Building your own trading computer

The best computers I've had are ones I've built.

The problem as alluded to earlier, IMO, is that the cost is WAY more on building your own. In addition, you need to have things like tools (which aren't free), tie binds, grease for heatsink, OS, etc... All of those items add up. It's a shame that it isn't cost effective, otherwise, I would never buy a pre made.
 
Quote from Bolimomo:

I have stated that before, and should emphasize it once again. Building It Yourself will most likely cost more. There is no doubt about it. It is the "economy of scale" principle. Building your own car from parts would most likely cost more than buying a ready-made model from the manufacturer.
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Bolimomo,

I believe you're probably right in terms of the cost thing but check this out...

I built an i7-920 by myself and took a spare HDD I had here and the simple dual DVI vid card from my old trading machine (a Dell) and ended up building it for $400+ less than what a similar Dell was priced at. I concede by using my own HDD and taking the old video card I saved some money but how much: $100, $125 at the most? Also note that the Dell could only be configured at that price with a 32-bit version of Windows 7 in it, which made no sense seeing as the processor was about as 64-bit multi-threaded as they come! LOL! Oh and the Dell only had 3GB of RAM instead of the 6GB I went with, so all in all, the $400+ savings was probably pretty accurate had I configured both machines identically.

So, it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison here but I was able to leverage sales and good finds for each of the components and build the machine myself for a substantial savings, which was a really nice bonus!

Quote from Bolimomo:
The reason for BIY would be more for fulfilling a need that is not satisfied by the models available in the market...
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I agree 100%. Like I mentioned above, it was impossible to get the machine I ended up building configured from Dell. Instead, theirs had things like only a 32-bit version of Win7 instead of the 64-bit or a minimum 500GB HDD, no way come without virus software and other bloatware; things like that. While some of my rantings on here may seem that I'm anti-Dell and such the truth is that I'm just PRO getting EXACTLY what I want and the fact is that for all the fun configuration tools that Dell has it was impossible to get the system I wanted, even when calling their sales team...it was always missing things or had slightly different configurations and I had the sales rep tell me on the phone "It's almost exactly what you asked for..." which was the final straw. Since when was "almost exactly" the definition of a completely customized machine and what makes Dell think they know what I want/need?

I'm smart enough and resourceful enough (which isn't bragging, in any way) to not need Dell or HP or anyone else to build me desktops anymore. While I mostly enjoyed using their machines over the last 15 years, they're not the same Dell I bought from in the past and their shortcomings are far too great to ever consider going back and abandoning the BIY path I've chosen.

Glad your build went well and you like your BIY machine. See ya around!

bmills
 
Quote from bmills313:


I believe you're probably right in terms of the cost thing but check this out...
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The cost comparison is based on buying brand new parts and assembling everything to build a new box. Of course if we can reuse old parts from an older computer, or catch some "fire sales" boxes and just to plug in a new processor, the cost saving can be nice.

These days the functioning life of a computer is only about 3 to 4 years. Of course there are old shops who still are using 486 on a Windows 3.1 or even DOS 5.0 LOL. I had given out my pre-pentium boxes in garage sales to whoever wanted them. (Not sure what they wanted to do with a 80286.) The only old craft that I kept for old-time sake is my Apple II+, used in college. Yeah, the one with 64KB of RAM (Wow!), a UHF TV frequency signal generator to use your black and white TV set as a monitor. Because it was my first computer. Spent over $2000 on it (in 1982 dollar). I dust it up and look at it once in a while. LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series
 
Quote from fhl:

Ok, I can see you guys think building your own is a piece of cake, but it's still not something I feel comfortable with.

What I'd like to know, if anyone could help, is whether you think it's better to go to a dell or a small computer shop in the area. I realize the small guy could go out of business, but what are the other considerations?
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Well, the pros with the local guy are that he's local and you could build a rapport with him to help you configure machines, get service and so forth. You'd be able to build a machine with them that's EXACTLY what you want and leverage their knowledge and expertise in choosing components that work well with each other. If something happened and you needed immediate parts replacement or what not he can be at your house in minutes or you can bring the machine to a local store and get it fixed in no time flat. All in all, it's probably a really good thing.

