and a Mercedes E350 has a 3.5L engine. I'm not saying power supply size isn't important. I'm just saying, size the power supply based on the draw of your actual (and potential future) components.

The Corsair VX450W power supply that you mention is an excellent power supply.

However, there are a couple reasons to prefer the Corsair HX520W over its VX450W cousin.

The HX520W has detachable modular cabling -- creates a cleaner installation and allows air to flow a little more freely.

The HX520W is EPS12V compliant -- relates to dual video card support.

The VX450W becomes significantly louder above 80% load or above an intake temperature of 30C.

50% load is the efficiency sweet spot on most power supplies, so select a power supply for the maximum your actual, and potential future, components will consume. Target, say, 60% of max load. Trading rigs tend to have multiple video cards, so that needs to be taken into account. Newer video card designs draw significantly more power than older ones.

 

[gnome]

Quote from EllisWyatt:

".. Trading rigs tend to have multiple video cards, so that needs to be taken into account. Newer video card designs draw significantly more power than older ones.

Sure, if you're using "gamer cards" (not recommended). Dualhead workstation cards like Quadro NVS draw only 12-18 watts, 21 for the 290, according to Nvidia.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Quote from gnome:

Sure, if you're using "gamer cards" (not recommended). Dualhead workstation cards like Quadro NVS draw only 12-18 watts, 21 for the 290, according to Nvidia.

Yeah, agree -- high end gamer cards aren't an optimal choice for a professional trading PC.

The nVidia 7600GS cards I use on trading rigs only draw around 35 watts max, per card.

Having said that, this particular thread started out in the unique context of a trading rig designed along an "extreme gamer path". If people plan to use (multiple) high end video cards, for whatever reason, they need to calculate their power supply requirements accordingly...and may well need a larger power supply.

 

[Tums]

I'm back...

took a couple of ski days... I am recharged; ready to dive back into the project.

 

[Tums]

Quote from EllisWyatt:

If you want 45nm processor technology, you could consider an Intel E8400 (or E8500) processor, which actually runs most applications faster than the Q6600 because of higher clock speed -- 3.0 GHz vs. 2.4 GHz. Nearly the same cost.

In fact, the E8400 processor is my top choice for 'most' pure trading systems.

You are right, the E8400 is an excellent CPU.

I have debated this back and forth for weeks. The 45nm is more energy efficient, runs cooler, and faster. I like newer technology, so this should be the obvious choice.

However the couple of programs I am running thrives on multi-core -- the more cores the better. At the end, I opted for the Q6600.
I am giving this a try. When the Q9xxx comes out, I might swap the CPU.
(That would make my nephew a very happy kid.)

 

[Tums]

Quote from nkhoi:

probl is the more air you suck in the more dust you get.

More fans do not always equate to more air.

In order to attain certain level of cooling, a specific volume of air must pass through the system to carry the heat out.
More fans, or bigger diameter fans, simply reduce the speed the air travels through a narrow opening.

Slower moving air means quieter air.