Are some motherboards faster than others or is it just the CPU and RAM

[garyhope]

Are some motherboards (within the same socket type or series) faster than other motherboards or is speed mostly a factor of the CPU and/or RAM?

And how many slots do you need for a simple (but fast and speedy hopefully) business, non gaming computer? The only cards I have in my current old AMD 939 computer are a good PNY Quadro NVS 440 video card that runs my 4 monitors for financial trading and a Creative Audigy sound card. How simple is that?

And besides the NorthBridge cooler or heatsinks, what are the other extravagant swoopy (and sculptural) colorful and beautiful heatsinks around the CPU and what are they cooling?

I'm going to go 1155 and some version of Sandy Bridge soon and am just wondering how much of everything I need for fast financial trading and non gaming. I'd rather have good speed and reliability than worry about a hundred bucks or so over the 3 year life of the computer which would only amount to pennies a day.

I'm thinking mostly ASUS mobos and a 2500K so I can overclock with the new OC software that ASUS has.

Opinions, advice, education please.

Thank you.

 

[sadams04]

Some boards perform better than others, but sticking with Asus, or another good brand, is a great choice. You current computer with a video card and sound card is pretty simple. Going with a LGA1155 build and a good video card for multiple monitors would be a "simple" setup as well. Any motherboard you pick up will have audio so you can skip that unless you want higher quality.

The 2500K is a great processor and will OC well, however with what you are doing (financial trading and non-gaming) it isn't necessary. You could save a little $$ and buy the non-K version CPU. I work for a financial firm and the traders here have a basic PC with the addition of an SSD, 12GB memory and multiple monitors. The things you should keep in mind are:

-P67 motherboard if you want to overclock.
-Dual channel memory (installed in pairs). DDR3 1600 is a good choice.
-An SSD with a SandForce controller is the way to go. 60GB is enough for your OS / boot drive with a 1TB or 2TB supplemental drive for storage and installed applications.
-Stick with a Quadra GPU (NVidia Quadra NVS450 is used here).

Hopefully this helps. Good luck and enjoy your SB build!

 

[garyhope]

Thanks the helpful reply sadams. That makes sense. So, for the speed of the stock and forex markets, I don't need to overclock? More RAM and a SSD sound more useful and helpful. It sounds like financial trading don't use as much resource as gaming. I thought the forex market moves pretty fast but I guess it's not as fast or resource intensive as gaming.

So more RAM and a good SSD ( and a good internet connection of course) might actually be faster or more useful than just a higher Mhz or overclocked CPU for forex or stock trading. I found that with baskets of stocks they seem to be more hard drive intensive rather than just the CPU? Does that sound correct?

Thanks again.

 

[sadams04]

I found that with baskets of stocks they seem to be more hard drive intensive rather than just the CPU?

That is what we found when going through a couple test configurations. The SSD was the key for making them "happy"...

While you probably don't NEED to overclock, no one is going to stop you. Including me... 😀 I tend to push everything to its max. Cost wise, the K series CPU is a little more money as is the P67 motherboard over the H67. Total additional costs of this PC would be less than 10% more to build in the ability to OC. Worth it to you? Don't forget your aftermarket CPU cooler if you go this route!

 

[jaquith]

In our business rigs we use 128GB SSD with 1TB RAID 1 HDD, and {4GB if we ran Dual Channel} 6GB of 1600 MHz, and nothing is OC {i7 930's}. Nothing is a 'bottleneck' - not even close. Internet is FIOS with static IP addressing, and any plan is fast enough.

80 GB is borderline small for your OS + Apps. I would check both the Windows + Program folder sizes and +10~20GB, and if 80 GB is good then go that route.

In any case, I would agree with sticking with P67, but the "K" CPU is your choice, and yes they are insanely simple to OC - in many cases >4GHz with a push of a button...where's the fun in that...but it's easy.

Your Quadro is a Pro GPU and not anything for 'gaming' but if it does what you need I don't see a need to its replacement. You will not get the OMG feel of your SB, the GPU is the bottleneck even with business display data. We run non-Pro HD 5770's with 1-3 monitors and it slow enough for my tastes.

Q - the Quadro 440's I know of are dual DMS-59 so I assume you're running two splitters, but how is the responsiveness?

 

[garyhope]

Thanks Jaquith,

It's good to hear from business users sometimes rather than just gamers although the gamers are usually right on top of the latest stuff.

Yes, I'm using the splitters that came with the PNY Quadro NVS 440. The responsiveness is fine. No problems at all with the card. It wasn't a cheap card though. About $430 when I bought it years ago.

I trade Forex and it seems like my prices and charts seem to come in instantaneously. For instance when they announce the NFP they jump one way or another, ZOOM!

And yes, I'll check the size of my programs and apps before I buy an SSD.

Thanks again.

 

[jaquith]

Good to know about the Quadro, and thanks.

I do everything from extreme game, to pseudo WS {i7's}, to Xeon WS, to Apple WS, to Xeon servers. The 'plus' for the 'K' would be to run stock speeds now, and have the OC overhead when or if needed down the line.

The real advantages to SSD are its responsiveness, but the RAID 1/mirroring {Data} is an essential 'to me' and real plus if a drive goes bad. In addition, at our home and office I have a NAS back-up; it only takes once to lose your data to put the fear of God in you. The data is worth more than the PC.

Good Luck!

 

[garyhope]

"The 'plus' for the 'K' would be to run stock speeds now, and have the OC overhead when or if needed down the line. "

Good suggestion. Thanks.

 

[garyhope]

Good to know about the Quadro, and thanks.

I do everything from extreme game, to pseudo WS {i7's}, to Xeon WS, to Apple WS, to Xeon servers. The 'plus' for the 'K' would be to run stock speeds now, and have the OC overhead when or if needed down the line.

The real advantages to SSD are its responsiveness, but the RAID 1/mirroring {Data} is an essential 'to me' and real plus if a drive goes bad. In addition, at our home and office I have a NAS back-up; it only takes once to lose your data to put the fear of God in you. The data is worth more than the PC.

Good Luck!

"it only takes once to lose your data to put the fear of God in you. The data is worth more than the PC. "

No kidding and exactly right.