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Consider buying used machine. There are always listings for high-end Dell workstations on Ebay. Look for a model that is still being sold by Dell (current model) and comes with a warranty. Depending upon what your needs are, you might find something that gives you more bang for your buck.
I am planning a build later this year, but the focus is less on trading and more on other activities that are processor or GPU intensive. The main advantage for a better build is speed of optimizations, but I currently am not running any strategies that require it.
This may be a little radical, but maybe you want to consider leasing a virtual machine or virtual server. Check out this thread for a good discussion, and what I currently use live:
So recently I have been looking into changing from a traditional VPS to a cloud service like Azure or AWS. However it seems like a jungle compared to choosing a regular VPS where the pricing structure is more straight forward.
I'm making …
My VM 'build' supports three monitors, has a premium SSD, encryption, etc. However, if I were to use it for optimization of strategies (I use TradeStation and MultiCharts for automated trading), then I would not use my VM, at least not during trading hours. It is only a 2.1 Ghz machine (burstable), but it easily handles running multiple strategies. Check out that thread for more details.
I will likely do what you are doing, and just do a fresh build for strategy development and my other activities. But I have learned, as @planetkill noted, I don't need a terribly powerful machine just for trading.
If you only open a couple of time based charts and execute trades, any PC will do, otherwise you are going to need a workstation.
As you have also mentioned you have 3 screens you are going to need a proper gfx card. This limits your options to either a custom build or as others mentioned a ready workstation from Dell, or HP etc with enough room to install a full PCIe gfx card.
My recommendation and also what I personally currently use, make a new build with an AMD threadripper, combined with ECC memory and liquid cooling. You are going to need also a nice case with enough space, I have a "Corsair Carbide Series™ Air 540". Make sure you also get a workstation grade motherboard that FULLY support the AMD threadripper AND ECC memory...
This way you are going to get enough cpu cores to run any trading software, do backtesting etc. and get the benefits of ECC memory.
does that mobo support dual video cards? anyhow attached is mine. I have a coupla computers here both equipped with two, 5:4 X 19" monitors. why 5:4? because these monitors sport tiny footprints. with those huge guys you have you'd need wall mounts but mine sit nicely on my desktops. the snippet on the right monitor is TOS, the one on the left is MT4.
however there's a huge caveat here.. I run linux exclusively (although I do have win10 homeboy dual boot but I never use it as I know from experience that its basically a "garbage" OS). it doesn't even support dual monitors (at least not in the homeboy version). in fact it doesn't support optical drives either! the boildown is that linux's kernel is HUGE compared to windoze thus it supports just about everything (at least to some degree). note that both "Brother" and "Nvidia" both heavily support linux natively.
however in stating this you DO need to know WTF you're doing. do you have any knowledge regarding computer partitions? well you better know something about them because if you do not you're gonna hafta stay with windoze. now one reason linux is so fast is that you don't need ANY protective threads running regarding virus, malware, ransomware, etc. that ain't gonna happen under linux because there's this thing called "rights" here... right down to the file level. so IF you don't have the proper credentials you ain't getting in, see? some people even encrypt their home directory (but I do not as that slows things down). linux also does NOT use drive "letters they use sequenced "names" instead.
so how do windoze apps run under linux? well TOS is a JAVA app and because it is TOS builds a linux version (thus it runs natively under linux). and MT4 runs under linux's windoze emulator called "WINE" (I run it under simulating the "win7" OS). btw linux's app names are NOT very intuitive for the most part.... takes some getting used to. my default browser is firefox but many run chrome which is also popular under linux. there's a LOT more choices under linux when it comes to apps as well.. and they're all free.
I would start with a good video card for your 3 monitors with at least 4GB of memory. This will improve your present system without spending money on a complete new system. After you finally start making some decent money, then invest in a new system.
I like to choose every component but wasn't interested in building the machine myself this time. These guys carried everything I wanted and only charged $100 to assemble, configure, and test:
As you're aware, each category of a component has a feature set and pricing from low to high. So you can set your max budget and specify items accordingly. The nice think about selecting from gaming systems is the high-performance orientation. I don't overclock (or water cool) and I use the graphics power to drive multiple 1440P video in "desktop mode" (vs "gaming mode") since I don't need high framerates.
