Please evaluate my new computer

Hello, I just bought this through my computer insurance company (so it cost me 0 dollars). My spending limit was $750 and I had to use Tiger Direct. This was the best I could find for the price. I was unable to beat the price of the barebones kit by buying parts separately.

I understand it only has an integrated graphics card. It WILL support 2 monitors as it has a VGA and DVI out, but I will add on another graphics card to support more.

Other than the graphics card, how does this system look for trading?

The only way I see that I can increase speed is through a SSD drive, but I feel I'll need more than 200 GB. I AM thinking of buying a SSD drive to add to the system from which I can run my trading software?

If I did add a SSD drive, how could I exactly utilize it to effect the speed of my trading. Windows will be installed on the non-SSD drive.

Is 8 GB RAM enough? It sounds like plenty to me....

Thanks.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3487656&CatId=31

•MSI Z77A-G45 Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 2667MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, SLI/CrossFireX Ready
•Intel Core i7-3770K BX80667i73770K Processor - Quad Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 3.50GHz (3.90GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 77W, Fan, Unlocked, Retail
•MSI DH-24AAS-17 Internal DVD Writer - DVD+R 24X, DVD-R 24X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, DVD-RAM 12X, CD-R 48X, CD-RW 32X, SATA
•Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 9-9-9-24 CAS Latency, Intel XMP Ready, Unbuffered
•Western Digital WD10EALX Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 1TB, 3.5", SATA 6Gbps, 7200 RPM, 32MB
•Thermaltake VN770M1W2N Overseer RX-I Full Tower Computer Case - ATX, 700W PSU, Full Tower, 3 x 5.25" Bays, 5 x 3.5" Bays, 8 x Expansion Slots, 2 x USB 3.0, 2x Blue LED Fans, Black

 

Evaluate it compared to what?

What was your old machine?

That's a $325 CPU, a $100 HDD and a $125 mobo. That's $550 right there.

Are the rest of the parts worth $200 to you?

Just format the HDD and do a fresh install of the operating system and as long as you are coming from a Pentium machine or even Core2Duo or quad core it'll be light years faster.

 

You're clearly overdoing it. You don't even need half of that processing power for typical discretionary trading.

Why would you install Windows on the HD instead of the SSD? A 200GB SSD is more than enough to handle all your system files.

 

Old machine doesn't compare, it is from 2005.

I guess you're right, Windows is only like 16 gigs or less. I could use a SSD drive and use the HDD for storage of things like music, etc. I'll do that.

The barebones kit does not come with an operating system so I do not have to format the hard drive.

I have Windows 7 32 bit at home. Is 64 bit that much better / faster or can I stick with 32 bit?

I will be running Lightspeed with a grip of charts and boxes, so that is why I chose that processor. I don't want things to run slowly.

 

Oh snap, 32 bit won't let me use all 8 GB of RAM. Guess I better upgrade.

From what I read online, 64 bit lets you use over 4 GB of RAM, however it isn't necessarily FASTER.

 

In general it will. It is just not a direct logic. 64-bit will let you use over 4GB of RAM. More memory space means more memory can be allocated for the application. If enough memory is available for your app, the operating system does not need to do any swapping/paging (virtual memory). Without the bottleneck of swapping/page, your app will run faster.

This pick you made has an "Intel Core i7-3770K" processor, which has a passmark score of over 10000! It is about as high as most retail money can buy!

I would say go for 64-bit and higher memory (8GB). I would bet that the performance benefits from this is more than using a SSD over HD.

You can drive 2 monitors initially from the integrated graphics. But when you want to add additional graphics cards, the integrated graphics capability may (or may not) be disabled.

If you really, really want a SSD, you may not need one that is >200 GB. Just plan your storage scheme wisely. Buy a small SSD (maybe 40GB), which can be inexpensive these days, and a HD. Use the SSD for your OS and trading app, but minimize data storage on it. Put all your family photos and vacation videos on the HD. No need to waste SSD space for them.

 

Thanks for the input. I read somewhere that SSD can increase your performance by 30%!

 

Yes. But that's the disk I/O speed performance increase. Not necessarily your whole throughput.

The question is: how much disk I/O does your trading app do when the market is open? For some apps, it may not be a significant portion.

 

Going to get a 60 GB Corsair Force GT SSD today, I will install Windows 64 bit on it.

Any recommendations on a video card(s) for a 4 monitor setup??

 

Your motherboard has 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 and 1 PCIe 2.0 x16.

You can get a couple of these inexpensive 8400 GS (made by EVGA or PNY Technologies or MSI). The current model has 1 GB RAM. Older ones had 512MB or 256MB RAM. Doesn't matter much for trading. Older = cheaper. 1 card = 2 monitors. 2 cards = 4 monitors. (Your onboard video may be disabled as you insert an external video card)

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Express-Graphics-512-P3-1300-LR/dp/B004BQKQ8A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA