Trader Computer Setup
- Thread starter anjtrader
- Start date
A good trading computer system is the key to any transaction. Below, we will focus on, you need for your everyday essential part of the trading system. Our Mendax at time of purchase the ultimate system of a dealer, we take all these things.
Don't build your own PC. You might be able to save a few hundred dollars but you are more likely to run into compatibility problems or if there is an issue you will suffer more downtime.
You are better off going to a proper computer manufacturer who will vet and test all the components for compatibility. And if something were to happen you can get an exact clone within a few days.
It is surprizing that you cannot suffer downtime for a few minutes during a power outage but aren't even thinking of downtime for days because your video card crashed.
In the trading world, a computer is not something worth skimping on.
You are better off going to a proper computer manufacturer who will vet and test all the components for compatibility. And if something were to happen you can get an exact clone within a few days.
It is surprizing that you cannot suffer downtime for a few minutes during a power outage but aren't even thinking of downtime for days because your video card crashed.
In the trading world, a computer is not something worth skimping on.
Completely disagree about building your own computer. And in comparison to some trading rigs out there, it's a lot more than a few hundred that you would be saving. Anyone with technical know-how will be able to avoid compatibility issues by double checking their components to make sure they all work together. As for the computer manufacturer testing the components, that is no different than doing a 24-72 hour burn-in stress test--that's if they even bother to burn in their computers.
I'll agree that a computer is not worth skimping on, but to say you have to buy one of the many over-priced trading rigs is ridiculous.
I guess everyone has a different view. Mine is that my time is better spent looking for trades rather than building and fixing a computer. And the time spent building a computer could be spent on looking for trades which could pay off many orders of magnitude than I can save building a PC.
I also believe in the redundancy aspect. If the computer goes on the fritz, I can just call (in my case Dell) and have a fix less than 24 hours or an exact replacement in a few days.
Actually not to split hairs, but you can buy DIY-kits from newegg or tigerdirect that come tested for compatibility issues from a hardware standpoint. So that takes that out of the equation.
Thats what I did, and I will never buy anyother way.
Granted you do need to know the very basics about installing hardware, and an OS, but from the software side, everythign is very streamined as far as drivers go, and updates..
And another thing is these gateway, campaq prebuilts computers always start to crap out right around a 1 year (end of warranty time, no surprise) due to random hardware malfunctions, b/c the parts are crap.
The stuff you can get separately as components is much superiorly built..
I built my own PC from scratch. It's been rock solid for over three years. Took me over a week in terms of researching what I needed to do (how to apply thermal paste, getting the right power supply etc, wearing anti static wrist band etc), but three years on no regrets.
If you can afford to dedicate a week or two doing this and money is not too tight you'll learn so much during the process that it'll be worth it. And quite satisfying as well if you manage to get it all working. At some stage in your trading career you'll have IT issues with either software or hardware so it's good to have the confidence that you can resolve most issues by yourself before you pay the hourly charge to experts..
I would also advise buying a UPS - I actually have three of these around the place. Bought an APC Smart UPS 1500V for the main PC and it gives me an hour of battery backup in case of loss of mains power.
I've had good experiences with Asus motherboards, and I think getting the best motherboard you can afford is the starting point for a self build.
If you can afford to dedicate a week or two doing this and money is not too tight you'll learn so much during the process that it'll be worth it. And quite satisfying as well if you manage to get it all working. At some stage in your trading career you'll have IT issues with either software or hardware so it's good to have the confidence that you can resolve most issues by yourself before you pay the hourly charge to experts..
I would also advise buying a UPS - I actually have three of these around the place. Bought an APC Smart UPS 1500V for the main PC and it gives me an hour of battery backup in case of loss of mains power.
I've had good experiences with Asus motherboards, and I think getting the best motherboard you can afford is the starting point for a self build.
I just badmouthed Falcon/tradingcomputers in another thread so I'm not going to do it twice in a week - but I would caution anyone who wants to run an overclocked computer as a primary trading machine. If you overclock you need to know enough to do it yourself and fix it yourself. Buying an OC'd computer that you don't feel comfortable opening up and fixing yourself is absolutely insane in my opinion.
