Multiple monitor daytrading computer system…

I finally got around to building my daytrading computer system. Here’s what I bought:

• Viewsonic 19″ LCD – VA912B – $214.99
• Dell 20″ Widescreen LCD – E207WFP – $279.99
• Dual LCD Desk Mount – $71.90
• eMachines T6542 Minitower – $449.99
• BFG Tech GeForce 7600GT PCIe Dual-DVI Video Card – $150.00
• Sapphire Radeon 7000 PCI DVI Video Card – $36.00
• Cuzzi 32″ Wide Computer Desk – $160.00
• Logitech V450 Cordless Laser Mouse – $46.55
• PNY – Optima 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 DIMM – $149.99

Total: $1,559.41

I didn’t actually pay that much because I got most of the stuff at discounted prices, but the prices above are the going rate right now.

When I was building my computer, I knew that I wanted something that was inexpensive and at the same time, be able to do the job. And by “the job” I mean, something that I could display my charts on and use as a backup system. Initially, I bought a Dell desktop, but it didn’t come with any slots in which I could put some more video cards in there, so I gave it to my parents. Then, I bought a Dell laptop, which I thought would be a good idea because I wouldn’t have to buy another monitor, but that didn’t work out too well. The resolution on the laptop LCD was terrible (charts were barely readible) and the laptop was pretty expensive. So, I returned the laptop. I ended up getting this cheapy eMachines desktop, which is working well so far. The computer only costed me $250 and it had slots for additional DVI video cards. Golden.

If you ever decide to build a daytrading system, here are a few things that I’d recommend you take into consideration. First, make sure that you buy LCDs that support DVI. DVI gives you a completely digital connection from your computer versus the standard VGA connection, which is analog. The picture is much much clearer. The next thing you’ll have to do is to buy a dual DVI video card because most computer systems don’t come with a DVI connection as a standard. I choose the card above because it was a PCIe card and it was cheap. I bought an additional video card just in case I decided to add some more monitors. Right now, two monitors are more than enough for me.

Another thing to note is that, I am still using my old Dell Latitude D800 laptop as my primary trading system. You can get one of these laptops used on ebay for about $500. Make sure you get one that supports 1920 x 1200 WUXGA. In my opinion, this is one of the best laptops that I’ve ever used and they’re not that expensive. Everything that I need to trade is on this laptop, with the exception of the extra charts, but I don’t need those extra charts to trade. I just use them as reference.

So, essentially, I have two computers. My laptop and the eMachines computer. Now, you’re probably thinking, it’s such a pain in the ass to switch keyboards and mice in the middle a trade. Well, here’s the solution: Synergy. It’s a free software that allows you to use one keyboard and one mouse across the network. Once you install this thing, you’ll know the sickness of it. Before I used a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) device, but that was a pain in the ass because I had to put a button to switch from the different computers. Synergy allows me to move from one computer the other by doing nothing more than moving my mouse off of the screen. Trust me, it’s a sick application.

What else? Well, there’s obviously a data connection issue as well. Since I’m running my trading system on two different computers, I obviously need two different data connections for my quotes and charts. There are two ways around this:

1. Sign up to two data providers, like Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers. You can use one just for quotes and the other one will be for your trading.
2. If you’re using IB, you can actually connect to another computer on the network to get the data feed. In Medved Quotetracker, all you have to do is to change the ip address and the client number to 1 or 2 on the second computer.

Another option is to set up a paper trading account at IB and use it on the second system just for quotes. This is what I’ve been doing.

Anyways, I know it’s nothing special, but there hasn’t been a lot written on this subject (setting up a daytrading computer system) because I googled it and didn’t find very much. Hopefully, this will help some of you out, especially those of you who want something cheap and haven’t gotten around to building a system yet.

Here are some pictures of the system:

I don’t know why I’m writing this in the middle of the trading day, but whatever. “It’s Friday, I ain’t got no job, ain’t got shit to do…”. BTW…I know I need to dust…cause my desk looks triffling…