Yup. .... Funny how many companies I deal with that still dont properly take advantage of the core OS features or required development steps to obtain these potential performance enhancements. The situation is better than it was a few years ago - when software developers would attempt to write multi-threaded apps from scratch and then find out that they were only marginally faster or in some cases slower than on multiprocessor machines, and often ran slower on uniprocessor machines.
i've read in a couple places that hyperthreading was useless, and more hype than actual performance, but i don't buy intel, so take it with a grain... as for cooling, you can't beat http://www.shuttle.com/new/product/product_b.asp for running cool and quiet, whether its AMD or Intel...i have one, and i LOVE it. they have a special water-cooled CPU heatsink which comes standard and does the job far better than anything else out there. plus i think they're actually cheaper than building a full tower, since they come with onboard 5 channel audio, video (plus some have an AGP and at least a PCI slot if you want to use a different video card), LAN, firewire...etc. their tech support has also been consistently excellent, and i am very pleased with them overall.
thx.... hey let me know if someone gets a new p4 motherboard and it supports multiple pci vidcards etc (eg name/mfg)... since the p4 850e chipset m/bs don't.... tyan/asus boards have been ok for me, the intel p4 m/b I got was slow, and the gigabyte p4 one kept rebooting .. re cooling, also moving into a condo w/central a/c makes a big difference, did for me... ken
Which cipset did your Intel p4 motherboard have? I've heard the most recent 845PE Intel mobo is VERY good.
If you are the type of person that runs lots of small apps at once HT will still help even if each small app is single threaded. Lots of people are running 4 or 5 application threads at all times and don't even realize it. I would still rather have a dual cpu system but they have always been too expensive, this is a great compromise. I think a 4Ghz with HT would last me for years and I will seriously consider buying one when I can at a reasonable price.
bungrider, the shuttle pc did not get a great review from toms hardware. They said they were very noisy, what has been your experience? I am going to replace my very noisy dell workstation and want something quiet. http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030131/shuttle-18.html
Multi-processors too expensive. Hmm, not really. If you have the ability to build your own system The sum of the parts warrant the cost. Otherwise you can always do something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3404562479&category=11213 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3404586279&category=11213 For the really capable build your own route: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3403934353&category=1244 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3404054009&category=4614 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3403934428&category=4614 They can easily be made to fill a trader's (gamer's) bill and also allow for speed, expandibility and servicability. Have some fun, try to build one!
I looked at the dual processor (Xenon) route, and everything just seemed too expensive. For example, those dual PIII and Xenon boards you linked to are ~70% more expensive than single CPU P4 board. I realize a dual PIII will outperform a single P4, but you're also sitting closer to discontinuation. As for the dual processor capable server with 128Mb RAM and one 1.8 P3 processor for ~$600, I think you're paying a lot for the right to add another CPU. If you need to be on the true cutting edge of an Intel platform, then you need dual Xenons. But I think it's better to just own a single P4 reasonably up the product line. And if you have to, get a second PC (laptop?) to run things like MS Word, IE, Outlook to take the load off your primary trading machine. But I honestly believe a single P4 machine should be able to do it all very well.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the time when you won't find PIII's. That availability will continue for many years to come. Most businesses are understanding that they don't need to upgrade just because the next greatest thing is now available. Especially if what they have is getting the job done. Well timing will always find a better price than $600 (even though I don't think that is a bad price). You just have to be patient. I have purchased several at better prices than that for my clients. The link was just to give you a location to possibly start snooping. The speed difference between the one P4 2.4 and the dual PIII 1.8's? Hmm! No argument, just another viewpoint. Don't get blinded in the Xeon game. I've been a tech too long and heard/seen too many false claims. You aren't comparing balanced platforms in this instance. I think the performance between the two would be very close in general user measurement abilities. And probably even better in the older dual processor unit if you'd just max it out. One P4 2.4GHz setup with 2gig of RAM verses a dual PIII 1.8GHz setup with 8gig of RAM and faster (hot swapping) hard drives that costs about $900? Older unit for me please!