Spec me a trading PC please

Calculus

Calculus

Calculus

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Joined
27 Jan 2016
Posts
47
Hiya. Glad I found Overclockers as I was really having trouble finding a company that built quality PCs in the UK. Anyway, I'm here now.

Can I have some advice please?

I'm looking for a quality component PC, not for gaming, but for trading.

The main role of the machine will be to run 6 AOC 34" widescreen monitors running at 3440x1440 (21:9 aspect) (this is the model

Here are my comments on the following -

Speed: Not such of an issue. I think i5 (or similar AMD) will be fine. The programs I use are small and generally slick. I won't be running much in the background either, or at least nothing that's hungry for lots of power/speed.

Graphics capabilities: All I'll be having on my screen will be 18 charts, they will update every second but nothing moves fast like games.

Graphics cards: As I mentioned, 6 34" wide screen running at 3440x1440. I was therefore looking at the Nvidia Quadro 1200 offering 4 mini-display ports. Any comments on that card or alternatives?

RAM: My system at present is 8GB and it's sort of enough but I want to go 16GB just to be safe.

HD: 500GB Samsumg SSD

Secondary HD: Not needed at present, I can always add one later if need be.

Noise: Needs to be generally quiet.

Ventilation/heat: The machine will be under my desk and there's not too much airflow. Plus, the office is generally warm.

Case: Nothing flashy needed.

Reliability: Needs to be rock solid and it will be on 24 hours a day, sometimes for weeks (assuming no software reboots are needed).

Future expansion: Not really that important. I'll probably use the machine for 5 years then replace it with a whole new system. And the software I'll be using won't need the latest and greatest spec to run effectively in the future either.


Budget: £1,000 - £1500 incl. VAT. One of the main costs I think is going to be the graphics cards.

Keyboard/mouse etc: I have everything so only the system is needed.

Ports: Nothing special, standard USBs (4-6) and USB3s (1-2), network etc.

Any advice would be really appreciated. I'm not in the market right now but will be in around 2-3 months. At present I'm just getting a feel for things and prices etc. Thanks.
 
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Just wondering what level of reliability you require? Partial RAM failure, for instance, can be a less common but tricky fault - maybe I'd consider ECC RAM if I was depending on a PC for trading.
 
Philip, sorry but I'm not such an expert in the different types of RAM.

Overall I'm looking for reliability over speed or anything fancy.
 
Error-correcting code memory (ECC memory) is a type of computer data storage that can detect and correct the most common kinds of internal data corruption. ECC memory is used in most computers where data corruption cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, such as for scientific or financial computing.

Typically, ECC memory maintains a memory system immune to single-bit errors: the data that is read from each word is always the same as the data that had been written to it, even if one or more bits actually stored have been flipped to the wrong state. Most non-ECC memory cannot detect errors although some non-ECC memory with parity support allows detection but not correction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECC_memory
Click to expand...

EDIT:

Not all motherboards support ECC RAM ...
 
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If I understand this correctly you'll probably need a fairly ordinary PC, maybe a nice amount of ram but some expensive graphics cards to run those monitors.

I don't think a single graphics card will run 6 monitors at 3440x1440.
 
You don't need ECC just for running application front-ends.

If you were actually running a PTS on your machine that would be a different matter, but not just for a client displaying some charts and spreadsheets.
 
Thanks for educating me, EEC looks promising, rock solid etc. But is that reflected much in the price?

It's not so much of a problem if my system were to go down and need a reboot. With the SSD I reckon I can be backup and running again within 3 mins (PC rebooted + programs all running again). 3mins is not really a problem for me, most of the time I'm watching and waiting, actual trading is probably only about 5% of my time.
 
Stovepipes said:
If I understand this correctly you'll probably need a fairly ordinary PC, maybe a nice amount of ram but some expensive graphics cards to run those monitors.

I don't think a single graphics card will run 6 monitors at 3440x1440.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I don't think the spec has to be so wonderful (just good), the cost/problem might be in the graphics card(s).
 