The downside is that you're gonna pay more for that service and the hardware, but you get what you paid for. Like Boli said, it's economies of scale and Dell can leverage that economy of scale and negotiate with manufacturers for cheaper parts, sub-contract with tech support people and so forth. I'd argue that the level of service is inferior as "you get what you pay for" with that sort of stuff but I'm sure it's still adequate. Dealing with India can be real hit or miss and as of late it's mostly been miss, in my experience. You can still get a nice computer from Dell, but with limitations and most likely not EXACTLY what you want. Of course, if you aren't picky or don't know what you want then Dell will tell you what will work best and it should be a good deal.

If you have a Fry's or other store that sells all the parts necessary to build your own I'd really recommend going to them and discussing the BIY route. They'll let you know what you need and how to do it and would be honest with you about whether the BIY route is a good fit for you or not; it may not be and for a lot of people they're better served buying OEM. It's not that difficult, believe me, and I think that depending on what you were looking for you could build something for a price extremely competitive or possibly even lower than what the big guys will sell you.

If you have questions about any of this, shoot me a PM; I'm happy to help.

bmills
 
Quote from Bolimomo:

The only old craft that I kept for old-time sake is my Apple II+, used in college. Yeah, the one with 64KB of RAM (Wow!), a UHF TV frequency signal generator to use your black and white TV set as a monitor. Because it was my first computer. Spent over $2000 on it (in 1982 dollar). I dust it up and look at it once in a while. LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series [/B]
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I wonder how well Tradestation would run on that guy?! HAHAHA!!!!

Groovy computer, man... :cool:
 
This is the Bolimomo brand trading computer with the side and front panel taken off.

After all is said and done, all wires can be tiewrapped to the side to make things tidy.

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Quote from Bolimomo:

P.S. Building one is really not that hard. :)
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But is it necessary if you get the same spec from HP with Xeon instead of I7 for the same price and with more PCI-E and USB ports?
 
Quote from LeeD:

But is it necessary if you get the same spec from HP with Xeon instead of I7 for the same price and with more PCI-E and USB ports?
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I didn't spend much time shopping. And I hate buying things on-line if I don't have to. I suppose I can use something like this:

http://biz.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4631398&CatId=2651

Price $1109
HP xw6600 RB472UT Workstation PC (Open Box)

PCI Slots (Total): 2
PCI Express X8 Slots (Total): 2
PCI Express X16 Slots (Total): 2
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Xeon Quad Core
Processor Number: E5420
Processor Speed: 2.50GHz
Processor Interface: Socket LGA771
Processors Supported: 2
Processors Onboard: 1
Memory Type: DDR2
Total Memory: 4.0GB
Memory Speed: DDR2 667
Memory Slots (Total): 8
GPU/VPU: NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700
Video Memory: 512MB
Communications Description: Integrated LAN Support
Interface Type: RJ-45 - Ethernet Connector
Chipset: Broadcom 5755
Data Transfer Rate: Gigabit LAN
Power: 650 Watt



It is similar to what I built. The major difference is the CPU:

Intel Xeon E5420 @ 2.50GHz, Passmark rank: 3655
Intel Core i7 930 @ 2.80GHz, Passmark rank: 5839

I have 12GB total memory (versus 4GB), DDR3 (versus DDR2).

Well I am happy with what I came across. And I enjoyed the process of building a box from scratch so I could refresh my knowledge on the PC components these days. For those who don't care to build one, this may be a good alternative.


May be this will be my second upgrade project. And I will put in a second Xeon chip to see how fast it gets LOL.
 
Be honest I don't understand the purpose of the last post at all.

People assumed too much. And behave in a way that they wouldn't do to a stranger just met face to face in a cocktail party.

"In 6 months when the market is done with you..."

I have been making a comfortable living full-time for the past 4 years trading stocks and futures. Thank you very much. I started in 1994, so I think I am going to hang around for a while.

And along with the guys who chastised Bolimomo as a pigeon watching 20 monitors and displaying porns on 19 of them, "what a fucking mess" and "you need more lines in your charts", get in line behind those who have nothing to contribute to the topic at hand but have the urge to pretend to be a big shot.
 
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