Custom Computers Vs. Best Buy

[jay bird]

Does anyone have any thoughts / experiences with custom built trading computers verse mass produced models.
I am in the market for a new laptop and don't have time to build my own, there are a few companies that build computers specifically for traders.
It is difficult to compare apples to apples but the main differance between "comparable" models seems to be in the price.
I mentioned the above comment to the custom computer company and he said that the reason for the higher cost was that they used better components and the way that they configured the components would eliminate bottle necks and allow platforms to run faster and more efficiently.
This sounds great and if true might make the higher costs a bargain.

Your thoughts O wise ones

[zdo]

If you are getting a laptop then just purchase 'off the shelf', include max ram, and confirm that the laptop video won't bottleneck processes.
If you are getting a desktop then build from scratch...

You don't really need to use a 'trading computer' specialist - machines tuned for 'gaming' do the trick for a whole lot less money...

hth

[jay bird]

Thanks alot.
as far as the bottle necking how do you go about figuring out if the video will or won't.

[brownsfan019]

I'm not the techie here by any means, but what I've learned w/ computers:

1) Get the max ram you can put in the machine (might be better off doing this yourself AFTER you purchase the laptop and get the good stuff).

2) Make sure the video card is top notch (this could be what the above post is referring to).

I underestimated the importance of the video card in a laptop that I bought for casual use. It has more RAM and better processor than my trading laptop, but I would never want to trade off of it as the trading platforms can get the bottleneck where things freeze or take longer to update b/c so much is going over the video card at once.

I would actually suggest making one online at HP or somewhere and that way you can ensure you get what you want inside the machine. My trading laptop is a compaq and I just custom built it online. Very easy and I know it has good stuff inside.

[BlowFish]

Depending on what you are doing 'trading' is not really a heavy weight application. Of course if you are building the S&P index from constituent stocks in real time your mileage may vary. Things like VWAP's and SD's are processor heavy too. I happily trade on an apple macbook pro laptop running windows (bootcamp).

[jay bird]

Thanks a lot guys.
I am in the process of selling one of my mountain bikes to lessen the pain of purchasing this computer. If I buy the computer from a major distributer I can afford to buy a new fly rod as well.
I currently have an old mac laptop and love the idea of not having to deal with firewalls and such. Any problems using software based platforms with bootcamp.
Once again thanks for taking the time to respond.

[jay bird]

I am thinking about going with a customized Dell XPS M1730 with the following components. A buddy of mine has a 20% business discount with Dell so the total purchase will run me about $2650. What do you think.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
RAID Performance: 400GB (2x200GB) 7200RPM Free Fall Sensor
CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
NVIDIA®SLI™Dual GeForce®8700MGT with 512MB GDDR3 Memory
Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965a/g/n Mini Card
85 WHr Lithium Ion Battery (9-cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0
My Software & Accessories
McAfee SecurityCenter 15-months
Microsoft Works

[fifty2aces]

I wouldn't bother with RAID - more trouble than it's worth, and not really relevant to trading anyway, since you aren't likely to be doing anything which requires heavy disk usage. As for graphics, while you need at least a decent card, trading isn't graphics intensive compared to gaming (high-end graphics are designed for 3D performance, rather than a bunch of charts). SLI is considered excessive by many gamers, so is definitely unnecessary - it will only help for multithreaded graphics, which won't be an issue for trading.

If you downgrade the graphics, and stick to 1 hard disk (no RAID), you'll get a cheaper computer, which will probably have much better battery life, without impacting performance. You could even look to get a faster processor, which will be far more useful than SLI or RAID.

Edit: Also, custom trading computers are pretty unnecessary - generally the ones I have seen use standard parts, but market towards insecure traders who are afraid that their computer might hold them back from getting that extra tick. The only time a custom job might be useful would be if you needed more than 2 monitors, in which case motherboard and graphics card selection is important, and most off the shelf computers won't do the job.

[forsearch]

For 4, 6 or 8 monitors, what would you recommend?

[Sledge]

The ability to run a dual monitor system is key. I plan to upgrade my PC soon with a 2 monitor system- one for my charting, the other screen for my order entry and multitasking uses. In my head it will be sweet as honey!
Sledge