What makes the Best Trading Computers in 2023?
We always get the question, what makes a great trading computer? Trading computers require a powerful stable and reliable computer system that is designed to handle the massive amount of market data continuously being streamed to your computer. There are several companies on the internet “Trading Computers” that tack on a huge upcharge in the price simply because they classify them as “trading computers” and take advantage of your lack of knowledge. Don’t be a victim of their scam. Some even run weekly, so called sales, to entice you to purchase one of their overpriced trading computers when the sale price is way above what the price should be. Most trading computer retailers do not mention the brand of motherboard, memory, hard drives or SSDs, power supply for a simple reason, they usually use low priced and low quality brands while still overcharging.
One trading computer company has a weekly sale that runs over and over and over. So much that the mailbox is full of their emails. It seems like the normal listed price on their site is really jacked up to make the “sale” price appear to be saving you tons of dollars. That is farthest from the truth. Usually, the price of a Warrior Trading Computer everyday price is far less than companies’ sale price with a bunch of so-called “Bonuses” to give you that illusion that you’re saving money. Some of the Bonuses are STANDARD in all their computers systems so they are not really of any savings to you.
What to Look for in a Trading Computer
Your computer’s specifications will determine the speed at which you’ll be able to execute trades and which types of software you can run. We will take a look at a few of the most important features you’ll need to consider before you purchase a trading computer.
What processor (CPU) does a Trading Computer Require:
Trading computers need a powerful processor (CPU) to process all the data executed while trading. The processor is like a car engine. Comparing a processor is like comparing a 4 cylinder and 8 cylinder car trying to accelerate on a highway. The 4 cylinder engine will struggle whereas the 8 cylinder will not. This struggle is referred to as SLIPPAGE. Slippage occurs when the bid/ask spread changes between the time a market order is requested and the time an exchange or other market-maker executes the order.
There are 2 main processor manufacturers, Intel and AMD. Intel dominated the processor computer world until recently. AMD has made off-the-chart improvements to their lineup of processors that is quickly overtaking the processor world and soon to surpass Intel as the dominate processor provider.
Processor (CPU) Cooling:
Heat is a processor killer when not properly controlled. There are 2 types of processor cooling, heatsink/fan and closed system water cooling. Warrior Trading Computers has used water cooling units in the past and we have determined that those type have a high failure rate of the cooling pump not to mention the possibility of water leakage which will definitely ruin the entire computer system. Therefore, we have decided to use the top of the line heatsink/fan manufactured by Noctua which all carry an astounding 6 year warranty.
Motherboard:
Almost as important as the processor is a high-quality reliable motherboard. The motherboard contains all the circuitry for all the components with the trading computer. Just as gaming enthusiasts, traders demand the same in their trading computers. While there are a dozen or so motherboard manufacturers, Warrior Trading Computers uses only the best in the business from Asus and MSI. Asus is the board that most gamers rely on for dependable and stable performance who settle for nothing less than the best.
How much Memory (RAM) does a trading computer need:
Memory is a temporary storage information center that can be very quickly accessed by the processor rather than from the hard drive. In the old days, when memory capacity was very low, the processor would use part of the hard drive named “swap file”. This made executing information data extremely slow. Imagine dial-up internet vs today’s high internet fiber optics. Waiting for a page to load on dial-up, well you may as well sit back and have a cup of coffee. However, with high speed optic fiber internet, the page loads immediately.
Memory has improved in size and speed over the years. For a trading computer, we recommend no less than 16GB of total memory. Of course, if you have several programs that are opened at the same time, it may be wise to upgrade to 32GB. The reason being that once the 16GB has been used by the operating system, trading platforms, email or web applications, recording software, etc. the system starts to use the swap file of the hard drive as explained above. Memory is very easy to install and can always be installed by the end user.
Power Supply:
The power supply is the bloodline of every computer system and is often an ignored component. A low priced power supply voltage outputs are not stable and tend to fluctuate too much for a stable system. For years we have used Thermaltake power supplies have proven to be very reliable and also come with a manufacture 5 year warranty.
