Building new trading PC - some questions.

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Skyline, Sep 12, 2014.

  1. Skyline

    Skyline

    Hello.

    I'm planning on building a day trading PC with 4 to 6 monitors. I'm a beginner so I'll probably start with 4. I'm a little confused about what is the best setup for my needs.

    Anyway, I'm wondering if it is best to have a dedicate machine for trading and nothing else? Is this the usual way? The issue is that I also want a powerful rig for making music, doing photoshop, video editing and maybe gaming too. I'm not sure if I should combine them in to one system. If I do, I'm sure I'll have to have a machine that is overkill for trading and it might cause problems because of graphic cards requirements, noise, etc.

    I was thinking of a new haswell 6 core 2.5 GHZ with 32gb RAM. Is that overkill for day trading? I'll potentially be using tradestation, esignal, etc. I'll be having a 512 MB SSD, and a quiet case and quiet CPU cooler. The issue is that for games the graphics cards are too noisy for music and business. That is why I'm not sure if I should just forget gaming on PC and buy a console.

    Either that or I go with a cheaper 4 core i7 processor designed for games (devil's canyon) for the trading machine with some cheap video cards like NVS, etc, and build a more expensive rig for music, etc. The issue is i need quiet graphics cards in both of these systems, so that is why I was thinking of combining. However, the business graphics cards might not be enough for graphics work and monitor array I'll be buying for trading might not work well for music applications and graphics (because that requires properly calibrated monitors for graphics), so that's another concern.

    Budget is around 3K for either one or two systems.

    Any advise appreciated.

    Thank You
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2014
  2. tom_czr

    tom_czr

    Depends on what you need... I have 6x LCD, 6 core, 48gb ram... beside all trading work, gaming is OK on this machine too :D

    BTW Graphic cards for gaming are actually very silent if they are not used for games. So I almost can not hear fans even if I am gaming.
    One important experience of myself - Do not save your money on computer case. It is important so you will not experience overheating when your system will be under heavy load and also sound insulation is important.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2014
  3. xandman

    xandman

    Just buy 2 PC's.
     
    monet likes this.
  4. Skyline

    Skyline

    Ok, thanks. I'm still unsure. If I go with 2 PC,s what spec would be good for the trading PC? Is trading software optimized for 6 cores or will 4 be enough? Is a consumer grade CPU adequate or do I need to go Xeon?

    Tom - could you indicate what graphics card you are using in your PC, thank you!

    Skyline
     
  5. NoBias

    NoBias

    This topic has been discussed ad nauseam.

    "Trading computer" is an ambiguous term.

    First one must define his needs by determining how the system is to be used.

    Single instrument "click monkey"
    Intra-day position trader
    Swing trading
    Options
    Backtesting/optimization
    Algo/HFT
    etc...

    A dedicated Trading system is always a good idea to isolate and protect your assets from virus's and malware encountered by unsafe browsing habits, email attachments, spyware etc...

    Multiple screens, well that is an entirely different debate. It to depends on your needs and style of trading. But there is no direct correlation to screen quantity and profitability. More is not necessarily better.

    These topics have been asked and answered repeatedly for years. A simple search in the hardware section will provide all the information one needs to make an informed decision.

    As a start, a link to my previous comments to eliminate redundancy: [also quoted below]

    http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...em-need-some-help-please.285551/#post-4005214

     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2014
  6. tom_czr

    tom_czr

    to Skyline:
    --------------------------
    Ok, thanks. I'm still unsure. If I go with 2 PC,s what spec would be good for the trading PC? Is trading software optimized for 6 cores or will 4 be enough? Is a consumer grade CPU adequate or do I need to go Xeon?

    Tom - could you indicate what graphics card you are using in your PC, thank you!

    --------------------------
    I don't know if you need to do cpu intensive calculations/statistics for your trading needs.
    If so, what software are you using - does it suport multicore/hyperthreading? Or is it single-core software?

    If it is single-core softwarre, or if you do your statistics and research manually, then even cheapest computers are usually sufficient. I think that Xeon is not needed based on your questions.

    I have some gaming GeForce like this one:
    http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4816#ov
    Both DVIs are connected to my main 2 LCDs.

    For next four LCDs I am using cheapest graphic cards with 2xDVI / card. This setup was cheaper than buying graphic cards with for example four displayports...
     
  7. I recently built this PC (May of this year) as my primary trading desktop with 6 monitors. I didn't have a massive budget so I didn't go for the top shelf items but still managed to put together a decent machine appropriate for my current needs. I trade intraday - CL and ES and all of the stuff plotted on my charts is based on my own programs that are quite CPU and memory intensive and this configuration is still sufficient for my needs.

    Total price minus monitors: $ 1,203.89

    See if this helps you make your decision.

    Computer Case (ZALMAN Z11 PLUS ATX CASE W/USB3) - $ 59.99
    4.12 GHz 8 core AMD-FX 8350 (AMD BOX AMD FX-8350 BLACK ED) - $ 179.99
    250 GB SSD Primary Drive (SAMSUNG E 250GB 840EVO SATA3 2.5") - $ 129.99
    DVD-RW Drive (IPSG LG 24X DVDRW SATA OEM) - $ 15.99
    2 X Radeon R9 2GB Graphics Card (GIGABYTE R9-270OC WF 2GB D5 PCIE) - $ 339.98
    Motherboard (ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ ATX) - $ 54.99
    Operating System (MS OEM WIN8.1 PRO 64BIT ENG 1PK) - $ 139.99
    RAM (CRUCIAL 16GB 8X2 D3 1600 DIMM C9) - $ 124.99
    Secondary Hard Drive (WDOEM 1TB 3.5 BLUE WD10EZEX) - $ 59.99
    Power Supply (CORSAIR 750W CXMOD 80+BRZ ATX PSU) - $ 97.99

    I run 6 24" monitors on this PC 4 LGs and 2 ASUS monitors. You can hook 4 of them directly to the DVI ports of the 2 graphics cards (each card has 2 DVI outputs) and for the other 2 monitors, you need a DisplayPort to DVI adapter which costs about $30 each.
     
  8. tom_czr

    tom_czr

    From my experience regarding CPUs:
    I had trouble with AMD CPUs in past - overheating under 100% load - calculations which took nonstop several days. Short term 100% loads were OK, but heavier calculations were not possible, or I had to have case opened = too much noise... Also electricity consumption will add up, if CPU is not energy efficient. So only buying price of CPU/motherboard is not so important.
    So I recommend Intel CPUs + Noctua/water coolers...

    Regarding cooling:
    I have very very good experience with this case http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=242&area=en
    It is very different from most of cases because components are turned 90 degrees from usual orientantion. Three fans on the bottom of case are much closer CPU, motherboard (RAMs), and cards + hot air is blowing up (not back as usual) + slower rotating huge fans do not produce so much noise (bigger fans = better fans) :D
     
  9. Cmoss

    Cmoss

    Subscribed this has some good stuff
     
  10. jb3398

    jb3398

    You dont need a good pc to trade what you need is bandwidth. Trading software can run on a pc with specs from Windows XP. The software utilizes very little resources any pc will do. You don't need a dedicated pc unless your visiting porn sites, which is filled with computer viruses.

    Key to trading from home is ....................

    BANDWIDTH aka INTERNET SPEED nothing else. Fast executions require good bandwidth.
     
    #10     Oct 27, 2014