Trading tools: hardware

This is just to show some of the hardware we use for trading.

I know about the screen real estate. The more the merrier. LOL

I run a small computer firm, self employed.

I prestwickdrive has been to Singapore, he'll know. Yes. We are crazy about electronics here. Mobile phones, computers, Playstation etc etc.

This is a picture of my setup.



Dell ultrasharp 24" with soundbar. I have hooked up my playstation, xbox360 and wii. I play games after I set my trade up. So I don't want to touch it. Works for globex. Especially 3am EST.

2x Dell ultrasharp 17" in portrait. Some old LCDs from past computers. They don't worth a cent on the used market. So use them.

I control 3 computers, 1 trading, 2 servers. One is my voice and firewall. The other server is my multimedia server with 3TB of media files. Firewall is on FreeBSD, the multimedia server is on Linux. The Linux server also streams cable to all the rooms in the house. They just select the channel.

Trading computer can connect 8 displays. 2 ATI 3870x2 1GB each graphics cards in CrossfireX mode. 4GB Ram, 4x 160GB HDD in Raid10, redundant. Data is safe in case of HDD failure.

The lamps on top of the 17" are USB powered 10 white LEDs. Energy efficient ample lighting, no extra wall plugs. Just USB powered from the Dell lcd usb ports.

HP color laser. Not seen, prints charts.

Trusty handheld calculator.

Logitec gaming mouse. It changes the sensitivity on the fly. The problem with wide multi-displays is that you run out of mousing space, with my thumb I change the sensitivity to run across screens, reduces the sensitivity when I need to draw the lines.

Recently Labtec microphone and Sennheiser noise canceling headphones.

What are your other setups? Please reveal your ergonomic advantages for health and wealth.

BR,
LordAlfa

I want to own this. Just very expensive US$450.

They also use them in Formula 1 for mounting their displays.

If anyone is interested. http://www.ergotron.com

quote:

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Originally posted by lordalfa

This is just to show some of the hardware we use for trading.

I know about the screen real estate. The more the merrier. LOL

I run a small computer firm, self employed.

I prestwickdrive has been to Singapore, he'll know. Yes. We are crazy about electronics here. Mobile phones, computers, Playstation etc etc.

This is a picture of my setup.



Dell ultrasharp 24" with soundbar. I have hooked up my playstation, xbox360 and wii. I play games after I set my trade up. So I don't want to touch it. Works for globex. Especially 3am EST.

2x Dell ultrasharp 17" in portrait. Some old LCDs from past computers. They don't worth a cent on the used market. So use them.

I control 3 computers, 1 trading, 2 servers. One is my voice and firewall. The other server is my multimedia server with 3TB of media files. Firewall is on FreeBSD, the multimedia server is on Linux. The Linux server also streams cable to all the rooms in the house. They just select the channel.

Trading computer can connect 8 displays. 2 ATI 3870x2 1GB each graphics cards in CrossfireX mode. 4GB Ram, 4x 160GB HDD in Raid10, redundant. Data is safe in case of HDD failure.

The lamps on top of the 17" are USB powered 10 white LEDs. Energy efficient ample lighting, no extra wall plugs. Just USB powered from the Dell lcd usb ports.

HP color laser. Not seen, prints charts.

Trusty handheld calculator.

Logitec gaming mouse. It changes the sensitivity on the fly. The problem with wide multi-displays is that you run out of mousing space, with my thumb I change the sensitivity to run across screens, reduces the sensitivity when I need to draw the lines.

Recently Labtec microphone and Sennheiser noise canceling headphones.

What are your other setups? Please reveal your ergonomic advantages for health and wealth.

BR,
LordAlfa

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Lordalfa,
I'm very interested on how you setup 8 monitors on one PC. I've been scouring the net for sometime now of any information about it with no luck. My local PC shop gave me a strange look when I ask about this thing.
Does ATI 3870 comes with 4-head, ie. 2 cards = 8 heads? I would have thought when two cards are installed in "Crossfire" its similar with nVidia SLI where 2 cards are "bridged" together so that the processing speed doubles but the output head would still remain as if it were a 4-head card, so you can only connect 4 monitors.

Leo,

For trading you don't really need CrossfireX.

The HD3870X2 is already 4 heads of DVI. Since it has 2 GPUs inside, you an CrossfireX them in the cards.

For 8 heads of DVI, get 2 units.

I bought myself the Powercolor HD3870X2. It has 3 DVI heads and 1 HDMI head. You can get a HDMI/DVI adapter to use it with an LCD display.

Connect the single Crossfire bridge between the 2 cards.

Install MS .NET Framework 2.0.
Reboot
Install Catalyst 8.12.
Reboot
Disable CrossfireX from the Catalyst advanced menu.
Reboot
Setup your display/desktop arrangement. Setup the refresh rates as well.
Enable Crossfire.
Once satisfied, reboot to confirm setup. The screens should startup with your arrangement.


Get a big case. The ATI cards idle at 60* Celsius. If you play FPS games, it will rise to 80* C.

To get a good affordable Crossfire motherboard, I'll recommend Asus P5E3 Deluxe Motherboard.

It is not bleeding edge but good enough as a trading setup. You don't need to burn the cash for the latest stuff. Keep the money.

Before I forget, the power requirement for these graphic cards is high. Please get at least a 600W power supply to drive them and the CPU.

Hi Leo.

These are the 2 cards that I use.



This is the motherboard that I put the trading platform on.

Thanks Lordalfa... Great info

Getting this function pad to access all the function keys in a snap.