Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

shooly76

Is My Computer Slow?

Recommended Posts

I use NT7...5,10, and 3 min charts...I have an ASUS laptop w an intel dual core processor 2.20 ghz processor and 3 gigs of RAM

 

whenever I am in a trade I use a bar timer, and after the timer hits zero, it always takes like 10-60 seconds for the timer to start counting down again. is this lag due to my slow laptop?

 

I am looking at laptop w an i5 processor w 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM...will I still have this lag problem w new, faster machine?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Quite probably yes, your computer is slow. Is it a trading only pc? If not then windows and its wonderful registry will conspire to kill performance. Also, is it connected wirelessly? If so, connect it via an ethernet cable to your modem/router. Period.

 

Personally, I don't like laptops for trading at all. They are imo overpriced and underspeced. They are difficult to upgrade too other than memory/hdd(although many have limitations in the bios as to what you can do here- For example, I have an old laptop which won't recognise 4gb of memory it has in it. Dell imposed a 3gb limit. I'm sure there is a bios hack out there which could fix this, but should it really be this hard?). Anyway, each to their own as they say!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I use NT7...5,10, and 3 min charts...I have an ASUS laptop w an intel dual core processor 2.20 ghz processor and 3 gigs of RAM

 

whenever I am in a trade I use a bar timer, and after the timer hits zero, it always takes like 10-60 seconds for the timer to start counting down again. is this lag due to my slow laptop?

 

I am looking at laptop w an i5 processor w 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM...will I still have this lag problem w new, faster machine?

 

I have a WiFi 'trade only' Lenovo i5 highly speced coupled to a Toshiba mobile monitor

 

The bar counter rolls seamlessly and the Lenovo [4 months old] easily keeps pace with my 'trade only' PC [quite highly speced]

 

Lenovo does not require extra cooling and after 4 months trial, I am selling the PC.

 

My entire Home and Office now runs on Lenovos.

 

good luck

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

John, how old is your trade only PC? Also, just being trade only isn't enough. It has to be a clean OS install with no extra crap running at all.

 

The wireless issue for me is clear. Don't use it if you care about price(trading). Any little fluctuation can screw you up and even with the latest wirless cards this can happen. It does of course depend on where you are in relation to the router. If you are sitting right next to it in your office, then it's much less likely to be an issue. But then if this is the case, why not just plug a cable in anyway? The other point is what is the traffic like on your network? The wireless data goes through your router, whereas hard wired connections are connected to a switch(within the same router). Generally I have found switches to be much quicker.

 

Lenovo is a good brand. It used to be IBM's consumer PC business. It's also an expensive brand. No matter what though. Give it a few years and it'll start to struggle. It depends on how you work though. If you are happy with a wireless laptop, there are certainly good solutions out there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
John, how old is your trade only PC? Also, just being trade only isn't enough. It has to be a clean OS install with no extra crap running at all.

 

The wireless issue for me is clear. Don't use it if you care about price(trading). Any little fluctuation can screw you up and even with the latest wirless cards this can happen. It does of course depend on where you are in relation to the router. If you are sitting right next to it in your office, then it's much less likely to be an issue. But then if this is the case, why not just plug a cable in anyway? The other point is what is the traffic like on your network? The wireless data goes through your router, whereas hard wired connections are connected to a switch. Generally I have found switches to be much quicker.

 

Lenovo is a good brand. It used to be IBM's consumer PC business. It's also an expensive brand. No matter what though. Give it a few years and it'll start to struggle. It depends on how you work though. If you are happy with a wireless laptop, there are certainly good solutions out there.

 

 

PC is 12 months and a virgin ... I roll my gear every 12 months ... so in 8 months time

my trading Lenovo downgrades into general work.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Being 12 months ago that you bought it, I am guessing it could well not be an i series intel cpu. There's also a chance it's vista. If you want to make the comparison between the Lenovo laptop and the PC, you need to disclose the PC's specs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Being 12 months ago that you bought it, I am guessing it could well not be an i series intel cpu. There's also a chance it's vista. If you want to make the comparison between the Lenovo laptop and the PC, you need to disclose the PC's specs.

 

as i wrote ....

Lenovo i5 is 4 months and I roll my gear every 12 months ...so PC was 12 months, 4 months ago.... so it was a well speced machine 16 months ago

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Being 12 months ago that you bought it, I am guessing it could well not be an i series intel cpu. There's also a chance it's vista. If you want to make the comparison between the Lenovo laptop and the PC, you need to disclose the PC's specs.

 

as i wrote ....

Lenovo i5 is 4 months and I roll my gear every 12 months ...so PC was 12 months old, 4 months ago.... so it was a well speced machine 16 months ago ... I run Windows 7 now and am looking into Linux

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah okay, but what are the specifications of the older PC?

 

I can't recall, the machine is disconnected awaiting pickup.

I do recall that I had the ram upgraded about 6 months into it's life as the techo improved

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fair enough. But trying to make a proper comparison without actually knowing the old PC's specs is not going to work I'm afraid. Significant performance improvements have been made in the latest generation of Intel cpus, so if it's an older core 2 processor for example, with an older chipset, slower memory and a slower HDD(your new one may have a latest gen SSD although that is somewhat doubtful) to mention some key components, I'm not surprised that the new laptop keeps up. I don't think you confirmed which OS the old PC ran either. XP is fine as is Win7 imo, but if it was Vista then I'd have serious concerns for its performance.

