Will there be any noticeable difference between a 5400 and a 7200 drive speed in a trading environment? Im sure it will boot quicker but once its up an running will there be a difference. Is charting software hd intensive?
Unless you are a scalping maniac (and perhaps not even then), you will notice no difference in speed. Most charting software runs out of RAM, so HD speed isn't much of an issue. Besides, 5400s are cooler and quieter.
No, But you know, now that I have a faster drive (I went from a 5200 RPM SCSI to a 10000 RPM SATA with a big cache) I am really happy. It is not so much for trading, it just makes the overall experience of _using_ your computer more enjoyable. nitro
If you're dropping down to a very slow 5200rpm drive, load your system RAM to the max to minimize the amount of paging/swapping your computer has to do - and make sure you're using an OS that can use it (W2K or XP) not Windows 98 or (God forbid) Windows Me.
I just ordered the Raptor 10k rpm SATA 37 GB drive and the Promise controller (non RAID) for my daughters machine. She really puts machines to the test and overpowers them with her usage designing graphic arts. Total Price: 157 at NewEgg. PS: You also need the power adapter for SATA, I believe... another $10 worth...
There will be no differrence whatsoever between 5400rpm and 7200rpm or 10000rpm in trading no matter how fast you trade. The faster speeds will come in handy only with graphics and video editing applicatons or other applications that are heavy on the HD. TMTrader