Looking for a desktop suitable for trading/gaming

redflagdealsguy wrote: ↑ This machine should provide a solid 1080p gaming experience with a massively powerful 4800H CPU. The 4900H is only microscopically more powerful and significantly more expensive.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0863RCNT2/

Can that laptop support 5 displays? As that's what the OP is asking for...
I am unaware of any laptop that's 5 display capable (unless you use external monitor adapters).

JeffreyG wrote: ↑ they are both have similar requirements in that multiple monitors for trading require high graphic standards.

Full disclosure: I don't know much about trading but isn't it NOT highly graphics intense?
All you're looking at is graphs and numbers right? There may be rendering a graph, but I can't see it being that GPU intensive, especially compared to a game.

The hot deals forum is awash with laptop deals, but I dont need a laptop - rather some clunky thing that never gets moved. Would I be better off buying one of these laptops and connecting 5 screens up! What do you think @redflagdealsguy

Having connected a large number of monitors for workstation purposes and separately built gaming machines for gaming purposes, I'd definitely go a desktop if you want to combine the two.
Buy one big GPU for gaming and (from what I know about trading) a couple of small GPUs for workstation/trading.

A notebook and a bunch of daisy chaining with 5 screens would be stupid IMO.
A desktop with direct connections for monitors not so much.

Source: I have 6 monitors connected to 3x GT710 for workstation purposes.

you will need lots of memory if you plan to have many monitors with many charts. With a laptop upgrading the memory modules might not be possible.

Thanks very much guys.
I dont mind buying a laptop but its not a necessity. The problem is that all the desktop that seem suitable are often more expensive than the laptop that @redflagdealsguy pointed too.
If anyone has suggestions for a great desktop then please send them in! I have built a desktop previously and whilst it worked, I'd rather just plug in and go, able to modify as needed. Unless- significant cost savings. I could wait until Black Friday if I have to but my current setup slow down when Im scrolling a document or two on vertical monitor which is annoying but not disastrous, so an indication of how much I might save would also be great! 50% would make me consider it. 10% would make me think - I'll get the benefit now thanks.

JeffreyG wrote: ↑ I'd rather just plug in and go, able to modify as needed. Unless- significant cost savings.

There'll be a significant cost savings solely because multiple monitors is a niche segment.

I mean... technically speaking you could just buy basically any gaming computer ensuring it has sufficient PCI-Ex16 slots for more GPUs.
If you can get 2-3 empty you could just modify it.
But I think prebuilts like that are also pretty rare. At the end of the day, the only real difference is stuffing a CPU/Board/RAM into a case and hooking up a storage device.
Realistically if you REALLY don't want to do it, you could pay a computer shop $50 or whatever they charge to assemble it.

I could wait until Black Friday if I have to but my current setup slow down when Im scrolling a document or two on vertical monitor which is annoying but not disastrous, so an indication of how much I might save would also be great! 50% would make me consider it. 10% would make me think - I'll get the benefit now thanks.

Savings from buying a working thing out of box vs building/customizing or savings from buying now vs buying on Black Friday?

The first? I'd say 50% easily.
The second? Probably closer to 10% unless you nail a real good door buster or something.

Thanks - I see. 50% is worthwhile. I need to find out more about how to build a cheap gaming desktop. Thanks

JeffreyG wrote: ↑ Thanks - I see. 50% is worthwhile. I need to find out more about how to build a cheap gaming desktop. Thanks

Tons of people here can help you with that.

Beyond that, don't get the minimum of PSU (add in maybe a couple hundred watts) and make sure the board has half the number of PCI-E slots to screens (if you want to be cheap).
You'll need one large GPU for gaming and (I'm still fairly certain) a small GPU for every 2-3 monitors. Sometimes more monitors depending on connection. I'm only using VGA/DVI/HDMI. DP will get you I think upwards of 6 per PCI-E slot at an additional cost for DP everything. So I'm cheap and went VGA/DVI/HDMI.

