Discretionary Day Trader Computer

Been trading for some time now, but with all the automated trading around I was wondering if my system is still sufficient - any advice would be appreciated.

I day trade futures with the catalysts being economic numbers, news releases, technicals as well as some statistical correlation models that I built in Excel over the years. ( no back testing/optimization in the system, nor trying to arb in seconds - though trades can be a few seconds long) Have about 7/8 charts open through TWS (IB) and an excel spread sheet connected to a data feed.

Will use gchat and yahoo messenger at times through the day and oen or 2 other live news feeds via the computer.

System:
Vostro 400, Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 (2.40GHz, 1066FSB, 8MB L2)
4GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz, Dual Channel DT
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive 7200RPM, 16MB Cache
OS Windows 64
Nvidia Quadro Nvs 450 PCIE16 512MB GDDR3 4PORT To Dvi Cable
4 Dell 24 Inch Monitors (use a TV for CNBC)

Thanks for any advice or ideas!

 

The core2 duo is junk compared to the i7 chip. I upgraded and the i7 feels at least twice as fast. Spend the extra money. You won't be dissappointed.

Also, make the move to DDR3 ram while your there.

 

bump up the ram as well and a SSD isnt a bad thing either

 

While it's true the i7 chip is lots faster than the Q6600... your rig is likely still plenty good for trading.

To verify, check your Task Manager for CPU and RAM usage.. likely both are low. Therefore, upgrading to a new, faster, more expensive computer will buy you little for trading but pride.

 

Yeah, it's worth getting an SSD just to reduce noise.

 

When you say SSD will reduce noise, are you talking about 'noise' that you hear? thanks.

 

Xeon or the i7 processor?
and is the i7 2600 sufficient?

Thanks,

 

Great reply Scataphagos.
I found this website to be handy for providing specific measurable information that I was able to use to spec a dirt cheap computer that never goes over 45% cpu usage nor 75% ram usage.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

 

Xeons run the gamut from rather slow dualcores to very fast 6-cores.

The i7-2600 is very fast and perhaps the best bang for your buck.

For trading (especially if you plan to now or ever run >2 monitors), the mobo is more important. That is, if you want to run 4 monitors, your mobo should have 2 PCIEx16 slots. If you want to run 8 monitors, mobo should have 4, PCIEx16 slots. (You can run x1 video cards too if your mobo's BIOS allows.) And of course you can always run/try quad-port cards.... but sometimes they have issues and cost more.

 

Hi Scataphagos, which video card do you recommend ?