Hi there.
do we have any Stock traders here -- I'm looking for a decent system capable of driving 4 LARGE monitors - possibly expandable later up to 6.
Any ideas folks.
Thanks
jimbo
Hi there
It's an old AMD system --If I run something like Handbrake on it the CPU just dies and the machine powers off -- I can't have something like that happening in the middle of a trade.
I thought of a brand new system - probably with an i7 CPU (loads of graphics for the various trading platforms) with a decent SSD, a few HDD's and a dedicated multi-monitor external graphics card. Time to buy myself an early Xmas prezzie.
Getting an adequate video card though seems a problem --I don't need the "Xtreme" Gamer stuff but I definitely need the video to be capable of driving at least 4 X 40 inch monitors which is the crux of the problem. Try and ask a Bank trading floor what they are using and you'll be regarded as some sort of "Cyber terrorist" !!!!
I won't have any probs building and assembling the system - including the multi-monitor rack --got plenty of space in my house for this. I'll go for the full 32GB as well as I'll also use this system for running a few VM's serving Movies etc when I'm not trading.
Day trading is great fun but I'm only at it for around 30 mins to an hour a day --usually when UK market opens, then again just at US market opening time, then just before UK market closing and sometimes just before US closing time.
I find for amateur and home traders best trades are made all around these times.
Cheers
jimbo
@jimbo45:
I've got an old AMD quad and 8GB of RAM but a decent Nvidia card, I have no problem running four monitors.
I've run video conversion software, recording software, a browser and explorer at once; a little sluggish, but no crashes.
(I don't think you'd run Handbrake while your trading on the Stock Market)
While I'm at it, I replicated your taskbar scenario, almost exactly, from your other thread and I didn't have a problem with the taskbar disappearing.
(The 'blue' mouse is controlling said scenario)
Hi there
It's a very old system so in need of an upgrade.
Running things like Handbrake etc would be done of course when I wasn't trading -- a VM is fine for these.
Current monitors also have much better than 1920 X 1080 resolution -- the video I have currently maxes out at that.
I could probably rescue the mobo by fitting a new heatsink but it's time I think for a new system plus I'll have fun building it.
Cheers
jimbo
You don't have to get just one video card. If you get a gaming motherboard with multiple PCIx 16 slots, you can use 2 cheaper video cards that have 2 dual-link ports on them, and you're all set.
No day trader here.
A single GTX 960 is supposed to be able to support 4 monitors. (3 of them must be connected via DisplayPort.)
Whether that would work with three UHD (3840X2160) plus one lesser dual link DVI one, I don't know. Seems a lot to ask of a midrange graphics card.
I'm not very familiar with workstation cards. Here's a funky one:
Matrox M9188 M9188-E2048F 2GB PCI Express x16 Graphics Card - Newegg.com
(Can it really drive 8 monitors at once?)
I'm no Day Trader, but I'm currently running 3 X 27" monitors with my system. My GTX 980 is supposed to be able to run 4, as long as 1 is using the Display Port. I believe the only time it would make a lot of stress on the video card would be if you ran them in surround instead of extended. Extended is what I would think you would want if Day trading. If you were going to be running 3 or 4 programs at the same time is when the rest of the hardware would come into play. How you would run 6 monitors, I really don't know but I suspect you would need SLI (Nvidia) to do it. The person to ask would be @z3r010, who I believe is doing that, or something similar, now.
I believe the Graphics requirement and CPU, Ram requirements to run multiple programs at once are separate issues. How much CPU and Ram usage will be needed for the software you are going to be running. Much like wanting to run 5 VMs at the same time. How many CPU cores and ram needs to be allocated for each for the VM to run efficiently without strangling the Host.
Most of the high end nvidia cards can run 4 screens these days, I've got2x 4GB ASUS GTX 980 STRIX CUII which can support 8 screens but currently running 5 @ 2560x1440 without a problem (no Sli needed).
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