I doubt this is true. I can't imagine that even the most wild and crazy volatile times that the video cards would be "unable to keep up". While you may perceive "something bogging down" at such times, it won't be the video cards. (Even basic 2-port workstation video cards can handle 14GB/s data. OP's Firepro cards can handle more than that.)
Need Help choosing Processor
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I doubt this is true. I can't imagine that even the most wild and crazy volatile times that the video cards would be "unable to keep up". While you may perceive "something bogging down" at such times, it won't be the video cards. (Even basic 2-port workstation video cards can handle 14GB/s data. OP's Firepro cards can handle more than that.)
Well in practice they do, and that is the end of that.
The "end of that"... is that YOU'RE FULL OF CRAP! How 'bout them apples?
If you've ever put a "data flow" monitor on your computer (which you obviously have NOT), or you'd know the notion of "> 14GB/s"... to "bog down video"... is completely ridiculous!
If you're going to post on this board, you should either get your facts straight or STFU!!
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Maybe it is helpful if you describe what software tools you have running while trading. And whether you have any software tools running in the background which perform additional calculations while you are trading. What additional analysis tools or supporting tools are you running while trading?
You are wasting your money buying a Xeon workstation. The tasks you describe require very little CPU processing power. Buy whichever PC will fit the number of video cards that you need. As several people have pointed out, run Task Manager at your busiest time of the day (probably precisely at 09:30 market open), click on the Performance tab, to see what percentage of your CPU is being used.
It's up to you which CPU you purchase. I build my own systems. I don't use computer makers such as Dell. Here is the current system I am using (see the first and last minute). I like to build a top quality system with the best parts and then use it for as long as possible. Once I build a system, I want to move on to other tasks not related to computers. BTW, I greased all of the fans in my system, except the graphics card fan which I could not. This way all of the fans will last for years. The fan is usually the first thing which fails in a system.
Personally, for a new system today, I would use the following components:
- Intel Core i9-7900X Processor. This 10 core CPU has the perfect balance between CPU power, number of cores, and clock speed. It's expensive, but would last a long time. I would not overclock it.
- 16 GB or 32 DDR4 RAM.
- Samsung 960 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6P512BW) or Samsung 860 PRO 512GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76P512BW). I would not build any system without an M.2 NVMe or SSD. Having an HDD would greatly slow your computer. I prefer the M.2 NVMe over the SSD today. Using an M.2 NVMe would deliver almost instantaneous load speeds.
- One excellent motherboard to get would be the GIGABYTE X299 DESIGNARE EX. The motherboard you purchase should have at least one M.2 NVMe slot built in.
The CPU will initially work the most when you first start your system and whichever software you use is building your charts. After your charts have been created and they are adding bars or ticks, then your CPU usage will drop. Charts usually do not require much CPU power.
If you have a large watchlist of over 100 symbols with several indicators, this will require some CPU power when you first start your system. On startup, building your watchlist may take several to a dozen minutes. Again, after your watchlist has been created, your CPU usage will drop. Today's 4 core CPU's can easily handle these tasks. I believe what requires the most time for these computation intensive tasks and slows your CPU is the RAM. Using quad channel RAM, DDR4 with 4 matching RAM sticks, should help your CPU run faster.
Very few business programs use the GPU for calculations. nVidia-based systems have the most developed GPU programming called CUDA. CUDA is essentially parallel programming. GPUs have hundreds or even thousands of cores called CUDA cores. For example, the GeForce GTX 1080 GPU has 2560 CUDA Cores. Unfortunately, most business programs do not use CUDA programming because it is difficult and time consuming. The most common CUDA enabled programs are video rendering programs and games.
Very little GPU power is required to update a business program screen. A business program screen is different from a video. More GPU power is required to run a video. However, GPUs can easily handle video, even HD. For a GPU, it doesn't matter if a charting program is updating in minute bars or ticks. If anyone wishes to see the load on their GPU, you can try free TechPowerUp GPU-Z, which I believe is the most commonly used utility.
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