So far i ve seen Desktops and monitor arrays presented by tradingcomputers.com What i am looking for is an array of 6 monitors, but i am not interested in large screens; more like in the 19" to 20" range per screen to minimize my vision angle which helps me to process the information faster imo. You agree on this point? I think 23" screens are an overkill? What about Desktops? Do i need a cutting edge one with 16GB, and water cooling technology and SSD Hard Drive.....etc which i am fine with if it really helps the performance of data processing as it is claimed on tradingcomputers. Any other set-ups you recommend? Any particular vendors for display monitors and / or desktops? Appreciate your opinions.
Unless you're doing complicated backtesting, then you don't need an ultrapowerful computer. FYI - I'm pretty sure tradingcomputers.com just contracts their builds out to another company - www.allpczone.com.
Can't see any difference in my XP Dual Core 2.4 quads and my i7's W7 64's when everything is running. SSD's obviously are great for reboots. I avoid neck strain on a 3 high x 2 wide by inclining the bottom pair at 45 degrees. The top of the bottom pair is the normal low of a quad monitor set up. This brings the bottom pair forward towards me and my eye movement is about the same from the middle pair to the tops or to the bottoms. It's a very compact set up rather than stacking 3 monitors on top of each other or going wider on a 2 high by 3 wide. I didn't want to go wider as I have another duplicate PC + quad that bends into the 6 monitors. I'd recommend 22's at least. I have 24's and there is no problem on eye movement. I live in a hot climate and don't need water cooled and I load those CPU's with a heavy workload. I use a good tower heatsink and the PSU is on the bottom to allow better airflow. Then 5 fans including a top 200mm keeps plenty of air in the case. If you're not gaming on the PC in the desert then water cooling is overkill imho.
I tend to agree with that sentiment. I have many monitors. I regret buying the earlier models at 24". 23, 22, till too big if you have a cluster of them. The latest I bought were some Acer 21" LED and I love them. Different strokes for different folks. Some like 26" x 6, or even 40" x 6. In the current market, I couldn't find anything smaller than 21" that supports 1920x1080 resolution. If you pick 19/20, the resolution only goes to 1600x900. Seems a pity to get a smaller screen but sacrificing resolution. They can squeez the 1080p resolution on a 17.3" laptop screen, I am sure it is possible. They just don't make it. Perhaps a small market segment.
If you're running custom formulas and lots of tic charts (or other custom use), then perhaps you need all the horsepower you can afford. Otherwise.... most trading apps load everything into RAM and run from there. The CPU is used momentarily throughout the day but basically sits idle 99% of the time. For example, my CPU is in use at about 10% for maybe 1 second as data is written to files at the end of an intra-day bar. My GPUs run 0-1% all day long. I think my setup is close to typical for traders... Data, charting, trading apps, browser, email + background stuff... to collect real-time data on about 200 issues and to run 4 monitors.... using about 1.3GB of RAM and the CPU runs about 1-5% all day long. For this degree of complexity, any dualcore CPU machine with 2-3 PCIEx16/x4/x1 slots has more than enough grunt. I've tested custom formulas on tic charts in MetaStock... those of course were not programmed to load into and run from RAM. In that case, the CPU was working on every tic and ran @ 100% most of the time. Bottom line... check your RAM and CPU usage and you'll probably find that all you need is a "regular" modern computer with enough PCIE slots to run the number of monitors you want to run.
Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) is more than adequate for trading. Will run two monitors in a 4*4 inch form factor that can be attached to the back on the vesa monitor bracket. A three monitor version is coming in the summer. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...rboards/next-unit-computing-introduction.html
Just a tip... Lots of cooling fans make a ton of annoying noise, use a card like the ATI/AMD 2460 (4 displays) that uses passive cooling. Multiple displays will create a lot of heat. You may need to adjust your home/office vents or use a fan to keep your office comfortable in the summer time.