Okay I have been trading over 5 years now on a shitty $500 laptop I got for Christmas. And I feel like it's time to take the gear to a new level. I am looking for a computer that can multitask between games(MMO), thinkorswim, Excel, music, prorealtime, firefox, and etc. Currently running 2 monitors-23inch connected to the laptop, would like to eventually run 3 at least.... maybe 4. So far I have come up with the following: <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="702"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:6217;width:128pt" width="170"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:3803;width:78pt" width="104"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:2048;width:42pt" width="56"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:1316;width:27pt" width="36"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:4608;width:95pt" width="126"> <col style="width:48pt" width="64"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:1499;width:31pt" width="41"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:1280;width:26pt" width="35"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:2560;width:53pt" width="70"> </colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt;width:128pt" height="20" width="170">Brand</td> <td style="width:78pt" width="104">CPU</td> <td style="width:42pt" width="56">Memory</td> <td style="width:27pt" width="36">HD</td> <td style="width:95pt" width="126">Graphics</td> <td style="width:48pt" width="64">Wireless</td> <td style="width:31pt" width="41">PS</td> <td style="width:26pt" width="35">OS</td> <td style="width:53pt" width="70">Price</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">ASUS M51AD-US001O</td> <td>i5-4440 3.1GHz</td> <td>8GB</td> <td>1TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX 760 3GB</td> <td>Y</td> <td>500W</td> <td class="xl67">7 HP</td> <td class="xl68" align="right">$779.99 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">Acer AG3-605-UR38</td> <td>i7-4770 3.4GHz</td> <td>8GB</td> <td>1TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX760 1.5GB</td> <td>Y</td> <td>500W</td> <td align="right">8</td> <td class="xl66" align="right">$969.99 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">Acer AG3-605-UR38</td> <td>i7-4770 3.4GHz</td> <td>8GB</td> <td>1TB</td> <td class="xl67">NVDA GTX770 2GB</td> <td>Y</td> <td>500W</td> <td align="right">8</td> <td>$1000+</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">iBUYPOWER NE713i </td> <td>i7-4770 3.4GHz</td> <td>8GB</td> <td>1TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX 760 2GB</td> <td>Y</td> <td>500W</td> <td align="right">8.1</td> <td class="xl66" align="right">$949.99 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> Stealth Raider 250</td> <td class="xl67">i7-4790 3.6GHz</td> <td class="xl67">16GB</td> <td class="xl67">2TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX 760 2GB</td> <td>?</td> <td>430W</td> <td class="xl67" align="right">7</td> <td class="xl66" align="right">$1,199.99 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">Zeus EVO Thunder 200</td> <td>i5-4670K 3.4GHz</td> <td class="xl67">16GB</td> <td class="xl67">2TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX 760 2GB</td> <td> </td> <td>600W</td> <td class="xl67" align="right">7</td> <td class="xl66" align="right">$1,219.90 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.75pt" height="21"> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.75pt" height="21">Avatar Gaming I7-4776B </td> <td class="xl67">i7-4790 3.6GHz</td> <td class="xl67">16GB</td> <td>1TB</td> <td>NVDA GTX 760 2GB</td> <td> </td> <td class="xl67">650W</td> <td class="xl67" align="right">7</td> <td class="xl66" align="right">$1,219.90 </td> </tr> </tbody></table> Which one would you recommend based on price/value??? Or do you recommend something outside of this?
Any PC will run 3 monitors but on different ports. If you want more than three you will need to buy an additional graphics card. I can't recommend any of these as I build my PCs from scratch which is the best value for money I can get.
All of them. Your problem is related to graphics card and nothing else. So you can buy the cheapest box with a graphics card that has 3 ports and it will be okay. Good news is the cheapest graphics cards today have 3 ports (VGA ad DVI) available so you can connect 3 monitors to just about any pre-built PC out there. If you're not doing any heavy work, save your money and go for the cheapest one in the list.
