That's the direction of the thread 50/50. To inspire anyone interested to have a place to become informed and confident to go for it and complete a build. Thanks for your positive post to motivate. For those who really wish to skip a build, I do like the advice Scataphagos gives with Dell products also. He has contributed many posts to inform folks of good deals.
This is a great thread!! Funny though - I think that DIY builder guys are somewhat like those crazy VW guys that try to hide all their spark plug and engine wires under the hood so it looks "clean"... I never got it why DIY computer builders needed to focus so much on cable management. The good thing about this thread is that it encourages folks to not be afraid of opening up the case and learning about your computer. Recently I sent a client a can of "air in a can" and an extra 2GB of RAM (yeah I broke the post office rules by shipping it ) to a client with a note saying "if you see dust spray at will" and then (it was an old HP) "the RAM only goes one way, line up the sticker with the other stick and plug this into the black slot" (there were only two memory DIMMS on the board). They were nervous and required me to come out there and walk them through it. It really isn't that scary - maybe the first time you check your oil or washer fluid or air pressure you learn a bit and don't quite know where to look... but then its easy and you laugh about it. Computers are not that hard and when the thing that controls your entire life savings is a computer I recommend that folks either marry into IT or know the basics. Question to the i7 folks... I have never owned one. Thinking about replacing my desktop from an older dual-xeon box to either an i5 or an i7 machine.... Or perhaps a high-end Intel Atom box?? Is there that much difference between the i5 and the i7? 99% of what I do (including posting this) is over a remote desktop session. Has HT gotten better on the non-Xeon CPU's and have the heat issues been solved during "turbo boost" operations?
I've never owned a VW, but I'm that cable management guy... lol Here is a little article on i5 vs. i7 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp
Fantastic thread. I summary "So, long story short: Core i5 is made for mainstream users who care about performance, and Core i7 is made for enthusiasts and high-end users. "
http://supermade.wordpress.com/tag/itb/ ^^ for reference to prove that VW guys are as crazy about cable management as computer guys. So I've read all that stuff. My desktop is an older Dell T5500 with dual Xeon w5580 CPU's and 36GB of RAM. It is a waste of processing power and it uses a lot of electricity. My desktop has triple monitors and that's it - a cheap $20 Dell speaker bar. The only thing that runs on my desktop is my web-based GUI for my firewalls, a radio station I stream and maybe a few command prompts. The rest is remote desktop sessions. Maybe once every two weeks I log into my E*Trade account and look at the carts - but if I do that it's usually through remote desktop or just the local web thing to balance my checking account. I think an i7 is overkill and an i3 or Atom might be more my needs for just a simple small & low-profile desktop that can run the above junk. But I don't want to be disappointed either. My needs are different than most users - I have TONS of server processing power at my fingertips via RDP. All I need is something to drive the remote desktop sessions and a few local aps that are small. Should I consider the i5 or jump down to the i3/Atom instead? Will I regret not going with an i7? (good news is if I don't like it I can probably pawn the system off on my wife... ) The last non-server CPU's I owned were E8400 and Q9650 CPU's (dual vs. quad core @ 3.0ghz). The Q9650 was awesome and light years ahead of the e8400 so that's why it makes me nervous to be considering an i3 or i5 vs. the real-deal i-7... but then again what does an i7 have over my dual W5580 machine?
TIKITRADER invited me to post a pic of my build, this is my first ever and would not have done it without this thread. It is a budget build I listed the parts here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43661&perpage=6&pagenumber=627 A question I have is if you have a dedicated trading machine and HDD and SSD why do most use the SSD for startup only? I know the costs are significant for a large SSD but if you make your living using the computer it is worth it; or am I missing something? Anyway, thanks for the thread and inspiration TIKI!!! This was the only photo I snapped on my phone mid build.
I think one should use SSD for startup as well as whatever temporary storage for the trading platform. Depending on how you trade, you may have a large pool of data needed through out your trading session. Or you may back test, and the platform needs temporary files. Files that are more for archive purposes (e.g. if someone saves every tick for the past 10 years in the event that one needs to test out some new trading algo)... for me I save screenshots on all my trading computers about every 10 minutes throughout each trading session... those massive files can be stored more economically on a HDD as I don't access them often. And when I do access them, a few seconds extra is perfectly acceptable.
Makes sense, thanks I recently started with the screen shots also to keep a digital journal. Its helpful.