Your Trading Office

New Sonata Trading Computer

By Larry Jacobs -- Editor of Traders World magazine

A new Sonata Trading Computer has just been released in four versions: The Intel Core i5, i7, Xeon and barebones. Now, let me explain these versions.

The Intel i5 is the budget version. It is a dual-core 2.66GHz CPU. It can easily fit the needs of most traders. It does have Hyper Threading, which, in theory, gives you four cores. It is much faster than any Pentium 4 processor. Pentium 4 computers have problems in active markets, and they slow down and, many times, lock up in fast markets -- not so with the i5 CPU.

The Core i7 is the next step up, and this one has quad cores plus Hyper Threading. Two CPUs are available: The 2.8 GHz and the 3.2 GHz. In theory, again, the chip gives you eight cores.
This is the fastest CPU, and it is normally air-cooled. With a special heat pipe cooler, the temperature of the CPU can be reduced, usually by 10 degrees, without any noise. This allows the CPU to be easily overclocked (meaning that it can be operated above the manufacturer’s specified frequency). It is more than able to handle multiple programs, more indicators and more charts. The i7 is an excellent CPU -- best for most traders.

The Xeon is the most powerful CPU. It, too, is a quad processor and a 2.93 GHz processor. It has Hyper Threading, which gives eight cores, in theory. It is normally water-cooled. It can be overclocked better and faster than any other CPU. It has the maximum performance of any CPU. This is the best of all for those traders who have hundreds of charts with multiple indicators.

The barebones version has the features of the above-described three versions minus the video card, hard drive and OS license. If a trader has an older trading computer with good multiple-monitor video cards, using such chip sets as Nvidia or ATI and good hard disk drives, he or she can easily move those to the new Sonata barebones within 15 munutes and transfer and reinstall the OS license to the new computer.

All of these versions are extremely fast trading computers, and they are very quiet because they use 120, 140mm case fans controlled by the motherboard. Airflow through the case is excellent, which keeps the computer components cool and ensures its long life.

All of these versons can also have up to 12 monitors using various optional video card configurations.

All of them can be overclocked, sometimes even over 4 GHz. Many traders don’t need the extra power, but some do. For those who do, it is easy to accomplish with dummy overclocking on the motherboard and the E-LEET software utility. The Zeon is the most stable CPU chip and easiest to overclock.

The enhanced heat pipe air CPU cooler or the water cooler is a necessity when overclocking is used.

The new Sonata has special drive options. It has the operating system drive, which is necessary in all computers. It contains both the OS and data. Some traders want a backup drive called the second boot drive. Using the Acronis software, one can make a perfect clone of the main OS drive, pull the drive off the computer and put it in a safe place.

If the computer’s main OS drive gets a virus that can’t be removed or receives corrupt files, it can be replaced with the second boot drive instantly. The second boot drive can be cloned again any time and usually takes approximately 15 minutes. This updates the drive to everything old and new in the OS drive.

Some traders also might opt to have a data drive. Using a data drive, one can maintain regular, scheduled backups of the main drive of the computer. Using the backup data drive, you can restore the entire drive or parts of it any time.

For more information, go to www.tradersworld.com.