64 bit min machine requirements and usage

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bowlesj3
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64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby bowlesj3 » 19 Feb 2012

I went on the web site and could not find this (probably because the 64 bit is not officially released) but out of curiosity what are the minimum machine / operating system specs for the 64 bit version (all user types including power user). I am hoping to upgrade in the next month or so and I was thinking I may as well target this version. I will also at that time be going to a 3 monitor system.

Wow, did I read that right when Arnie was using 8 monitors? I thought 4 was a lot. LOL. I can't fit more than 3 in my little space. I would need to check to see if I can turn my head that far :-) Getting more serious I guess for a stock trader it makes a lot sense.

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TJ
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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby TJ » 19 Feb 2012

I would get at minimum an i7 CPU and 8 GB of memory.

That's pretty standard for a 64 bit system.

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arnie
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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby arnie » 19 Feb 2012

LOL.

You would think that 8 monitors is a lot, but then again...

Think it this way, I have everything I need in one workspace, though I usually have 2 opened since I trade 2 markets, but one at a time and one in each workspace.
But I do agree with you, it's a pain when you need to turn your head to much :P That's why I'm constantly changing my monitors position so I can find the most suitable setup so my "4 trading charts" be right in front of me.

The monitors I have tell my computer upgrades. The 2 in the left were my first LCD screens, 15 inch, Pentium 3. The 2 in the right were my second LCD screens, 17 inch, Pentium 4. The 4 in the middle were my last upgrade, 21.5 inch screens, Pentium i5.

Basically, the screens started to get smaller and smaller to display all the data that I needed so I not only was upgrading my computers, but also my monitors.
With the latest upgrade, i5, I decided to use all my screens, that's why I ended up with 8 :P I confess that I'm reducing my chart dependency so I really don't need all 8 screens, but at the end it's kinda nice to have all markets right there, without having to change workspaces and stuff.

Like I said, I have an i5 processor equipped with 8Gb of memory, a 120Gb SSD drive, 4 Nvidia NVS 290 graphic cards, a 650W power supply, an Asus P7P55 WS motherboard to take advantage of the 5 PCIe slots.

Let me call your attention to SSD drives. These are a "must have". Forget about memory and processor power. You can buy an i7 processor and have 12Gb of memory, but if you have a regular HHD drive... my friend... you are not taking the full potential of your computer.
You have 2 choices, a regular SSD sata connection drive or the top of the line SSD card connected through a PCIe slot. You cannot find nothing fastest then these babies, 600 Mb per second transfers...

Let me tell you, Multicharts flies when running on these babies :)
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bowlesj3
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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby bowlesj3 » 19 Feb 2012

Thanks guys. Nice setup Arnie. Stacking them helps I guess. I have a 20inch and 27.5 inch and badly need another 27.5. I will do the whole upgrade all at once. Kind of glad I held off since knowing 64 bit is here (and targeting it directly) I think it saves on an extra upgrade.

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby TJ » 19 Feb 2012

Nice system Arnie.

I like your choice of Nvidia NVS graphic cards. They have low energy consumption, and just the right graphics power for a charting software.

SSD is great, but I found their failure rate is still too high for my comfort level.
I would use them for operation, but not for anything permanent.

Just my 2 cents.

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby Tresor » 19 Feb 2012

I will be ugrading my system in the summer to a 64-bit. Two options:

1. plan minimum: 3 x 27'' monitors (2560x1440) or

2. plan maximum: 5 x 27'' monitors (2560x1440).

All monitors in vertical mode (eyefinity set-up).


1. I would be interested to hear other guys' opinion on RAM usage of MC ver. 64. Should I go for 16 / 32 / 64 GB? I basically have no budget limits for this.

2. I am very afraid of SSDs after reading OCZ's and Crucial's forums.

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arnie
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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby arnie » 19 Feb 2012

All monitors in vertical mode (eyefinity set-up).

1. I would be interested to hear other guys' opinion on RAM usage of MC ver. 64. Should I go for 16 / 32 / 64 GB? I basically have no budget limits for this.

2. I am very afraid of SSDs after reading OCZ's and Crucial's forums.
Regarding the monitors, when put in vertical mode they do offer better view when we use a couple of indicators below the charts, but when viewing long periods of time they offer better view when in horizontal mode. I advise you to let at least 1 monitor in horizontal mode.

In terms of RAM, if you have a fast hard drive you don't need to invest too much in memory. I think that 12Gb is more than enough. Since we have 4 slots on the motherboard, buy 8Gb and test how the system runs. If things run smoothly than let it be, if not, buy the 8Gb.

I bought my SSD 2 or 3 years ago and never had a single problem. I do have a OCZ Vertex 2, considered the best SSD at the time. True, you have to have some caution when dealing with an SSD drive. No defrag is allowed and I remember having downloaded a small program that would disable some Windows features that might cause some damaging to the drive in the long haul.

Also, drives without TRIM need some maintenance since we need to put it in idle mode so it can handle the garbage collection overhead. TRIM deals with that overhead automatically, though during the weekend I put my desktop in idle mode just in case.

I have a second hard drive in my desktop, a normal HHD drive where I have all my backup data and where I have a backup of my entire SSD drive (clone image) right after I've installed all software.
I have also a backup software that automatically saves at the end of the day all MC data to that HHD drive and to a flash drive.

Since I also have a laptop, I'm prepared to deal with most computer related problems.

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby Tresor » 19 Feb 2012

Thanks Arnie,

I would like somebody to come up and say ''I am using MC 64-bit, I have so many monitors, I have 100 workspaces with 100 instruments, 3 charts per a workspace (of the following resolutions ........., going back to ..........), I use the following indicators per chart and my RAM usage is ...... GB.

This would be helpfull to determine the RAM I would need.

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby bowlesj3 » 20 Feb 2012

8 GB of memory.
With this amount of memory this alone means an upgrade from XP (max 3gig if I remember correctly) to Win7. I am curious. What is the max ram that Win7 can handle?

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby ABC » 20 Feb 2012

bowlesj3,

according to Microsoft, these are the upper RAM limits for the different editions of Windows 7 on x64:

Starter: N/A
Home Basic: 8GB
Home Premium: 16GB
Professional: 192GB
Enterprise: 192GB
Ultimate: 192GB

The x86 limit is 4GB for all editions, except for the Starter, where it's 2 GB.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... _windows_7

Regards,
ABC

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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby furytrader » 21 Feb 2012

Arnie,

This might sound like a stupid question but with your SSD, do you install the MultiCharts application (the exe) on that drive or your database (or both?)

Thanks!

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arnie
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Re: 64 bit min machine requirements and usage

Postby arnie » 21 Feb 2012

Arnie,

This might sound like a stupid question but with your SSD, do you install the MultiCharts application (the exe) on that drive or your database (or both?)

Thanks!
Hi furytrader.

All programs are installed in the SSD as the MC database. Since it's a 120Gb drive, I have plenty of space to have all there. Only the backups and media files are in the HHD.

Nowadays I don't know if people still do this since SSD prices came down, but when I bought mine what most people would do was buying a small SSD, like 30Gb, more than enough to install Windows and the software they needed, and then use a cheaper HHD for movies, photos, databases, whatever files they could remove from the SSD.

Since the 30Gb SSD drives had nice prices, people would buy 2, connect them in RAID so they could have a mirror image of their master drive in case of "disaster".


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