Hard Drives:
A hard disk drive (HDD), is a mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves data using magnetic storage and one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored and retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data even when powered off.
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. Solid-state drives do not have the spinning disks and movable read-write heads present in hard disk drives (HDDs). SSD’s use what are called memory flash chips that retain data when even powered off. SSD’s can read and write data extremely fast vs HDD’s
New M.2 NVMe Solid State Drives Now Available!
The latest State of Art Technology in storage devices is the M.2 MVMe Solid State Drive. These drives plug into a special slot on the motherboard and allow the drive to connect directly to the PCI-E bus rather than going through the SATA controller via a data cable. M.2 SSD’s can achieve a speed that is over 3 times faster than the standard SATA III
Video Cards:
Once you get accustomed to using a computer with multiple monitors you never want to go back! The more monitors you have the easier multi-tasking is less clicking to find the program you need. The key to a great multiple monitor trading computer is selecting the appropriate graphics cards. Some trading computers companies may tell you that you need a super high powered gaming card or some of the really expensive NVIDIA Quadro workstation cards. Mid-range gaming cards work excellent for traders and are much less expensive.
Nvidia vs AMD video cards
There are 2 companies that manufacture various video card chips. AMD and NVIDIA. Up until recently, AMD video cards were formerly known as ATI until they were bought out by AMD. You need to make the decision to go with NVIDIA based cards or AMD, you can’t mix and match these cards in the same computer. After years and years of experience with hundreds of different AMD and NVIDIA cards, we have decided to offer only NVIDIA based cards in our trading computers.
“NVIDIA video cards are the only cards we use in our trading computers”
Why NVIDIA?
Better drivers and Stability. Over the years we’ve run into so many different problems with AMD Radeon drivers! NVIDIA drivers are almost always rocked solid, we never have issues with driver updates or multiple monitor setups with their cards. NVIDIA drivers are also much more forgiving if a customer decides to mix and match different brands/sizes and resolutions of displays (monitors). As a general rule, it is best to have all of your monitors be identical in model, size, and resolution. We understand though that some customers might want to purchase 4 or 6 new monitors and maybe still use the 1 or 2 they already own and add them to their setup. NVIDIA cards will let you do that easily. Also if you need to use a lot of higher resolution dual-link monitors (4K, 2560×1600, or 2560×1440 resolution) then it is always best to use NVIDIA cards.
We have found over the years that NVIDIA cards have better compatibility with the various trading platforms, the drivers work seamlessly. We’ve also found that NVIDIA cards will work better with older VGA connections, we occasionally get customers that have 4 older monitors that have VGA connections only and they need a system that can drive all 4 of these displays, the DVI ports on many of our NVIDIA mid-range gaming cards are backward compatible with the VGA connection with a simple inexpensive adapter. It looks for now like DVI will remain the dominant port type on LCD computer monitors, with a gradual move toward HDMI ports & Display Ports for 4K monitors. HDMI ports are small, have low power consumption, and are more standardized port types. Keep in mind also that DVI and HDMI are completely interchangeable, with an inexpensive adapter to convert between the 2 port types they output the same resolution and image quality to the screen. It really doesn’t matter what the connection type is on your monitor (DVI, HDMI, Display Port, or VGA), our NVIDIA cards can handle it all just fine and we provide any adapters you need for your monitors.
Conclusion:
We hope that you enjoyed reading through “What makes the Best Trading Computers in 2021” and found the information informative. There are probably several trading computer sites that you may have visited and we hope that you choose Warrior Trading Computers. We GUARANTEE that our prices are well below our competitors without sacrificing quality and reliability.
Mistakes when purchasing a Trading Computer:
1. Simply Overpaying ~ The Trading Computer Ripoff!
2. Overclocked system. A death sentence and adds no value
3. Operating system older than Windows 7 or 10
4. Water cooled systems – They have a HIGH failure pump rate!
5. Not enough memory, it’s better to have too much than too little
6. A system with any other video cards other than Nvidia GeForce