I'm thinking to buy a SSD, I just wonder if this could improve platforms and than trading speed. anyone experienced this?

Thanks.

It would depend on how much your trading app uses disk I/O for trade signal/execution, wouldn't it?

Would using a 64 bit system and more RAM be a cheaper alternative to minimize I/O?

It will only enhance I/O, so it will help the boot time, and all I/O intensive operations, but trading tools are not I/O intensive.
So, my answer is NO.

I agree with Sam. Your platform may load faster, but the actual usage of the platform will not be any faster because it is not disk intensive.

SSD's are still fairly expensive, it's probably a better investment to either get more memory or a faster CPU.

Mike

Don't forget about reliability. SSD much more reliable vs HDD. They are also silent and use less power if you care.

The new ones can now be installed in a PCI-e slot as well, so no more cables.

The downside is lower density / $.

Is all of this worth the higher price? IMO, yes.

aslan 

Don't forget about reliability. SSD much more reliable vs HDD. They are also silent and use less power if you care. The new ones can now be installed in a PCI-e slot as well, so no more cables. The downside is lower density / $. Is all of this worth the higher price? IMO, yes.

That is very true.

But I am an old "storage" guy (my last real corporate job was at a big storage company). So in my home alone I have about 12TB of disks, and lots of RAID everywhere, etc

If the PC is used *only* for trading, then a 40 or 80GB SSD will be enough. But it isn't going to make things faster. The problem is if the PC is used for general use, you probably want several hundred GB and those are very expensive for SSD right now (still).

Mike

aslan 

Don't forget about reliability. SSD much more reliable vs HDD. [...].

It depends which paramaters you consider to evaluate the 'reliability' factor. Surely SSD are better for shocks, vibration, temperature ratings; not so sure about long term use reliability. More ideas and data here.

However always think about running a good backup

Make sure you buy a drive that supports TRIM, make sure your mainboard controller supports TRIM that you are attaching it to (ie: most 3rd party HW raid cards do NOT support it), and make sure your OS supports TRIM. That should more or less handle the longevity part of the argument, aside from just a fluke failure.

Mike

Big Mike 

Make sure you buy a drive that supports TRIM, make sure your mainboard controller supports TRIM that you are attaching it to (ie: most 3rd party HW raid cards do NOT support it), and make sure your OS supports TRIM. That should more or less handle the longevity part of the argument, aside from just a fluke failure. Mike

...essentially this means that if the user does not trade under Win7 or WS 2008 R2, it's better not to think about SSD.

paulg 

...essentially this means that if the user does not trade under Win7 or WS 2008 R2, it's better not to think about SSD.

And for linux guys, I think 2.6.33 or 2.6.34 is needed for TRIM in the kernel, and even then only btrfs and ext4 support.

Mike