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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/1/1998 4:19:00 PM
From: GrnArrow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Street Walker: Could you explain what you mean by "Cable feed lags." I agree it's nice to have extra RAM to accomodate future developments, but it's pretty easy to add another RAM chip in the future when I need more. I'm thinking of going with 64MB now and adding more later if/when I need it, although I'm considering using Windows NT as my operating system (I've heard it's more stable than 95) in which case I'd probably start out with 128MB. Another pc newbie question: Will trading programs designed for Windows 95 run on NT and 98? Would they emulate 95 at a performance cost? regards, Mike

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/1/1998 8:34:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Respond to of 14778

>>Where can I compare with the Quantum hard drives?<< I have not run across a comparison chart between IBM and Quantum. I'll keep an eye out. What size drive are you looking for? Are you interested in ATA or SCSI? Maybe someone else could shed some light. Regards Zeuspaul

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/1/1998 11:26:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Respond to of 14778

Here are some comments on harddrives From a question on the system optimization thread sysopt.com Here is the question IBM UltraStar 2ES (UW SCSI, 5400 rpm) Quantum Fireball ST (?, 5400 rpm ) Seagate Medalist Pro ( ATA-3, 7200 rpm ) Which one is better. I currently own the UltraStar 2ES, but if any of the IDE's are faster i'd go for them, my PC chipset is 440FX w/ PII 300 no Ultra DMA Thanx, ViRGE Here are the responses Should be the Medialist Pro bec of its 7200 spin rate! Go for the drive with the higher RPM. But if your concern is about reliability, get the IBM! Humm, I don't think the others two noticed the fact that the ibm you talking about is actually Ultra Wide SCSI. I really don't think that any of those IDE drive are better than this. I once compared a Seagate Barracuda 4LP to many IDE drive, including Fireball SE, Bigfoot, Seagate Medalist Pro, and the big winner was the Barracuda, SCSI is so much faster. Don't forget that SCSI can read/write at the same time, and IDE can only read or write at once. That's why when you are, let say, unzipping some files from a drive to another it's so fast. And when you are unzipping the same file on the same drive, it's much slower, but, if you tried that on your SCSI drive, you'd notice that the SCSI drive is even faster at unzipping the files on itself than two IDE drive. Stick with SCSI man, SCSI rules! quantum dirves are faster, and more reliable than ibm Stay with the one you got. It is the most reliable one out of them all. I've had many friends and read too many stories about thier quantum fireball's not working properly. Also if you really did want to go for a ide one go for the seagate medalist. (or possibly a western digital), But just stay with your ibm, because IBM is also meant to have the largest onboard cache and being uw scsi, well, no ide drive is going to match it for speed. Exactly, I've had my share of problem too with Fireball's (not only one drive) and I'd say stick with your drive. And if you wanna buy another one, buy SCSI since you already have a SCSI drive. IDE can't compare with SCSI, sure they are faster than before, but won't match the SCSI performance. Quantum is fairly reliable if it's made in Japan, i.e., not made by Quantum themselves but instead by Matsushita. IBM and Fujitsu have the lowest failure rates. If you install a Seagate Medalist Pro or any other 7200 RPM drive, take precautions to keep it cool because it generates much more heat than a 5400 RPM drive - 11 watts vs. about 5. And compared to an IBM Deskstar 5 or 8, the Medalist Pro doesn't give anything close to the extra overall speed its 33% faster rotational rate implies.