Dell has a lot of good options as does HP - I know Dell's line and I'd recommend that you look at the Optiplex line. The Optiplex 980 is a pretty amazing box for the price. You can get a desktop model with a full-height riser board OR the Mini-Tower size with more space/slots (Mini-Tower is same size as standard computer). I used to have tons of Optiplex 755's that I'd buy on the Dell outlet cheap with dual-core CPUs and then I'd upgrade the HDD, RAM & CPU. You can still do that but for the money having a newer machine (like the 790 or 980) with DDR3 RAM and an i5/i7 CPU is going to be much better.
Falcon North Wests are pleasures to work with, but if you're looking for budget, they're the opposite of what you're looking for. It's nice to have one stop service, but the purpose of Falcon is to give really rich guys the many benefits of a top of the line self-assembled computer without having to build it or deal with many warranties (Falcon provides one long term warranty).
You could buy a Dell, but you'd be best off building your own. If you've never done it before, let me tell you what you need to know: it's very simple. It's about as simple as understanding short selling. Got it?
From what you describe, this is roughly what I would recommend:
- Intel i7 960X. Around $360. When you do optos and grow as a trader, you will need huge CPU. The more CPU, the much less time you'll spend waiting. The 960 is a very good bang for your buck. Remember that processor power is not measured in gigahertz, but flops (gigaflops).
-Popular single-chip motherboard with over two PCI Express x16 slots
- 1-2GB GDDR5 video card. You can buy a four port for around $500. That way, if/when you need to upgrade to more monitors, you can just put in a second card, not four. $500 is allot, but its the same price or less of two dual ports.
- four 1920x1080p monitors. 1080p monitors are the best bang for your buck, bar none. You can keep looking, but you won't find a better deal. 1080p is really nice... anything less is really garbage, such as 1650x1050 or 720p. 1080p monitors are only $120+ each. You could build a six screen or higher system for little extra investment!
- SSD. I cannot tell you enough how important this is. It will speed your computer up faster than any other $100 you could spend. Get a 50-120gb for a couple hundred bucks, and a hard drive to store your files. Note: your files do not require fast disk speed, only your system files (windows, programs, games, etc).
You could buy a Dell, but you'd be best off building your own. If you've never done it before, let me tell you what you need to know: it's very simple. It's about as simple as understanding short selling. Got it?
From what you describe, this is roughly what I would recommend:
- Intel i7 960X. Around $360. When you do optos and grow as a trader, you will need huge CPU. The more CPU, the much less time you'll spend waiting. The 960 is a very good bang for your buck. Remember that processor power is not measured in gigahertz, but flops (gigaflops).
-Popular single-chip motherboard with over two PCI Express x16 slots
- 1-2GB GDDR5 video card. You can buy a four port for around $500. That way, if/when you need to upgrade to more monitors, you can just put in a second card, not four. $500 is allot, but its the same price or less of two dual ports.
- four 1920x1080p monitors. 1080p monitors are the best bang for your buck, bar none. You can keep looking, but you won't find a better deal. 1080p is really nice... anything less is really garbage, such as 1650x1050 or 720p. 1080p monitors are only $120+ each. You could build a six screen or higher system for little extra investment!
- SSD. I cannot tell you enough how important this is. It will speed your computer up faster than any other $100 you could spend. Get a 50-120gb for a couple hundred bucks, and a hard drive to store your files. Note: your files do not require fast disk speed, only your system files (windows, programs, games, etc).
I could be wrong, but my view of the Optiplex line has long been, "overpriced, overmarketed budget machine". They have "onboard video graphics".. a clear sign of a "budget" mobo. At least the new ones these days have 2, PCIEx16 slots.
I probably would never buy an Optiplex. I've seen lots of them and they leave me unimpressed. It's still the Precision Line for my money (6 of them in my home network)... T3500, properly priced, from Dell Outlet is where I'd put my computer $$ for a trading rig these days. That said, I haven't seen any of the new Optiplex ones up close.
(WinstonTJ knows a LOT about computer hardware... even more than I.. and I know more than probably 99% of computer users... FWIW.)