Something outside of that. First and foremost, I strongly suggest a trading computer is a dedicated machine. All it does is trade. It does not do the newswires, it does not do backtesting, it does not do gaming, etc. But if you're insisting all of this happens on one machine, here's my take: As much RAM as you can fit in the box. To do all of that with 16GB RAM is not smart in my opinion. Your programs run in the RAM and RAM is cheap. The more you have going on, the more clogged your RAM will be. To do everything you're saying, get 32 or 64GB of ram. At least 4 cores at 3.0gHz or higher. Consider even more cores. For the gaming you'll want a high priced graphics card. I don't do gaming so I'll stay out of that one. Go to a gaming forum and ask what they use. If you go light on the gaming card it's going to push over to your cpu and you don't want that. Now let's talk brand. Dell is the only way to go in my opinion. Use Dell Small Business and you'll get great service from English speaking persons in the USA who do whatever it takes. Don't have a small business? Just use your name as company name - it works fine and they're fine with it too. There's a guy on here named Scat who is a pro in Dell resales (whatever they call that) and he'll find you a kick ass box on the cheap. You can always buy your RAM from Newegg after you get your box. I have messed with computers since the 1970's. I own more than 30 computers today. I have bought them, built them, written code, I have robots that build robots and they all run on computers, etc. and I've used them for trading during the most volatile times in history, etc. and never missed a beat. If you biuld or buy what you proposed in your post, you're going to be stumbling. I would guess that on today's market you'll spend $1500-$3000 to have a good, reliable box to do what you want. Another suggestion, use that laptop for a dedicated trading box and buy a new multi-task pc that's not critical and won't cost so much. That way the critical machine is the trading box; who cares if your gaming machine locks up. Good luck!
IMHO: mgookin has given you some good advice. There is insufficient information for fellow members to offer help. For example, a) Are you a daytrader executing 3 to 10 trades per day or long-term trader execuing 3 to 10 trades per year ? b) Are you trading stocks or derivatives ? How many do you need to monitor ? c) thinkDesktop was a resource hog, and slow, slow, slow .... If you opened eight intraday charts of crude oil futures with five indicators per time-frame one year ago, thinkDestop could bring a GTX 650 card to its knees. If you are planning to do something similar, a GTX 760 card may not be an overkill. I do not think you need a 770 card. Speed and reliability are the main reasons that I dumped thinkDestop about one year ago. I am using Sierra Chart now. d) Fourth generation i5 and i7 processors can be 6% faster than the third generation counterparts. However, they can be 10 degree Celsius hotter, when doing some heavy duty computing. Do you have good air-conditioning ? e) As mgookin mentioned, you should have a dedicated trading machine. If you don't, at least try to buy a HDD drive in addition to a SDD drive. Then, keep your trading applications on the SDD drive, and the garbage like internet temporary files, history files, etc, on the HDD drive. Finally, do you have any tech-savvy close friends, who are willing to help ? Just my two cents.
Ditto. OP has sort of asked the question, "which vehicle best serves the purpose of part dump truck and part race car"?
+1 But that doesn't mean we won't help him out. I remember coming on here a long time ago asking about what graphics cards were best for trading. I'm trying to think of who it was on here - I think it was gnome I was referred to off of a forum over at TT.
a. Well I only have time to trade for 1 hour at my house before heading off to work in the morning. And presplit AAPL i used to be an active daytrader, but since then I have switched to buying gold/silver miners and holding. b. I trade both stocks & derivatives. Eventually want to try out futures and currencies. Anyways, I want to monitor let's say the Daily, hourly, minute charts, etc......and also have a screen on let's say the USD/JPY, ES, 30yr T-bonds, etc..... Thus the need to upgrade my computer to handle all these charts. c. This...I am looking for a computer that can handle thinkdesktop with multiple charts(B. above), etc. I will take a look at Sierracharts. d. No AC in my room...But my crappy laptop has survived overheating galore and abuse for several years now. e. The thing is I spend most of my trading at work lol. In fact I think by not having to sit at my room to trade, it has helped me to not overtrade and I can just monitor the market while at work. I tend to only have the 1 hour in opening bell to trade at my house while multitasking between shower, shave, etc. Then I head off to work and monitor/trade during then. But after I come back home, I usually load up EOD data on prorealtime and track 100+ stocks. f. I have also started backtesting using ThinkonDemand and currently my computer can handle it but still very slow... And yes I have some computer savvy friends that I can call up for help. What is the exact reason that I should have a dedicated trading computer? Does running multiple charts/programs slow/take up that much memory on a good computer? I mean if I was a traveling trader with a laptop, I would obviously not multitask and probably use it to surf the web, make a few trades, no games. But at my house...if I am done analyzing the markets/trading, I would like to watch some videos or play a game. If the market's slow for example, I'd like to play a game on one screen while keeping an eye on the market until volatility rises. In regards to "which vehicle best serves the purpose of part dump truck and part race car"? I feel like I am trying to have a "weekend car" as well as a daily driver....It's not ideal but I am not trading a $1,000,000 account yet so budgeting for maximum value. (Just graduated college last year-23years old)