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/26/1998 8:11:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Trading Machines.Network..Multimonitor..Refurb DELL/Micron This post is by Ilya k. on the IRS,Tax related strategies--Traders thread Message 3523391 >> I'm still jet-lagged (and ready for bed) and not sure if you were just being humorous or truly interested in my configuration. I'll go half-way and give you an overview. I've just invested in having an area of the house totally remodeled for trading activity. It is totally soundproof with the ability to dim the lights to a pleasingly low level. It has the capability to have 18 phone connections (because it only cost $300 more than to have just three lines). Ah, the mysteries of telephone companies and their tariffs! While I have several dial-up ISPs, my main ISP is a "two-way" wireless 400 kbs provider (not the "one-way" Hughes Direc-PC), so I really don't need more than a couple phone lines--though I do have a few more for fax, dedicated incoming and outgoing telephone lines, etc. By having dedicated incoming lines plus caller-ID, I know who to during trading hours. All phone lines were done with T-1 copper. (Only a few bucks more than standard copper). The wireless ISP antenna and radio receiver plus install cost about $2K but the monthly rate is only $50 for connect. Under normal circumstances I'd give up a phone line at $30/mo, so the net wireless costs would only be $20/mo plus capital cost for something that runs 2-3X ISDN speeds. Provision has been made for an ethernet/Internet/three telephone jacks /CATV/plus 4-plug electrical connections at each wall outlet not only in my dedicated trading room but in every other area of the house that I had re-wired at the same time. All computer-related electric lines are on color-coded dedicated circuits so that, combined with UPS, I need not fear systems crashes from an air-conditioner that decides to overload a circuit. It doesn't cost a lot when you do it all at once. It is expensive if you do it piecemeal. The special desks, cabinets and carpets are pricey. Could have been avoided but...some indulgences are allowed. I run Track On-Line via telephone on a Pentium 90, 15" monitor. I run AB Watley (and Track On-Line's beta-test MX-NT) on a Pentium 166 with an STB card supporting dual 21" Hitachi monitors. Plan to add two more Hitachis to this system, for a total of 4 monitors. Am installing a Pentium 333 to do some after-hours number crunching, a CPU speed totally unneeded for "day trading" -- but something I wish to experiment with. Had I not done this I would have purchased another 166 or 233 Pentium to separate the Watley and MX-NT programs onto two separate systems. So during the day, this 333 will serve that function. The 333 has a 21" Sony monitor. A second 21" monitor will be added shortly. will probably stick with STB rather than get an Appian card for dual monitor support--if only for standardization purposes. A word on "what's really necessary" IMHO. For day trading I've found CPU speed unimportant. Monitor size is terribly important as is a reliable and fast connection to your trading floor. Watley's server reliability has been a recent disapointment to many of us but, I'll take that up with them at their upcoming West Coast seminars.When Watley works, it is as fast as the dedicated Track On-Line (TOL) connection, sometimes even faster--to my astonishment. The advantage of Watley (and several competing systems) over TOL is that TOL requires that you call your broker to execute a trade whereas the "watley-type" systems require one mouse-click to execute a SOES or other ECN- type trade. Hugely faster and every 1/8th counts. In the important monitor department, I paid full pop for the Sony 21", but I bought the Hitachis"refurbed" off Micron for $995 each. Because I bought the 333 new, the supplier wouldn't let me combine it with a 21" . Something not well known in the PC community is that both Micron and Dell have "refurb" divisions where you can buy demo equipment with factory warranty at considerable discounts. The Hitachis were going for about $1700 each new when I got them for $995 each refurbed. Can't find 21" monitors for much less than that even now, though. I mention this because there is a "dream machine" thread going on elsewhere on SI. Refurb equipment from Dell/Micron et. al. legitimizes the refurb category. Doubt if I would buy the same stuff out of the local classifieds, however. I have a Pentium portable that I am "fixing up" to take with me while traveling so as to be able to day trade from a different time zone. Have a couple of HP laser printers which are indispensable. My inkjet printer is the pits for daytrading because when I need a historical chart--I need it NOW! Was all the above essential to successsful day-trading? Probably not. But the dedicated, sound-proof trading room, redundant systems, etc., do bring about a piece of mind that does seem to make a difference. Waxing philosophical, one can easily spend more than the above on a medium automobile (except maybe for the oriental carpet I have on the floor ), and the car depreciates from minute one. At least, I can deduct its mileage when I head off for some trading seminar -- which is what my original question was all about. Are the thread readers interested in putting together a list of expenses which are deductible by us, if not by "investors." Hope the foregoing made sense, I'm sort of cross-eyed and ready for bed.<<

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/26/1998 8:19:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Respond to of 14778

Trading Machines...Multimonitor more from Ilya k. Stop by Ilya k. You are on topic over here Message 3535171 >>Guess I was too tired. Track 0n-Line (std. version) is on the single 15" monitor. The multiple monitor config runs Track On-Line's beta test MX-NT real-time system (I am one of their beta testers); plus this same system is running ab watley which is my main trading system. Executing a trade with a single click is a real rush--but more importantly assists in the real discipline needed for trading. There can't be any back-tracking in a trading decision which sometimes (I confess) does happen when endlessly on the phone executing a trade through a human broker. In watley, once you click, you are done. But back to the multiple monitors, I need lots of monitor real estate to handle the multiple providers and necessary windows. I'm not a big fan of running tiny windows that need a magnifying glass to see. No, I'm not in TX; I'm out west. best<<

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	2/26/1998 8:23:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Trading Machines...Multimonitors More from Ilya k. Trading Machines.....Multimonitors More from Ilya k. Message 3535315 >>[Msg continued] As I type this msg (after market hours), I have Watley consuming the entire right monitor, and the left monitor is running MX-NT in the upper half, and I'm typing this msg to you in SI running in the lower half. Each app has its own sets of inner windows running within the dimensions of the overall screen size I have allocated for the particular app. Finally, I have Eudora e-mail minimized, but will maximize it each time e-mail comes in. (I subscribe to a couple of stock market e-mail alerts, so I want to see them asap they arrive and Eudora chimes upon their arrival.) When I add the next two monitors, I haven't decided whether to stack them on top of the current two, or to set all 4 in a horizontal row. The STB card allows the choice, so i can play with the layout when the monitors arrive. But, in any case, the idea is to keep them as close together as possible but to maximize the size of each program's inner windows so that the essential stuff is truly visible.<<

To: Street Walker who wrote (93)	3/23/1998 9:18:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Harddrive reviews...Quantum...IBM...Maxtor..Seagate..WDC Storage Reviews click on features, then 6.4GB Ultra ATA drive reviews storagereview.com >>IBM's Deskstar 5 took top honors in both the Business and High-End Disk WinMarks. Despite its high speed, the drive was astonishingly quiet, operating unobtrusively in the background with little noise. There are some reports that the Deskstar does not run properly in overclocked systems with bus speeds at 75 or 83 MHz;<<