So for 6 screens you need 3x PCI-Ex16 slots.
If you need significantly more than 6, it's DP time. Each card can do 6x DP monitors so you're limited to about 20 monitors with 4x PCI-E slots.
Anything more than that and we're probably talking server boards with multiple PCI-E slots.

You mentioned 5 in your first post so you probably don't need more than 20.

you would be surprised at how little wattage one needs for a PSU if the video card isnt high end. Even a 500 watter would be sufficient for his needs. It doesnt require a high end GPU to display on multiple monitors for a day trading charts, even integrated Intel video would do it, or for playing recent games at 1080p.

What is a good site/retailer to pick up a shell PC with a fast but cheap CPU and an operating system that works with plenty of empty PCI-E slots? Would that be a good compromise way to start? I'd rather not be installing a system from nothing.

badOne wrote: ↑you would be surprised at how little wattage one needs for a PSU if the video card isnt high end. Even a 500 watter would be sufficient for his needs. It doesnt require a high end GPU to display on multiple monitors for a day trading charts, even integrated Intel video would do it, or for playing recent games at 1080p.

Oh probably but without knowing what OP is getting I'd still rather oversize by a bit. Instead of a 500W get a 600W.
Something like a GT710 isn't going to use that much power but if OP gets like a 350W he may be over.

JeffreyG wrote: ↑What is a good site/retailer to pick up a shell PC with a fast but cheap CPU and an operating system that works with plenty of empty PCI-E slots? Would that be a good compromise way to start? I'd rather not be installing a system from nothing.

That's pretty unicornish. I'd pick parts and get a computer store to build it for me.

@death_hawk and everyone: any particular computer stores that you would recommend, in the GTA preferably?

@JeffreyG

I can supply you everything you need to build your workstation. Including the monitors

You sure you want 5 monitors? That is a lot of neck strain. I have 4 monitors and that’s hard enough to look at

@Gee What sort of rig and price are you suggesting? I saw your heatwave feedback. I have not heard of heatwave. I was thinking about buying from some sort of corporate store, although I dislike big business. Placing details of your suggested rig and pricing here would allow others to comment and I would value that.

JeffreyG wrote: ↑ @Gee What sort of rig and price are you suggesting? I saw your heatwave feedback. I have not heard of heatwave. I was thinking about buying from some sort of corporate store, although I dislike big business. Placing details of your suggested rig and pricing here would allow others to comment and I would value that.

I don't think anyone uses heatware any more every since they implemented a feed back system here.

If you plan to do some gaming, you definitely want discreet graphics. It really boils down to how many monitors you want. If you can get by with 4, I have a brand new Gigabyte Brix with a GTX 950

https://www.gigabyte.com/Mini-PcBarebon ... -rev-10#ov

I can install 16 Gigs RAM, add a 1 terabyte nVME drive and that would probably set you back ~650$. Keep in mind this is an older generation CPU, but it shouldn't matter for your application.

The monitors, I suggest you go with 27UL600 or the 27UL650 (if you want an adjustable stand)
You will probably go with your own stand to configure the ideal position for your trading.

27" 4k monitors refurb would set you back ~300$ each

If you want something more current, I suggest the following

i5 9600
Z390 Motherboard
16 Gigs DDR4 RAM
480 Gig nVME drive
Mini tower case

Video card will depend on what games you plan on playing.
Power supply will depend on the video card selected

I didn't list any specific brands because that is subjective (I can if you want)

If you want a Ryzen build

Ryzen 5 3600
B450 motherboard

everything else is the same

JeffreyG wrote: ↑ @death_hawk and everyone: any particular computer stores that you would recommend, in the GTA preferably?

I'm not in GTA, but I think Memory Express moved out there finally.
A lot of people shit on Canada Computers but I don't really mind them.
I do actually buy a lot off Amazon solely because of selection. The 2 mentioned stores above didn't have any RAM I wanted in the speed/size I wanted. Amazon for some reason had it.

Thanks @death_hawk and @Gee - I have put my plans on hold for now and am waiting to see if any deals are forthcoming in the run up to Black Friday and beyond.