Thursday, March 04, 2010

Tradezilla Part 1: The 5 W's

OK, let's do this!

Project codename: TRADEZILLA

Why

Well, I noticed a month ago or so that the charting was lagging BIG TIME on my current trading machine, like when the markets are really humming along and the volume is flying I might be 4-5 ticks and several bars behind what my execution software would display. They both get the same data from the exchanges but since the execution software is not charting/processing that data in any way, it's obviously to be trusted as the "real" price. I could remedy this by not charting as many instruments, chart resolutions and such but that sort of defeats the purpose of trading/monitoring multiple markets. Grated, this only happens in extreme circumstances and with some proper housecleaning and habits on the current trading machine (like not having tons of charts open at once) I could probably get by just fine 90% of the time. But, by upgrading my hardware I would see a quantifiable increase in performance and decrease in things like lag and probably be able to get by 99% of the time and have a platform that will let me grow and accomplish more tasks that I just cannot currently accomplish with my current setup.

What

We'll get into the specific components in a later post, but this is what the machine is going to be built around.


Intel Core i7 920 Quad-Core @ 2.66GHz

The Core i7 is basically the highest end "mainstream" processor that Intel makes, built on similar architecture to their highest end chips the Xeons which are used for servers and other processor intensive applications. This processor is built on the LGA1366 processor interface, which is where Intel is dumping all of their consumer product development and this processor is actually the "base model" processor built on the LGA1366 architecture. That's good because there is a clear upgrade path to follow including the forthcoming hex-core processors. I almost went with a Core i5 but the problem with that processor was that it maxed out at a slightly slower Core i7 processor built on a different architecture so there really wasn't an upgrade path to speak of. Spend about $100 more for a faster processor and a clear upgrade path? I think the decision was a no-brainer...

When

Now. Like, I started this project yesterday by acquiring a case, processor and power supply sort of NOW! The motherboard, RAM, operating system and optical drive were ordered today. I hope to have the project complete within a couple weeks and while I want it done ASAP I'd rather take my time and do it right and since I already have a machine that works pretty well there's no urgency.

Who

George Bush. No, me you fools! I'm building it with the help and support of 100's of 1000's of other homebrew enthusiasts out there that can offer help and advice along the way.

Where

Deleware...street! OH!! Man, you totally fell for that one. I got you good blog readers...

It might be a couple days until I post again on TRADEZILLA as I'd like to have all the components here and get a group shot before we assemble everything. So hang loose and we'll talk more homebrew PC's shortly...

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