For the past 12 – 13 years for desktop computers Intel have been the CPU manufacturer of choice, their processors outperformed anyone else’s by a wide margin.
Before this period of domination a rival manufacturer called AMD had some success, however they fell behind Intel, and whilst they still offered processors for sale they couldn’t match Intel’s product line.
With Intel being the clear market leaders there was little pressure on them to innovate and push performance levels. They still released new lines of processors almost annually, and each release stepped up performance a bit, however we are talking single % point jumps.
Around 2 years ago AMD brought out a new line of chips called Ryzen, whilst still not matching Intels raw speed the gap closed massively. AMD also released a new series of HEDT chips (High End DeskTop) called Threadripper aimed at Intel’s Enthusiast chip line up.
Threadripper chips got a lot of press attention as they offered a lot of processing cores for your money. Processor cores allow chips to multi-task, a lot of cores in theory equals great multi-tasking performance. The problem is that cores need to be fast and AMD still lagged Intel in this key metric.
Most software depends on this raw speed or single threaded performance a lot more than having lots of processing cores, so Intel still maintained their advantage.
This has now changed.
Late 2019 AMD released their latest Ryzen lineup and have pretty much closed the gap on Intel’s single thread speed.
The major problem for Intel is that AMD have maintained their policy of packing in extra processing cores. So whilst Intel’s top end mainstream chips stop at 8 cores, AMD’s top Ryzen products pack in up to 16 cores, obviously this impacts some workloads considerably.
The high end Ryzen chips and associated motherboards do come at a price premium over the top end Intel setup but we are not talking crazy amounts of money here, maybe a couple of hundred pounds for potentially twice the multi-tasking capabilities…
This is obviously bad news for Intel but it gets worse.
AMD’s ThreadRipper line have also just been updated and they have decimated Intel’s equivalent chip line-up.
These HEDT chips from both Intel and AMD have always tended to be worse on single threaded performance but pack in a lot more processing cores, designed for a different type of workload.
AMD’s latest ThreadRipper offerings get very close to the single thread speed of Intel’s mainstream chips and the new AMD Ryzen chips, meaning they are way faster than Intel’s HEDT line-up.
To add insult to injury, the Threadripper processors pack in a lot more CPU cores.
Intel’s best HEDT offering at the time the new Threadripper was released had 18 processor cores, and retailed at around £2,000.
AMD’s entry level Threadripper is £1,000, is much faster at single threaded tasks, and has 24 processing cores! They also released a 32 core version and a 64 core chip is on the horizon.
Intel have reacted with panic and have slashed the prices of their own HEDT chips, their newly announced 18 core chip has dropped from £2,000 to £1,000!
This is good news for consumers but it still can’t stack up to the AMD Threadripper at the same price, it doesn’t even get close really…
So what does this all mean, are Intel chips pointless right now?
It’s a close call on which chips have the fastest single thread speed, some benchmarks give it to AMD, others show Intel still maintaining a small lead.
This single thread speed is the key metric for the majority of trading software, outside of backtesting or some of the more intensive platforms like X Trader, most traders require a faster single thread speed over lots of processing cores.
Intel’s platform which includes both the processor chip and the motherboard is a little bit cheaper than AMD at the higher end of things, mainly due to it being a more established setup with good value motherboards over the newer AMD platform, this may change in the future though.
I think Intel’s 9th generation series are still a great choice for many traders and the reality is that very few people need more than 6 or 8 processing cores.
We sell a lot of trading computers and I’ve not heard any feedback that the i7 9700K or the i9 9900K Intel chips couldn’t handle a workload.
That being said, for customers who want the best of the best, and run backtesting (or a lot of trading platforms simultaneously) then the AMD 12 / 16 core Ryzen chips would be a better option.
We do have some customers who definitely need a lot of processing cores and are specifically looking for multi-threaded performance. For these I would not currently recommend any of the Intel chips, even the new 10th generation HEDT series from Intel can’t realistically stand up to the ThreadRipper chips, and the 12 / 16 core Ryzens can more than compete with the lower spec Intel HEDT chips.
Of course we will be updating our processor reviews with these new AMD offerings over the coming weeks so keep an eye out for them.
Hi guys great article. I have a choice currently of getting the intel 9900k or a ryzen 9 3900x for my trading pc…i currently have an older threadripper the 1920x but i need an update. What would be my best bet? My trading is 2 monitors , a couple charts and that is it.
Hi Jonathan, Thanks for the comment.
Both those options would be overkill for your requirements really, however out of the two, based on your workload mentioned, I’d go for the Intel i9 9900K, it is marginally faster in single threaded workloads (from what we have seen). If you intended on doing a lot of multi-tasking or run a lot of multi-threaded workloads then the 3900X would be a better option, but since you have not mentioned that then the Intel is an ever so slightly faster and likely slightly better value option right now.
Hope that helps, Darren
Hi,
thanks for great article. I would like to consult for the Intel i3 9100F or i5 9600KF. I want to execute fast orders by chrome browser, visualize tradingview and other tabs (about 10 chrome tabs), and run bookmap software which consume a lot of power. I´d also buy 16 RAM, Solid Drive and Video Card to run fluid 1 monitor 4k 60Hz.
Hi Maxi,
The i3 9100F is a fast processor, where it can lack a little bit is in multi-tasking, or running lots of programs simultaneously. The 9600KF is faster and more powerful processor with an extra 2 CPU cores which helps a lot with multi-tasking, this is reflected in the price jump though. My recommendation is that if you can bring the i5 in on your budget then go for it.
Hope that helps.
Darren
Thank you very much for the answer Darren. I will buy a good gpu too because Bookmap software requires it to better performance.
Best regards,
Maxi
I’ve been looking for this type of info for months… Great articles!
I’m coming from the GPU article and finally I got my answer (Quadro P620 for four 4K monitors).
Regarding CPU though, I’m using the Tradestation platform and I’ll have ~100 charts open on four 4K monitors.
I assume that each indicator I add on the charts will put strain on the CPU. Ryzen 9 will still be an overkill?
Amazing
This is the clearest site about trading’s hardware I ever seen.
I have some question please, if you can explain to
About ram, I think is more important capacity (beetween 8 and 16Giga) than frequency, in AMD too (it would be used only for 3D gaming) do you agree?
In your tests you use K CPU so, in your opinion, is processor’s overclock important or is better to use it flat for stability?
Exemple: Use a K cpu on a good Motherboard but not overclockable is it a good idea or are money thrown out the window?
Maybe next i3-10350k 4C/8T with a rough single-thread fighter will be the best CPU for a budget trading build (perhaps much more than that)?
For example for me that I want to build a PC dedicate only to scalping to trade stock fast…. with one platform/software, with 10 book and charts or more opened , why not… shared on two FHD 24″monitor, not buying GPU of course, what do you say?
At last but not the least what is more important Latency/Ping or band capacity on internet connection?
I think Ping and consequentially I say that Router Sim are better than ADSL or fiber
Excuse my english, I am writing from Italy
Congratulation for you job