Kiwi_trader, Can you suggest what graphics cards that don't need to spin their fans up under normal use? (for 2 monitors and just for trading. no games here) Also, when you mentioned you run Sierrachart on RAM drive, how do you do it? Do you need to get another hard disk such as Western Digital Raptor? Sorry. not computer savvy. TIA
The best dualhead card for trading and other non-gaming functions is the Nvidia Quadro NVS 280/285... they come in AGP, PCI, and PCIE. Pick one up used on eBay for cheap.... just make sure you get the right one for your mobo.
cubes PNY technologies has fanless cards ...........Quadro NVS 285 128mb X 16 for PCI_E also the QUADRO series of fanless cards have a 4 head card for 4 monitors XFX has a fanless card with Nvidia 7950 card this has 512 memory etc and costs $300 from Newegg.com. Overkill for trading and still below the new Direct x 10 graphics goodies that VISTA will be touting (nvidia cards 8 series if you are willing to check the price out..8800 card i think). Voltage requirement for the new cards are HIGH, thats another reason why i like the Quadro NVS PNY cards for trading machine, less voltage, no fan, no overkill, dependable. if you want fun and games there are always loose women around........... O, yes, and think about this for your next trader box, WOODCREST chips can be had with passive cooling also. The Cloverton chips (5300 series ) are quads as in 2 woodies slapped together and called a quad chip. The Clovertons have a heatsink made out of FORGED copper and with a fan on top which can be used if desired. Kind of neat to have a choice based on needs of cooling. This roadmap of chips coming down the pike is like crazy. Todays chips are 65 nano, this year 45 n is coming code named Yorkfield i think (they keep changing names) based an penryn core, 12mb L2 cache (2x6mb L2) speeds wil be faster because the shorter paths in a 45 nano chip will generate or require less voltage, speeds are called in the 3.46 to 3.74GHZ area.. Chipset code named BEARLAKE-X for DDR3, 1333, PCI-E2 and intel ICH9R Drives ya crazy trying to build a new box and when, Guurrr cubes true, bit for a trader box i prefer to NOT overclock, but yes, intel will do it ..... Tigerton, (xeon), clarksboro chipset, Full-buffered memory, bloomfield, Yorkfield, kentsfield, conroe, gainstown......... And they keep changing the sockets.....good luck HA
The Quadro is a great solution for trading. The Nvidia 7950 fanless sounds excellent if you want to add flight sims or other graphics intensive games. I'm using a 7900GS which is less powerful and has a quiet fan that runs very slowly under normal load. http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/video/g71-4.html http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=fanless+graphics+cards&btnG=Google+Search&meta= Running Sierra Chart (or anything) on a ram disk. I use the AR Soft ramdisk (free, unsupported but can be found on the web). You install Sierrachart on the ram disk and then copy it onto your C (or other drive to save the data). I copy it from C to R (ram drive) on start up each morning. Then during the day I make copies back to C to keep the data up to date in case my computer crashes (... it is a staggeringly long time since that happened ... thanks Bill G). Finally at EOD I copy it back to C and exit. Attached are 3 batch files I use to copy SC around. http://www.arsoft-online.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=36
Buy the fastest one with the most memory. 512mb isn't enough memory. They have them now with 1GB. You will need at least 1GB to run the new Windows Vista. Don't buy a used computer. You can buy a whole brand new computer with a LCD flat panel monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, all for under 1,000.00 You need at least 3 GHZ processor and 1Gb of memory. And the biggest hard drive you can find also. 250GB or more hard drive is good for lots of storage. Don't get anything less than what I just told you to buy. If you do, then you will be sorry you did. And never buy used computers. Never. Pay the extra money and get brand new.
A big hard drive is not needed for general pc use. Myself, using a pc for movies, pictures and music is not using a computer properly. Music,.........get a ipod, movies buy a HDTV, pictures get prints. How many pictures do you need? I have an older IBM workstation with a 18gb scsi and have charts up on it. Never once was a tight on hard drive space. The other trade entry machine has a 74 gb drive. A 36 gb drive would have been fine but the price was right so i opted for a 74. The new box will get 1 36 sas scsi. Why waste a bunch of drive space that would never ber used in a trading machine? Thats a waste of money. That old pc is all anyone needs for web browsing or e-mail. keep the junk out of trading boxes. PS.................DELL is yesterdays pc to buy mail order. Today HP has better prices, better guts and better if not great service. Do yourself a favor and check out HP web and not just DELL. DELL is notorious for sending less than advertised outdated shit in the warehouse in your new box. Every time they see a truck leave the dock the shipping dept all "high 5' each other.
Guys, need help. Gnome, When you mentioned nvidia quadro NVS 280/285, is it all these have the words GPUs behind it (for eg: Nvidia quadro NVS 280 GPUs)? Or we can choose whether it has GPUs or not. Reason is those with GPUs are windows vista ready. Trader28lite mentioned that any graphics card will do unless you plan a lot of gaming, 7600GS or GT is a good bang for buck card at the moment, installation is easy but get a friend or the shop to install it if not confident. Someone wants to sell me this nvidia card ASUS 7600GT (dvi) non HDCP at a lower price, but I'm not sure whether this is Windows vista ready. Can anyone confirm this. Don't seem to see this model on nvidia's website which I've attached below. http://www.nvidia.com/page/technology_vista_home.html TIA
Do you really think that XPS line from Dell is like McD????? Not to defend the big guys but Dell does have some good/powerful machines to offer and if combined with rebates/coupons, they make a good buy, especially for those who are computer semi-illiterate. As for going to independent shops. Some have a habit of sticking less then desirable parts and charging top $$$ for them especially when they deal with amateurs which is 90% of their clientele.