Trading Computer

D

Doobs789

I want to know what components are recommended for a high-end trading computer. I would like to keep it around $3000, but could go higher. I realize that I can get a decent computer for far less money, but humor me. My primary concern is relative value- meaning I don't want to pay up for something that doesn't perform better.

I want a system that can drive at least six monitors. During the trading day I run the following: Livevol X, often IB TWS and/or thinkorswim, charting software, a very large excel workbook that pulls real-time data on several hundred stocks, multiple firefox tabs, email, chat, webinar stuff, and sometimes videos. I want the system to run extremely fast. With that being said, I have a few questions:

-Six core i7 processor or single/dual Xeon?
-Air or liquid cooling?
-Which motherboard, how many PCIe?
-What brand/model/number of video cards?

I recently put together a system that has the following: i7-3930k, ASUS Sabertooth x79, 32gb ram, dual Intel 520 240gb ssd, 2tb hdd, dual AMD 7850 cards.

Am I on the right track? What substitutions should I make? It may be overkill, but I want a really nice rig.

Thank you very much for your help.
 
Quote from phoenixfund:

I think you are thinking the wrong way. I would just get one of these built for business laptop computers like the Lenovo T series which can drive three monitors. If you really need more monitors, get a cheap laptop which can drive 2 monitors or buy IO Gears displaylink.

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/t-series/

I drive 3 27 inch monitors on an HP DV6 with the help of IOGears Displaylink. I also have a few other older laptops which I hook up from time to time.

The problem with getting one huge box with a six core processor is obvious. If the power goes out with the internet or something goes wrong, you cant simply take the box down to a Starbucks and feed off of their internet connection. You cant travel with the box. What if the box has a problem and goes out? You need a backup computer. So it would be handy to have two laptops.

The laptops also have a battery which prevents them from simply switching off during a power failure or surge. They keep going.

Gaming computers are not appropriate for trading. They are usually noisy and run at high temperatures beyond what the system was designed for and there are reliability problems. If you want speed, than make sure the computer has a cached hard drive or an SSD.

So I would suggest going with a business grade laptop and then having a cheaper laptop as a backup computer. I would not get Norton or other anti-virus programs because they will slow it down, but I would get Webroot which is very fast.
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Thank you for your response. I already own a Thinkpad t420s, which I connect to a docking station that drives 3 22" monitors. This will serve as my mobile/backup system. But it does not possess the power, and runs too hot, to serve as my main system.

I mainly want a nice computer that never lags, and can handle whatever I throw at it. I am willing to pay the price for it.
 
Quote from Doobs789:

"... I recently put together a system that has the following: i7-3930k, ASUS Sabertooth x79, 32gb ram, dual Intel 520 240gb ssd, 2tb hdd, dual AMD 7850 cards.

Am I on the right track? What substitutions should I make?
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Have you tried your trading setup on this rig, and it's not enough??
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

Have you tried your trading setup on this rig, and it's not enough??
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I think he means he's selected/priced these components.
 
doesn't look like your getting to much good advice here doobs.. haha.. i can afford a nice computer.. and like the luxury.. i am on it all day.. its something i can expense for work.. its an investment..
 
I bought a falcon-nw.com Mach V for my oldest as a gaming rig. I realize they're overpriced, but they have "overnight" warranties and I figure I paid perhaps $650 over building it. I use it on occasion to run excel and BBG and it's stupid fast, and very quiet.

I went with the 1200w PSU; 3970x and GTX680. I negotiated a price of ~$4k shipped. My time (taken to build) is worth more than the premium paid for a turn-key build.
 
Quote from cdcaveman:

doesn't look like your getting to much good advice here doobs.. haha..
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He's already got a powerful rig. About all he can do for more is a dual-socket mobo.... but not sure he'd actually use the extra grunt. For trading, he probably has overkill on the video cards.
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

He's already got a powerful rig. About all he can do for more is a dual-socket mobo.... but not sure he'd actually use the extra grunt. For trading, he probably has overkill on the video cards.
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The build I suggested was my proposed system, I don't own it, yet. I wanted to know if those are good components, or if I should change something.
 
Quote from Doobs789:

The build I suggested was my proposed system, I don't own it, yet. I wanted to know if those are good components, or if I should change something.
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Depending upon number-crunching needs, you might have overkill on the CPU. If this rig is for trading, you're way overboard on the video cards... they're really gamer cards. Of course if you just want fast and don't mind any extra cost/heat/noise, then nothing is overboard.
 
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