I just recently converted part of my basement into a home theater. In the process of getting everything dialed in, I decided to run through all the adjustments on my TV to make sure the picture and sound were on point.
I discovered a sound menu that I didn’t know was available. With a few small adjustments, the sound was drastically different. I was really blown away.
I didn’t install a new, expensive surround system, and I am glad I didn’t. The sound adjustment made the whole system seem new. I wish I had messed with the settings sooner; the experience of watching movies and sports is so different now.
Small change = big upgrade
These same types of adjustments and changes are available for you on your trading computer. I've posted before about customizations and shortcuts that make using your computer faster and easier. These are simple changes you can make to your operating system quickly. Changing out the internal components might not be as simple or DIY for the most part, but there is one change that you can make.
The other day I got super frustrated at my own computer. I had several applications open and was working in Excel. I went to save my work and Excel was taking forever. I opened up my task manager and my RAM was dangerously close to being full. No wonder Excel was taking so long to process. I closed several of my applications that I didn't need open. My computer performance went back to its normal lightning fast speeds.
There are not many components on your trading computer that are as easy to upgrade as RAM. In fact, there aren’t ANY other hardware upgrades that are as accessible as RAM. Here are some tips to know when its appropriate to upgrade and how to spot the signs of low RAM.
Why You Should Upgrade
- Maxed Out
Does your trading computer ever randomly power down and restart? This often happens when you fill up your available RAM. Your computer restarts in an effort to clear out everything from your RAM’s memory and start fresh. However, your computer will continue to spontaneously restart unless you install more RAM into your trading computer. If you are maxing out on your RAM and dealing with spontaneous shut downs, you are certainly going to notice a significant performance boost right away.
- Extra Headroom
It’s a good idea to monitor your RAM usage through out your trading. If you find that you are often filling your RAM’s memory and coming close to using all of it’s available memory often, you should consider installing RAM with more gigabits. This will give you extra headroom in your memory and keep you at arms length distance away from reaching the max on your RAM.
Managing Your RAM
Those who don’t experience these issues might not notice such a dramatic change from upgrading. Alternatively, it's possible to manage your RAM usage through the task manager and close programs drawing on your RAM that you aren't using at the moment. This can effectively keep you away from that danger zone of maxing out your RAM and causing a shut down. Though, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it to upgrade your RAM to a higher gigabit.
RAM is the most affordable and the most accessible upgrade you can do to your trading computer CPU hardware. This small change could really improve your computer's performance if you are having any of the issues I outlined above.
If nothing else, it’s forward thinking on your part. Trading software has a reputation for being heavy handed when it comes to RAM usage. Odds are, your trading platform isn’t the only piece of software you are running on your computer each day.
As technology and software improve, the pull it has on RAM can be expected to increase as well. For instance, the more complex the algorithms used in your trading software become, the more RAM it will require. All roads lead to needing available RAM.
All you have do to is make sure you have enough at the ready.
There are more trading computer tips like this in our buyers guide. Check out our "How To Buy a Trading Computer" e-book.
Remember, we are here to help with all your technology related questions. If you think of additional questions about computer hardware or other questions, give me a call. My team and I are here to help. We're happy to answer any of your questions about trading computers via phone: 800-387-5250
