FWIW: Keep an eye on the 'Dell Outlet'. As an example, I picked up a Precision 670, 2.8GHz Xeon 'Irwindale' (2MB cache), 2 Gigs RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX 540, 250Gig SATA HD, certified refurbished with 3 year warranty for $889+tax+handling. I think I got a bit lucky on the price, but just keep your eyes peeled as they come and go. You can't argue with the price, and this way you won't have any speed issues. You'll probably want XP Pro to ensure compatibility with trading apps - mine came with XP Pro x64, but I simply set up dual boot for XP Pro and XP Pro x64. (had an extra copy of XP Pro). I can run the charting application/datafeed with a zillion charts and studies, as well as the trading interface - the computer doesn't even break a sweat. If you are running TT, this will cost less than 2 months of TT subscription and you'll be flying.. Just an idea, if you want to indulge a bit and save some money in the process. edit: If you are set on multi-processors, you can of course add one to a single processor Precision 670 (just need the heat sink and fan assembly from Dell), or the Dell Outlet provides configurations with dual processors - single or dual core. However, I suspect that a machine similar to the one described above would be more than sufficient for your needs - as far as graphics, the Quadro FX 540 is definitely fast enough.
I am running X_Trader v 6.14 on AMD Athlon 3400+ 64 bit system, 1 gig DDR Ram, Nvidia GeForce FX5600 G/card. No problems so far.
64bit system? Do you mean you are running X_Trader on Windows XP 64 -- or it's the usual label for AMD64 CPUS?
I know TT recommends that no other applications be used simultaneously with X-Trader. I was hoping that was CYA hyperbole. However while running Trade Station and X-Trader today I had horrific freezes/slowness. I'm on an HP with 3.00 P/4 and 1 Gig RAM. I know Banjo recommends 2 Gigs RAM and a second computer for trade station. Is that overkill or do I truly need a second box for my charts and quotes?
Pabst, Why don't you open task manager for the entire trading day, cntrl alt delete, and see how often your cpu spikes to 100% usage. You can upgrade your RAM for about 100 bucks. I have used these guys with good sucess 4allmemory.com Also my computer locked up yesterday when my antivirus programmed auto updated during trading hours when I had charts, X Trader, and Ninja Trader running. Now I disabled the auto update feature.