AMD 64 X2 3800 for multitask trading

[Kever]

I've been using a an AMD X2 +4800 with a gig of ram for the last 2 weeks. It is a Systemax from Tigerdirect ($1700).

Basically, I had it custom built as a trading machine. Only trading and security apps are installed. I can really tell a difference with multiple apps open. Running an intensive app such as a big back test doesn't have any effect on other apps.

It hovers about six inches off the ground when powered on.

 

[Bernard111]

Thanks for your comment. Real world usage feedback is much more interesting than synthetic benchmarks.

 

[Bernard111]

Anyone tried to run tests using trading applications such as Neoticker, etc. so in a multi-thread environment?

 

[nononsense]

I just got a notebook with an AMD Sempron 3300+. A terrific little machine for trading. UNBELIEVABLY fast and not power hungry.
AMD Turion (MT series) should also do well.

This is not about a X2 3800. For me, many questions still have to be answered about dual processors. This raises a big software problem for the general user. It may take many years still before the guy in the street will truly run on both processors. (Do you remember that hype about hyperthreading?)

In the meantime I'll continue to trod along with my old 2.8 and 3.2 P4 horses.

 

[Mike805]

Guys,

I've designed computational systems hardware/electronics in my former career as an EE and there are a few things I'd like to clear up so you do not spend un-necessary money on marketing gimmicks.

Dual Cores/ Dual processors are useful in multithreaded applications when you are doing floating point calculations ONLY. Otherwise, there will be no load sharing as some here claim. Floats are the most intensive computation and this was the reason dual cores were invented. Trust me on this - there is no trading software out there that uses floats on a level that will require dual procs/cores (unless you are running statistical algorithm calcs on a software package which is specifically designed to operate with two threads/two processors).

The thread count in you task manager is not the same as this. Software programs have many threads - they will not run simultaneously on two separate cores/processors unless the software is explicitly designed to do so. Only very high end engineering/scientific software programs have a real dual processor capability. I would be very suprised to find trading software with a true capabilty like this (many say they are multithreaded but this really has a different meaning - hence the confusion).

In short, don't waste your money or time with this whole "multithreading" deal, it really is non-sense unless you are trying to get high performance on floating point operations. If you have a case for this then get a dual processor AMD opertron machine - these are by far the best dual processor capable chips out there.

Mike

 

[TGregg]

Quote from Mike805:

Dual Cores/ Dual processors are useful in multithreaded applications when you are doing floating point calculations ONLY.

So you are claiming that the OS cannot run some threads on one CPU and others on the other? Could you explain why when I run monitoring programs I can see different loads on the two CPUs? Is one not really doing anything?

And you are saying this is true for all OSes?

 

[Holmes]

Quote from Mike805:

Guys,

I've designed computational systems hardware/electronics in my former career as an EE and there are a few things I'd like to clear up so you do not spend un-necessary money on marketing gimmicks.

Dual Cores/ Dual processors are useful in multithreaded applications when you are doing floating point calculations ONLY. Otherwise, there will be no load sharing as some here claim. Floats are the most intensive computation and this was the reason dual cores were invented. Trust me on this - there is no trading software out there that uses floats on a level that will require dual procs/cores (unless you are running statistical algorithm calcs on a software package which is specifically designed to operate with two threads/two processors).

The thread count in you task manager is not the same as this. Software programs have many threads - they will not run simultaneously on two separate cores/processors unless the software is explicitly designed to do so. Only very high end engineering/scientific software programs have a real dual processor capability. I would be very suprised to find trading software with a true capabilty like this (many say they are multithreaded but this really has a different meaning - hence the confusion).

In short, don't waste your money or time with this whole "multithreading" deal, it really is non-sense unless you are trying to get high performance on floating point operations. If you have a case for this then get a dual processor AMD opertron machine - these are by far the best dual processor capable chips out there.

Mike

The testing results and real life results that I have are then imaginary? LOL

If the OS is suitable then two processes can run in two different cores, have just tested it. TradeStation 2000i runs substantially faster: The charting app in one core and the database app (Global Server) in another core.


Sherlock

 

[Mike805]

Quote from TGregg:

So you are claiming that the OS cannot run some threads on one CPU and others on the other? Could you explain why when I run monitoring programs I can see different loads on the two CPUs? Is one not really doing anything?

This is the point that presents the most confusion. The OS itself will have many threads and depending on the sophistication of the OS, different threads will run on the various (two) processors. The OS has to be designed to do this. As far as I know, windows has to be a multiprocessor version in order for this to be the case. I am not sure which versions of windows are MP capable at the moment.

Quote from TGregg:
And you are saying this is true for all OSes?

I was refering to software applications, more specifically, computationally intensive software applications where a dual processor would be applicable - not OSes. OSes do not determine load sharing of the actual application - on the application level (not the OS level) the use of dual processors is very rare - only the most high end applications use dual processors, and, in all the cases I have seen, it is for doing floats.

 

[Mike805]

Quote from Holmes:

The testing results and real life results that I have are then imaginary? LOL

If the OS is suitable then two processes can run in two different cores, have just tested it. TradeStation 2000i runs substantially faster: The charting app in one core and the database app (Global Server) in another core.


Sherlock

I wasn't clear - I was referring to applications only - not the actual OS. Yes, if the OS can do it, then two threads can be run simultaneuosly if they are not from the same application.

Mike

 

[TGregg]

Quote from Mike805:

I am not sure which versions of windows are MP capable at the moment.

XP Pro is. Probably many flavors of Unix are as well, I would suspect.