When you look for a trading computer, keep it simple. In my opinion there is no need to build one. I would rather focus on trading and not waste my time to play around with components. In particular it is not necessary to purchase an expensive machine specificly designed for trading. This is what you need:
Required Components
- a fast CPU
- a standard 2D/3D graphics adapter that allows for connecting as many monitors as you need
- at least 16 GByte of RAM
- a fast SSD NVMe M.2 (minimum 256 GByte) for the operating system
- a fast SSD NVMe M.2 (minimum 1TByte) for trade data
- a robust SATA harddisk for running backups
- 3 to 6 monitors of your liking, at least 24''each
Most important: A fast CPU and the fastest SSD that you can find
The fast CPU and the SSD are mainly needed for backtests. With my current PC I have been able to reduce the time for portfolio backtests by at least 80% when compared to my previous PC. The reason here is that NinjaTrader has the trade data organized in lots of little files. I have 10 years of tick data for most of the futures contracts, and this data sums up to about 2 million files. With such a database it is not the data transfer rates that matter, but the access time. SSDs have much faster access times than conventional hard disks which need to rotate to find all the little files. Therefore, the fast SSD is even more important than the processor for running backtests.
Just purchase a small workstation from Dell, HP or Lenovo (in alphabetical order, I do not want to recommend one of them over the others). Last year, I was offered a deal for a HP Z2 TWR G4 Tower with an i7-9700 processor, 16 GByte of RAM and a 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD. It is absolutely silent and perfectly suited for trading. I then purchased the fastest 1TByte SSD that I could find (a 1TByte Samsung 970 Evo plus NVMe M.2 SSD). However, I did not put it into the M.2 slot on the motherboard, but used a PCIe adapter with a heat sink to fit it to one of the PCIe slots. The adapter just costs something like USD 20. The PCIe slot allows for better cooling of the SSD compared to the M.2 slot on the mother board. Cooling with a heat sink means higher data transfer rates (no throttling) and increased lifetime expectancy for the SSD. Then added a large SATA harddisk for running backups.
Attention: Do not use SSDs on a SATA port, as this will slow down data transfer rates. Use NVMe SSDs with the M.2port or the PCIe slot.
Graphics Adapter: Anything goes
I am not commenting on the graphics adapter, because the graphics adapter really depends on what monitors you have selected. The monitors really depend on your taste, likings and habits. I personally prefer low energy graphics adapters with a DRAM of 4-5 GByte, currently using a NVidia Quadro card to connect 3 large monitors.
You just need a simple workstation with a fast CPU
In the end I bought a server, just added a graphics adapter, a second NVMe SSD with a little adapter/heatsink and a SATA harddisk for backups. The result is a perfect and silent trading PC with low energy consumption. Took me little time to put it up. Should be sufficient for the next 5 years.
Please pay attention to select a silent machine and components with low energy consumption (CPU and graphics adapter).
I agree with Fat Tails re: the SSD and auxiliary SATA. The Evo naming recently changed and I chose the "SD - Samsung 970 EVO Plus (1.0 TB)."
My minimum suggested RAM for Win10 is 32GB.
I disagree about using a wimpy 2D graphics card. I chose the "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 - MSI VENTUS 6G XS OC" card. NinjaTrader uses its GPU in addition to the system's CPU. Backtesting, optimization, etc. is screaming fast. In normal trading conditions, I want my system's CPU, memory, and disk load to be low, even with many charts open, tick data flowing in, and many indicators running.
Speaking of CPU, at this moment in time I like the price-performance of the Intel Core i7-9700K 8-Core 3.6 GHz.
A system is made up of its individual components and I received WAY more value for my money compared to buying from HP, Dell, or other big manufacturers.
Here's my configuration:
NZXT H510
> CASE - NZXT H510 (Black)
> CPU COOLING - DEEPCOOL GAMMAX GTE V2
> MOTHERBOARD - ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi)
> GPU(GRAPHICS) - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 - MSI VENTUS 6G XS OC
> CPU - Intel Core i7-9700K 8-Core 3.6 GHz
> POWER SUPPLY - EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G5 Gold
> RAM - G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) 3200MHz
> SSD - Samsung 970 EVO Plus (1.0 TB)
> SOFTWARE - Microsoft Windows 10 Home