Whats better dual or overclocked?

[baxtrader]

I want to buy/build a PC. What is faster for a single application? Dual xeon or a p4ee overclocked to 4ghz?

 

[Vapor]

What's the single application?

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[baxtrader]

It is a trading system. Runs in windows. Programed in visual basic i think. Looking for the fastest system i can get. choices so far: P4ee overclocked to 4ghz or dual xeon 3.6ghz

 

[Vapor]

Since I didn't get a name of the program, I recommend contacting the company that either develops the app or sells it or w/e and see what they say. You might be surprised (in a good way) and they'll say an AMD system (a dual xeon system will get fricken hot and an EE is just way overpriced considering performance (but the app might be single threaded, getting no benefit from the second xeon)).

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[baxtrader]

Its developed in house. But its is comparable to GLTrade or Trading Technologies. I dont think it can use dual processor. I dont mind paying a premium if i get even 1 percent more performance.

 

[Vapor]

In that case I would imagine an EE overclocked or an FX-55 OCed would be best...NOT a dually system. Other than that, I really can't say. Giving it a dual processor won't do anything for it if it can't use it!

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[baxtrader]

whats faster fx-55 or p4 3.4ee both oc'd?

 

[Vapor]

That's the problem, it completely depends on the application.

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[baxtrader]

The program recieves and posts data from the exchange. It is also a platform that sends orders to the exchange and takes back order confimations. It also takes the prices of one instrument and generates prices in another instrument based on the users pre defined criteria. It is programed in visual basic. Not to complex..

 

[Vapor]

That still doesn't help me in knowing which processor runs it faster, sorry. Maybe somebody else knows or has more experience with these kind of programs, I've never seen even a benchmark regarding which CPU they run faster on.

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[Flinx]

If its written to thread then you would benefit from dual processors. Maybe you should pay both a programmer and the hardware companies for more efficiency.

The loving are the daring!

 

[silverpig]

Is it heavily cpu bound? Because my P3 450 router routes TCP packets just as fast as a pentium 66 or a P4 3.6 EE...

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[Lazerous]

I have read a few benchmarks and in general, P4 EE does a bit better at business applications (winstone) than does the AMD processor but I do not think the FX-55 was released when I read that. I think they were comparing the 3.2ee to the FX-53. I may be completely wrong and may have read it incorrectly but thats what I recall the results were.

There was a very slight margin if i remember right so the next question is which chip has more OC potential so you can get the most out of it without starting a fire.

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[sjonnie]

Yeah, it doesn't really sound like a very CPU intensive app. Overclocking sounds kind of pointless if you need an app to run reliably, a dual CPU machine will help if you run a very busy machine, but really it all depends on exactly what you will be doing and how much CPU time the app consumes.

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[baxtrader]

what I need is for the CPU to make the calculation as fast as possible. There are times when the markets are very bust that the cpu has to generate hundreds of buy and sell orders in a minute. So it can be intensive at times. But mostly I'm concerned about having the fastest cpu in order to generate the orders faster and beat out my competition (as there are a number of people competing on exactly the same stuff...)

 

[endyen]

Reality check.
Your bottleknecks are reading time, decision making, and typing time.
A 1% improvement in any of those would do more good than going Itanic.

 

[baxtrader]

I dont think you know exactly what you are talking about. I set up my levels and then let the computer execute. Explaining to you exactly what I do is futile. DONT WORRY ABOUT THE TRADING SIDE! ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHAT IS FASTER FOR ONE APPLICATION! DUAL XEONS OR SINGLE AMD FX55 OR P4 EE OVERCLOCKED!

 

[jammydodger]

Well we have established dual Xeons wont offer a performance boost, as normally programs have got to be coded specailly to use dual CPU configurations. P4 might be slightly faster but as people have already said it depends on the appication.
The real question would be how far you could overclock it, the northwood based P4ee's will prob not overclock much above 3.6
The 90nm Athlon FX55 might well overclock better, but its really just luck of the draw.

 

[baxtrader]

Thanks...Appreciate it.

 

[silverpig]

Dude, getting the information in and out of your computer is going to be your problem. I mean, the time it takes for the signal to travel to your computer as opposed to your competitors will be thousands of times what performance advantage you'd get by going P4 3.6 EE as opposed to A64 3200+.

You're wasting your money.

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[P4Man]

>The program recieves and posts data from the exchange. It
>is also a platform that sends orders to the exchange and
>takes back order confimations.

And you'd run that on an OVERCLOCKED computer ?
Dude who cares how fast it is when sends out a WRONG order once in a million times ? Your focus should be RAS, RAS and once again RAS. Sheesh.. I wouldn't even trust any normal PC running non ECC ram to do that job. You realize how expensive a bitflip could be here ??

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[addiarmadar]

The P4EE option should produce the results you are looking for and wont make as hot as an oven in that case as the dual xeons would.

Let me also share a old saying to you about computers, the moment you open the box it becomes obsolete and half-off. Try to focus more on what will do the tageted job and then some and not just getting the biggest mofo out there.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

 

[Lazerous]

Just get yourself an OC192 connection and then nobody in the world will be sending and recieving data as fast as you. The real bottleneck here is the internet connection right?
OK all joking aside, it sounds like the P4EE system would work best in this situation. I'm an Athlon guy but the P4's do perform better in many office and business apps. That is unless you consider what your doing a game? trying to beat your competition? Then get an FX-55! :lol:

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[endyen]

What a load of crap. We dont know if the prog is smt enabled, SSE2 enabled or HT enabled. Without a great deal of optimizations, the P4s are dead. Sure, the answer to the question is, for his needs he will never be able to tell the difference. He could probably have the same results with a new celeron. The slowdown of a few billionths of a second could easily be made up with LL ram, or a better nic card. Helll, the dew on the poles outside his house would have more impact.
The straight answer is, without better data, there is no right answer. Even the right answer is not going to do you any good. We are talking a difference of practically zero. The time lost sending the data to your nic card is more critical.
There may be a thousand ways to speed up your transactions, but the difference in high end chips is just not it.

 

[endyen]

According to whinstone, the A64s eat P4s in business apps.