Best CPU for the job: E5 or E7 or I8/9 series

I have over 900 rules at this time and are worried about my system not being fast enough to handle the load. I have the Enterprise edition of the software. What is your recommendation for CPU choices?

Intel Xeon E5-2630V4 @ 2.20GHz (Looks like 40 cores)
Intel Xeon E5-2650v4 @ 2.20GHz (looks like 40 cores)
Or a desktop CPU like Intel I7-8700K?
Or the I9 series?

Any help is appreciated.

Internally Bandwidth Manager uses one thread per network interface, so the quantity of cores may not have much effect. The more GHz the better though.

There are usually other ways of improving performance, like reducing the number of rules in favour of a smaller ruleset with per-client tracking.

If you just outline your setup and perhaps post a screen shot of the main display with rules, I may be able to advise on the optimisation.

Hi Andrew, does that mean we should look for the CPU's with a lot of overclocking potential?

Well, the faster the better, but generally most CPUs should be able to handle a few hundred rules with up to 400-500 Mbps.