Advice on Buying New Trading PC

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Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

Hey,

Looking for a little help and advice on buying a new PC.

I'm currently using a pretty old Dell XPS which has served me well but is starting to break down, so I'm in the market for a new PC and was hoping some of you guys could share some wisdom.

I'm currently using a dual monitor set up with a laptop so effectively 3 screens. I'm looking to upgrade to 4 monitors when I get the new hardware. I know you don't need 4 screens to trade but I like the idea of plenty of screen real estate for other tasks too. First techie question is to other traders who have a 4 screen set up.. are you using a top end graphics card with multiple ports or are you 'daisy chaining' the 4 screens from one display port? I've noticed that graphics cards with 3 display ports and a HDMI port are obviously more expensive than one with 1 each of DP, HDMI and DVI (about £200 from what I can see) but to buy an MST Hub for 4 monitors costs around £70 so probably worth paying the extra for a better graphics card?

Would be great if anybody has gone through this recently and can advise on the best place to buy a new PC with these specs. Also can anyone point me in the direction of some good quad monitor + stand deals?

Ta
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Tuco
Posts: 727
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:43 pm

...as always, your trading platform is only as good as it's weakest link - buy the best you can afford to invest - good luck to you Sir!
Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

If there's anybody using a 4 monitor set up to trade are you daisy-chaining from 1 display port or using a dedicated graphics card with multiple ports?

Ta
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Dallas
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Location: Working From Home

Leeds1919 wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:58 pm
If there's anybody using a 4 monitor set up to trade are you daisy-chaining from 1 display port or using a dedicated graphics card with multiple ports?

Ta
I've only ever used multiple ports from a dedicated graphics card, not sure if/what the effects would be running from 1 port or USB etc
rik
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Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:16 am
Location: London

whats the advantage of having multiple small screens instead of a big one apart, you can get a similar pixel density?
eightbo
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Location: Malta / Australia

you've not even suggested what your use case would be. are you an automation guy? manual trader? what about hobbies - are you a video editor or design guy or play games, or perhaps you only just use browser, trading application and MS Office. kinda relevant for good advice.

as for the monitors, as rik says consider 1x (big) 4k monitor which you can split into 4x virtual 1080p screens its a cleaner and simpler model imo
or go 4x4k if u the kinda geezer who wears their shades indoors

edit: PS once you know exactly which monitors you want and have defined what you want to do on the pc, then you identify the gfx card in the system and make sure its suitable. If you are building the pc ensure the case, mobo and power supply are compatible with the card.
Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

Dallas wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:31 pm
Leeds1919 wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:58 pm
If there's anybody using a 4 monitor set up to trade are you daisy-chaining from 1 display port or using a dedicated graphics card with multiple ports?

Ta
I've only ever used multiple ports from a dedicated graphics card, not sure if/what the effects would be running from 1 port or USB etc
I'm looking at a build that includes an 8GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super Graphics card which seems to be the cheapest option that has all the required ports. In this case 3 display ports and 1 HDMI. This seems to add on an extra couple of hundred quid from the previous best graphics card. Other options are:

An MST hub like this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-D ... B00XXPYTAG Still fairly pricey and paying the extra for the better graphics card would probably make more sense.

Then the 3rd option. Daisy chain the monitors with just a cable... easily the cheapest but must be a catch! https://store.hp.com/us/en/tech-takes/h ... n-monitors
Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

rik wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:01 pm
whats the advantage of having multiple small screens instead of a big one apart, you can get a similar pixel density?
I never actually thought of that, will definitely look into it.
eightbo
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Location: Malta / Australia

daisy-chaining can produce input lag, but if display port has enough bandwidth you might get away with it (unnoticeable on all screens)
Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

eightbo wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:14 pm
you've not even suggested what your use case would be. are you an automation guy? manual trader? what about hobbies - are you a video editor or design guy or play games, or perhaps you only just use browser, trading application and MS Office. kinda relevant for good advice.

as for the monitors, as rik says consider 1x (big) 4k monitor which you can split into 4x virtual 1080p screens its a cleaner and simpler model imo
or go 4x4k if u the kinda geezer who wears their shades indoors

edit: PS once you know exactly which monitors you want and have defined what you want to do on the pc, then you identify the gfx card in the system and make sure its suitable. If you are building the pc ensure the case, mobo and power supply are compatible with the card.
Mostly manual but a bit of auto too so would like the extra oomph if necessary. No video editing or games, would be mostly just browser, Bet Angel and MS Office. Currently have 2 monitors for BA and a laptop for browsing, dont think I'd need 4k for anything would seem a little OTT. Was initially looking at this Dell but only has 1 display port and 1 hdmi.
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/cty/pdp ... cdx89403co
eightbo
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Location: Malta / Australia

processor good

gfx card 1660 Ti more than enough for you. the RTX 2070 is nutty overkill you're basically paying £200 for the extra ports when you won't be using the extra power which comes with the card.

can get away with the 8gb RAM but too low for a 2020 new purchase imo (DDR4 is good though). it's the cheapest component in your pc so might as well go 16gb+ there and future-proof yourself a bit more.

512GB SSD / 1TB HDD setup is good.

big-inch 4k monitor and use 4x 1080p virtual monitors via 1 display port still seems like best option but if you want the 4x individual screens then display port daisy-chain or splitter or whatever should work fine without issues for your use case but research the specific device you intend on using and confirm it'll be ok before you purchase the pc. Some more monitor setups here for visual purposes only, no idea if they're a good price or not and never heard of the retailer.

and research/factor in differences between display port 1.2/1.4/2.0 hdmi 1.4/2.0/2.1
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Dublin_Flyer
Posts: 688
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:39 am

I agree with Eightbo, 2070 is definitely overkill unless you're doing some severe gaming or video editing.
Skinflint.co.uk is great for comparing component prices in pounds, or geizhals.eu for euro pricing.
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Crazyskier
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Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:36 pm

I'm using the RTX 2070 due to it's ray-tracing capabilities on a top-end water-cooled gaming rig (WOW, Diablo3, POE etc); and have to say it's a marked increase over my previous old gaming desktop. I use an i7-9700k CPU and 16G RAM and Fibre broadband wired in to the router and have zero issues, even when botting all horse races simultaneously and working on line.

I can't be of much assistance with more than one monitor, but my wide-screen curved Asus ROG is great for multiple pinned windows at 2560 x 1440 before minimising, (usually 4-5 overlaid). This allows more desk space and multi-tasking as I often work from home while trading / managing bots, etc. Personally I think many of the multi dedicated screen setups are unecessary and more due to ego / wishing to look professional than efficiency, in many cases.

Hope this helps

CS
Leeds1919
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:20 pm

Definitely lots of stuff to look into that I didnt consider when I posted the original message!

Some research to keep me busy over the next few days

Ta lads
Emmson
Posts: 3363
Joined: Mon Feb 29, 2016 6:47 pm

I've never owned a desktop and do all my trading on a laptop but thinking of buying one of those renewed Dell Optiplex's off Amazon/EBay coz they're dirt cheap and there is plenty of choice.
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