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Hello everyone! As the thread title suggests I'm currently looking for some help in building my own custom computer good for both trading and a little gaming as well. Looking to run six monitors possibly more if I feel the need to.
BUDGET: $2000 for the desktop itself $1500 for the monitors
Here's what I need help with:
16GB of ram or 32GB?
What card should I get for 6 monitors but also for some gaming looking at Raedon 7800 eyefinity 6 but I'll need dongles which cost an arm and a leg!
Motherboard: ?
Power supply: ?
i7 2700k overclocked or i7 3730k?
24" monitor?
Figured out:
Cooler: H100
Case: something from new egg
HD: 256 SSD
Thanks for all your help!
BTW I'll be running 40+ charts with real time data from IQ feed using sierra charts with almost all of them having a study of some sort on them. Also running skype to chat with other traders. This is mainly for trading but like I mentioned earlier will go to some use for gaming!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Not much help with the motherboard as I have not looked into them in a while, and I only have 2 screens , so I am not much help at video cards for a multi screen set up, but I will probably looking to build something similar to you very soon so I will keep an eye on this thread. Good Luck!
I would up the budget to $1800 for monitors so you can spend $300 on each if necessary, just my opinion, as I have not checked prices recently but don't skimp on the monitors. I would recommend 24", I have some Gateways that are great but out of production, but my third is a Dell and it is excellent. The price on these is about $300 last time I checked, maybe less now.
Be aware that even though Sierra is one of the fastest and leanest trading programs out there, running 40 charts will bog it down somewhat, depending on the update frequency. If you use a DOM and want it to remain updating quickly, for example, run it and only a couple of charts using one SC installation, and run the other charts on other installations. This way you split the CPU load. If all charts have "equal weight" then I suppose you can run them on one copy, but if you require one or two to be faster, then you will need to do it this way to ensure that certain ones get "prioritized."
I run about 40 charts in Sierra on my i7 2600k o/c'd to 5.0ghz and it is fine, I would say it could handle many, many times that figure and still be absolutely fine.
I would get LED monitors and check power consumption closely, as six of them (like I have) will put off a lot of heat. That is why I bought my Dell U2412M's, at the time they were one of the most energy efficient and lowest heat.
You don't need all kinds of color accuracy or fast refresh rate for charting, assuming you will not be playing any type of games. I would put importance on small bezels, low heat, and then just do as much homework as you can stand to make sure you are getting a high quality panel that can produce very crisp images. I am very pleased with the Dell U2412M's I have, and I paid less than $300 each when I bought them around 15 months ago or so (can't recall exactly when).
You don't really need to overclock. Unless you have substantial experience in this area, I would recommend against it. I overclock because I've been building systems since I was 9 and it's a hobby. I spend way too much money and get the best of everything because I am spoiled, and it's a hobby. It is certainly not because Sierra Chart needs it. That said, I do a ton of other things on this workstation as it is my main rig, so the overclocking comes in handy for all the video encoding I do (for example).
I would recommend replacing the stock Intel HSF with something aftermarket. You don't need to do a Corsair H100 unless you are sure you are overclocking, as it is bulky. You can find excellent coolers on Newegg for around $50 that will be virtually silent for a standard clocked CPU.
For video cards, I am running two FirePro 2460's with 4xMini-Displayport each. These cards are borderline sufficient. I previously used a HD5870 Radeon Eyefinity-6 and HD7870 Radeon Eyefinity-6, and in both cases had a lot of problems (documented in the main 6-monitor thread I believe). The two FirePro 2460's can be found dirt cheap on ebay, I think I paid less than $100 each on average for mine. However, they are pretty old tech and can barely handle 1080p video, which I do stream from YouTube on occasion and it can get annoying. There are also some other video anomalies that occur every now and then and it's hard to know if it's because of the 2460 chipset or because I am running six of them, but the fact is, it's an odd configuration that very few people run which means it isn't well tested or support.
AMD has announced some new cards I've got my eye on, I am not sure they are in production yet and cannot recall the specifics (name), but basically it's the updated class that supports 4-displayport per card but with a current generation GPU. The workstation class cards are way overkill, costing almost $1,000. No need for that.
I recommend Corsair modular PSU's and have many of them in my systems here and never had any problems.
I would research the SSD carefully and go with the newest gen of tech. For example, I am running old Corsair tech from a couple years ago, and it shows. The new SSD's I purchased for the new futures.io (formerly BMT) servers are far superior. You can find good reviews on AnandTech and HardOCP.
Yes I'm looking at some nice 24" Dell computers but thanks for the advice about having a different instance up for my DOM I'll be using S5T anyways but still thank you for the advice I'll also probably be upping my budget to $1800 since all the "good" monitors are in that $300 range.
Big Mike thanks for your advice I will be planning to overclock since I do want to play some games ( my inner kid still lives within me) but thank you for the great advice
Could you recommend a guide for overclocking though?
Quick update everyone here's what my build is looking like right now.
COMPUTER:
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 180 (considering the sabertooth any recommended motherboards to fit 2 full sized GPU? 240)
CPU: i7 2700k 220
SSD: crucial m4 189
Cooler: H100(rather big but great cooling system) 105
RAM: corsair vengence 8x2 16 GB 120
CASE: Cooling master full tower from Newegg 160
CD: 20
Video CARD: Radeon 7850 1 GB x 2 310
Battery: seasonic gold 850W 140
1424 total or 1484 with sabertooth
Monitors I'm still wondering I like the Dell 24" IPS but thats quite expensive and not sure what I'd really need IPS for besides gaming but I can't convince myself to really spend the extra money just for that. Considered maybe 1 IPS and 5 LCD/LED but realized I have some major OCD and could not stand to have a different monitor!
Any suggetsions pros cons for having the IPS 24" @bigmike? besides what you mentioned above? From the research I've done everything you mentioned in your previous post was there and also that LED/LCD monitors are faster than IPS but just barely and im sure I would not really notice.
If I decide to go against getting the Dell I'll be getting 6 x Asus VS247H-P 24-Inch Full-HD LED-Lit Monitor for about $168 each
Also can anyone recommend a stand? Don't want a stand that just has the monitors in a straight line but where I could curve the left and right in towards me would be ideal while also being able to adjust each individual monitor!
Hey Mike, what kind of issues are you having with your 2460's? I built another machine and I am having issues with NVS 440's in it. I have never had issues with the cards before, but its really annoying me, I have tried everything and with two cards in the machine it wont boot the OS, it will just loop (machine does post). So I was thinking of going to the 2460's, but then I read the eyefinity technology will not power the minidisplay ports, so to run more than 2 monitors on these cards, you need to buy two actively powered MDP to DVI connectors... pretty stupid, and not really cheap. Anyway, I still might go with these cards, but I am wondering how stable they are what, if any, issues people are having with them.
Unfortunately they arent cheap anymore either, 250 per.
Couple things: 24" monitors that are 1920x1080 are getting pretty low on PPI. Its something I would consider. I run 8 20.1" monitors, they are 1600x1200, and I like it a lot better. Also, are you sure those cards will support 4 monitors without you buying active MDP to DVI connectors? Personally I'd get workstation cards rather than have 3 different kind of connections to all my monitors. I run dual ergotron DS100's for my stands.
Just some random graphic glitches like missing backgrounds or redraw problems. They are rare but happen. I attribute to drivers not being well tested in this type of setup.