You're right... not worth arguing about. So... STOP IT! Whether something takes 2ms or 1ms to execute... that worth paying up for? By your argument, everybody should have the fastest, $1500 CPU.. otherwise, they must be dog meat.
Yes it is, if you're making your living using a computer. Hell it bothers me using a slow computer for superficial things like browsing the internet - the resultant delays are noticable and a waste of my time. When you are using your computer to trade, delays can equate to lost $. Not at all, but someone who uses their computer for trading (versus surfing and writing email) should get a good machine that will hold its own for at least a couple of years. There is a big difference between an overkill $5000 gaming rig and a solid $1000 machine. There is also big difference going for a low-end $400 Atom-powered machine. Going for a happy medium is what I would recommend, not either extreme (high or low).
This isn't categorically true; it depends on the process that's running. If the process is I/O intensive, a faster HDD will matter more than CPU speed. E.g. building a particular software package takes 25 minutes on my 2.2Ghz laptop with a 5,400 RPM HDD. Building the same software takes 8 minutes on my 3.0Ghz server with a 15,000 RPM HDD. The server doesn't build it 3x faster than the laptop because of the CPU speed... The amount of available RAM - and the RAM's speed - can also matter. If you run out of RAM and the OS starts swapping to the HDD, things will get really slow.
My educated ( and experienced ) guess from trading from a home office is that the CPU is not nearly as important as the speed and quality of your internet broadband/connection, how far your broker's servers are from you, and how robust the trading platform is that you are using. There are plenty of "bottlenecks" out there and more often than not, they have NOTHING to do with the difference between the latest 'I7" Intel processor, and say one of their 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duos.
Great point. What would you recommend? 64 Bit? I really don't know what to get. There is so much conflicting info out there and all my friends that are tech guys say get a gaming machine. I really don't see the need to spend $3K on a computer that is total over kill. I just want a good value play that I can trade with lightning fast.
It's really hard for me to say because I don't know the potential needs of the software you're using. As I said before, I would want to know if this were really a hardware issue before advising you to buy a new PC. Though, if you're looking for a reason to buy a new PC, the prior point is moot. ;-) Adding RAM (assuming your board isn't already maxed out) could solve your problem, if the problem was caused by running out of available RAM. Sometimes reinstalling Windows can speed things up. I don't know your tech-guy friends, but be wary of the "coolness factor" that some may place on new hardware. What are the specifications of your current PC?
This thread is pretty funny. Yea, I wouldn't recommend compiling an app while you are trying to trade, probably not a good idea to use your trading machine as SQL server either, lol. Also the suggestion about using a faster internet pipe is great but doesn't help the OP spec out a replacement PC. OP, you don't need a high-end video card that a gaming machine would have but an otherwise fast machine is going to benefit you with snappy performance. If you want to save money and get a lower-end machine (core2 duo processor) I'm sure it will be fine but long-term I think you would be better off going with the I7 because you will get more life out of it and the incremental cost (over the core2) isn't that much.
Why do you think he would compile an application while trading or use his PC as anything other than a dedicated trading station? He, nor anyone else, has suggested that. You missed my point. If his software is I/O-intensive, HDD speed would be a bottleneck. If his software is graphics-intensive, a dedicated video card will help. If it's RAM-intensive, more/faster RAM will help. My point was that raw CPU speed may be fairly insignificant for his needs.
Look, I can't argue about hypotheticals, I've used a lot of trading apps, I have a strong background in computers, programming and networks but I don't want to derail this into a resume-comparing thread. In my experience it is unlikely that his trading app is I/O bound, RAM intensive or needs a high-end video card. The OP asked for recommendations on buying a new machine - that is the question I answered. He didn't ask to diagnose the issues with his current machine, critique his internet pipe or get help with his problem with hemorrhoids. IMO it is likely that Intel's latest cpu/chipset/architecture (which has received great reviews unlike some of their previous attempts) will give him better overall performance than older processors/architectures and it won't break the bank. I don't know what the OP is doing, he didn't say so I'm assuming he's using a typical trading app. If he's running millions of backtesting scenarios or crunching NN's then that is something I suspect he would have mentioned upfront. He gave a generic question, I gave a generic answer and one that I'm comfortable with.