Computer for FOREX trading

[Aggravated Salmon]

So my dad finally is moving away from MAC due to unreliability with his current one, so he has takes me to build his new PC. He’s a full time forex trader, (I think meta trader 4, idk)

 

i heard that the programs is quite demanding but found conflicting information online, some say 16GB RAM is a minimum, some say 4GB is fine. Regarding VPS, idk if he uses it.

 

So what do you recommend? It had to be in a HTPC (as small as possible), include at least a 27 inch 1440p screen (the larger the better) and have absolutely excellent Wi-Fi.

 

Under 1100 USD pls (include monitor)

 

thanks

[Taf the Ghost]

11 minutes ago, Aggravated Salmon said:

So my dad finally is moving away from MAC due to unreliability with his current one, so he has takes me to build his new PC. He’s a full time forex trader, (I think meta trader 4, idk)

 

i heard that the programs is quite demanding but found conflicting information online, some say 16GB RAM is a minimum, some say 4GB is fine. Regarding VPS, idk if he uses it.

 

So what do you recommend? It had to be in a HTPC (as small as possible), include at least a 27 inch 1440p screen (the larger the better) and have absolutely excellent Wi-Fi.

 

Under 1100 USD pls (include monitor)

 

thanks

MT4 isn't very demanding. If he's running internal Scripts, however, it can be messy. And by "messy", I mean it can bring a HEDT CPU to its knees from bad coding. So, give him a call and find out if he's using EAs or any other automated trading approaches. (Odds are, no.)

[Taf the Ghost]

15 minutes ago, Aggravated Salmon said:

So my dad finally is moving away from MAC due to unreliability with his current one, so he has takes me to build his new PC. He’s a full time forex trader, (I think meta trader 4, idk)

i heard that the programs is quite demanding but found conflicting information online, some say 16GB RAM is a minimum, some say 4GB is fine. Regarding VPS, idk if he uses it.

So what do you recommend? It had to be in a HTPC (as small as possible), include at least a 27 inch 1440p screen (the larger the better) and have absolutely excellent Wi-Fi.

Under 1100 USD pls (include monitor)

thanks

A VPS is probably a good idea in general, but how small of a HTPC setup are you looking at? Some of those cases are pretty big.

[Taf the Ghost]

@Aggravated Salmon

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LZfm29

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($165.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 GAMING-ITX/AC Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($123.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($64.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 570 4GB AORUS 4G Video Card  ($214.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master - Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.78 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Asus - PB277Q 27.0" 2560x1440 75Hz Monitor  ($280.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1059.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-06 14:07 EDT-0400

 

CPU can be dropped down without much issue. (2200G probably makes the most sense, honestly.) 

 

I would recommend underclocking the GPU, but there's a reason to grab the 570. If he's a full time trader, he's eventually going to want to add more monitors. AMD will take 5 directly, or 6 with a MST hub. AMD just handles multi-monitor stuff a lot easier than Nvidia does.

 

Did a build, I guess two years ago now, for a friend that's a trader. Went through this stuff then. More monitors is a disease for those guys.

[Taf the Ghost]

Would recommend figuring out the case first, then built the system into it. You'll want a primary SSD and to setup a mirroring of that into a partition on the HDD.

[Aggravated Salmon]

8 hours ago, Taf the Ghost said:

MT4 isn't very demanding. If he's running internal Scripts, however, it can be messy. And by "messy", I mean it can bring a HEDT CPU to its knees from bad coding. So, give him a call and find out if he's using EAs or any other automated trading approaches. (Odds are, no.)

He says for now, not but quite likely in the future, for example when overseas etc.

he says he’ll probably only run few <3 scripts though.

[Taf the Ghost]

4 minutes ago, Aggravated Salmon said:

He says for now, not but quite likely in the future, for example when overseas etc.

he says he’ll probably only run few <3 scripts though.

Any of the mid-tier CPUs is all he needs. My understanding is the EAs can be more memory hogs than anything else, as the program is rather old and will run on most things. It's just one of those programs where badly coded scripts could probably bring a super computer to its knees.

 

I'd figure out the case & monitor setup desires first, then build the system into it. 6 cores are probably overkill, but it's extra headroom.