Memory or Processor, Which is More Critical?

E

ess1096

When using Scottrade Elite platform and watching a particularly busy stock trade, such as AAPL or QQQQ on a good day, I'll notice that it seems to strain my system. Thats with a few charts open, times & sales streaming, trade ideas running and a quote grid streaming all at once.
I upgraded to 4 GB of RAM and it helped a bit but I wonder if I should have upgraded the processor. I have an 820 Intel Pentium D.

PS: I even opened the machine and blew out all the dust with a compressor which actually helped a lot. (The fan ran a lot quieter)
 
Did you check, Windows Task Manager to see, how much memory, and CPU it is utilizing? That should give you a general idea, whether you need a better CPU, and/or memory.

Schaefer
 
Quote from ess1096:

When using Scottrade Elite platform and watching a particularly busy stock trade, such as AAPL or QQQQ on a good day, I'll notice that it seems to strain my system. Thats with a few charts open, times & sales streaming, trade ideas running and a quote grid streaming all at once.
I upgraded to 4 GB of RAM and it helped a bit but I wonder if I should have upgraded the processor. I have an 820 Intel Pentium D.

PS: I even opened the machine and blew out all the dust with a compressor which actually helped a lot. (The fan ran a lot quieter)
More...

IMO, sounds like you have (many) "other" things going on on your system. Maybe even a virus, in particular a rootkit virus. When was the last time you scanned for trojans, virii, spyware, etc?

Unless you have 100's of live charts or something like that, 4GB ram is more than enough as is Pentium D.

Use task manager to see running processes. You should also check what services are running, as many of these do not appear in task manager.

And here's a hint in recognizing a rootkit virus... look for multiple "Winlogon.exe" processes running simultaneously. This is a very good tell. I mention rootkit virus specifically becasue many scan packages don't see them and others have inadequate methods for removal.

Good luck
Osorico
 
Quote from osorico:

IMO, sounds like you have (many) "other" things going on on your system. Maybe even a virus, in particular a rootkit virus. When was the last time you scanned for trojans, virii, spyware, etc?

Unless you have 100's of live charts or something like that, 4GB ram is more than enough as is Pentium D.

Use task manager to see running processes. You should also check what services are running, as many of these do not appear in task manager.

And here's a hint in recognizing a rootkit virus... look for multiple "Winlogon.exe" processes running simultaneously. This is a very good tell. I mention rootkit virus specifically becasue many scan packages don't see them and others have inadequate methods for removal.

Good luck
Osorico
More...

I agree.
4 GIGS is more than enough memory!
I am running 1 GIG and my set-up runs fairly well with RealTick Charting and Assent's Anvil up and running with a P4 at 2.6
 
Unless you are running Vista, I believe 4GB is the maximum that Windows will address. Even then, your applications are only given 2GB of memory unless your specify /3GB during startup.

Your CPU should be fast enough. Sounds like you need to optimize your system... check for viruses, empty your temp directories, clear your caches, and defrag the hard disk.
 
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