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for starters you'll be looking at a system like this
renda workstation 5yr warranty
It will need some tweaking, ideally you'll want 2 drives in raid 1 with a spare drive waiting to replace one of the raid drives in case of failure (trading=time is money).

'As I mentioned, 6 34" wide screen running at 3440x1440.'
thats the biggie, I'd get on to OC customer services, let them have the hassle of working out a gpu solution to drive them.

EDIT: good spot by stovepipes
 
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Calculus said:
Graphics cards: As I mentioned, 6 34" wide screen running at 3440x1440. I was therefore looking at the Nvidia Quadro 1200 offering 4 mini-display ports. Any comments on that card or alternatives?
Click to expand...

I would suggest having 2 graphics cards, so you would need a board that has 2x PCI-E 16x slots. For graphics you could use 2 of the AMD FirePro W4100 which would likely be the cheapest option (and give you option for 2 further screens if needed)

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...ics-card-2gb-gddr5-512-shaders-gx-020-am.html
 
Thanks Lude, I'll look into that system. Have also just emailed AOC for some guidance about what cards they'd recommend.

Yes, nice find there Stove.
 
Thanks as well Arm. Those AMD cards look very competitive.

My gaming friend who put me onto Overclockers said I'd get good info from the Board :)
 
A prebuilt option including 2 of those Graphics cards (and ECC Ram) from OcUK would be £1961.09


My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x "RENDA T-X3" Intel Xeon v3 Professional Graphics Workstation = £1,946.99
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-08289)
    • Optical Drive:No Optical Drive Selected
    • Networking:Networking Not Selected
    • Secondary Hard Drive / Solid State Drive:No Second Hard Drive Option (ZERO Cost)
    • Tertiary Hard Drive:No Hard Drive/SSD Selected
    • Second Graphics Card:AMD FirePro W4100 Professional Graphics Card - 2GB GDDR5 - 512 Shaders
    • Memory:Kingston 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 2133MHz ECC Memory (KVR21R15S4K4/32)
    • Graphics Card:AMD FirePro W4100 Professional Graphics Card - 2GB GDDR5 - 512 Shaders
    • Primary Hard Drive / Solid State Drive:Samsung 512GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-7KE512BW)
    • Intel Processor:Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 3.5GHz Quad Core with Hyperthreading (Socket 2011-3) - Retail

Total: £1,961.09
(includes shipping: £14.10)
​


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Arm, lovely system but yikes on the price!

My budget is basically up to £1500 (give or take).

Maybe the Renda C-H5 would be better option as I don't think a £2k over a £1.5k machine would offer me any advantage.
 
Calculus said:
Arm, lovely system but yikes on the price!

My budget is basically up to £1500 (give or take).

Maybe the Renda C-H5 would be better option as I don't think a £2k over a £1.5k machine would offer me any advantage.
Click to expand...


The Renda C-H5 only supports a single graphics card though as it uses this motherboard (https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/B85MG/)



The RENDA M-H5F would be a suitable option though, as it has 2 Graphics cards slots. It can only be preconfigured with 1 graphics card via the website, so you would need add a second yourself (or speak to OcUK and see if they can do it).


My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x "RENDA M-H5F" Intel Core i5 Frequency Enhanced Professional Graphics Workstation = £1,158.00
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-08289)
    • Memory:Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Gold (HX21C11BGK2/16-OC)
    • Optical Drive:No Optical Drive Selected
    • Networking:Networking Not Selected
    • Processor Frequency:No Overclocking Options (Zero Cost)
    • Graphics Card:AMD FirePro W4100 Professional Graphics Card - 2GB GDDR5 - 512 Shaders
    • Tertiary Hard Drive:No Hard Drive/SSD Selected
    • Primary Hard Drive / Solid State Drive:Samsung 512GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-7KE512BW)
    • Secondary Hard Drive / Solid State Drive:No Second Hard Drive Option (ZERO Cost)
  • 1 x AMD FirePro W4100 Professional Graphics Card - 2GB GDDR5 - 512 Shaders= £134.99

Total: £1,308.89
(includes shipping: £15.90)
​


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