 

Buying a new PC(desktop or laptop) is a minefield of misinformation and lack of knowledge. I have found this to be greater in the retail laptop space. Many people who work with computers day-to-day in IT don't even have a clue.

 

A little test, albeit a simple one, is to search for your cpu model on passmark.

 

passmark

 

If you don't know the model of your cpu, easiest is probably to download cpu-z which has a load of other information on your system too.

 

cpu-z

 

One quick note about cpu-z before anyone asks. Your cpu frequency is likely to fluctuate in cpu-z. This is not because cpu-z is inaccurate or your system/cpu is faulty. It's because of a power management feature from Intel called EIST(if you have an AMD chip I think it's call PowerNow!). Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology is what it stands for and it basically is throttling down frequency when cpu load is low.

Edited by TheNegotiator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Fair enough. But trying to make a proper comparison without actually knowing the old PC's specs is not going to work I'm afraid. Significant performance improvements have been made in the latest generation of Intel cpus, so if it's an older core 2 processor for example, with an older chipset, slower memory and a slower HDD(your new one may have a latest gen SSD although that is somewhat doubtful) to mention some key components, I'm not surprised that the new laptop keeps up. I don't think you confirmed which OS the old PC ran either. XP is fine as is Win7 imo, but if it was Vista then I'd have serious concerns for its performance.

 

Buying a new PC(desktop or laptop) is a minefield of misinformation and lack of knowledge. I have found this to be greater in the retail laptop space. Many people who work with computers day-to-day in IT don't even have a clue.

 

A little test, albeit a simple one, is to search for your cpu model on passmark.

 

passmark

 

If you don't know the model of your cpu, easiest is probably to download cpu-z which has a load of other information on your system too.

 

cpu-z

 

One quick note about cpu-z before anyone asks. Your cpu frequency is likely to fluctuate in cpu-z. This is not because cpu-z is inaccurate or your system/cpu is faulty. It's because of a power management feature from Intel called EIST(if you have an AMD chip I think it's call PowerNow!). Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology is what it stands for and it basically is throttling down frequency when cpu load is low.

 

Many thanks for the Links.

 

I went from XP to 7 and skipped Vista on the way through .... I have a tech guru who looks after me so I am not that knowledgeable on fine detailed specs myself, I am afraid.

 

I figure that if I do my job well and he does his job well, things will work out OK

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It seems to me that the real issue is that the OP quoted 10-60 seconds delay.

 

That's not a computer hardware slowness issue; that's something wrong with your setup, probably the software. No hardware slowness is going to result in more than fractions of a second unless something else is going very wrong.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

did you try your software on another computer? Does it have the same behavior? I highly suggest for a trading computer to NOT be connected to the Internet via WIFI, use a direct CAT-5 cable connected up to your router or switch.

 

If you can afford a SSD drive, they are much faster so your apps will load faster, but they aren't that much difference once the app is loaded.

 

Also I dont load any other apps that are needed to operate my charts, and trading app, no "new apps" get loaded on my trading computer.

 

Another tip, is to disable the windows automatic updates. Imagine if your in a trade, then windows forces you to upgrade to to newly installed apps... :missy::missy:

 

Just a few tips, more than likely most already knew these, but good reminders.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It could be a combination of both things. Running the latest software on old hardware can be a issue sometimes. My guess is that it's not a clean trading only PC, wireless isn't great, hardware is a little older. A possible suggestion which may or may not help is to run a maintenance utility to check for issues. I don't think any are perfect but here's a free one:-

 

glary utilities

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Many thanks for the Links.

 

I went from XP to 7 and skipped Vista on the way through .... I have a tech guru who looks after me so I am not that knowledgeable on fine detailed specs myself, I am afraid.

 

I figure that if I do my job well and he does his job well, things will work out OK

 

Absolutely. I personally have always been tech orientated and prefer to understand these things for myself at least to a decent extent. I find far too many so called experts know jack and I end up making them look silly even with a small amount of knowledge.

 

(Much like many so called trading experts)

 

On the SSD comment, I would say that for the OS you could run a new SSD but an older model may not have any performance benefits over a good mechanical drive although the access times are lower and they don't make a noise! Mechanical drives are a bit pricey at the mo tho due to the Thai floods.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What do you guys see as a problem in connecting via WiFi ... apart from security issues

 

I was dead against WiFi for a long time, but I travel alot and so far I have had no problems, but that is not to say that this will continue in the future

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For me it's mainly experience. But things that can effect your wireless connection are distance and what types of physical materials are in between you and the router, other air wave based communication data, the router itself and its traffic(lots of data at anytime means the 'clever' router will have to put more stress on its internal processor- many routers don't have very good internal processors). The other things you have to watch out for with wireless is things like power management. Laptops are set up (to some extent) to get good battery life. Wireless uses battery life. So it may turn the transmit/receive power down in an effort to save power. You may be able to specify a setting in the power management profiles of win7 for when it is plugged into the charger.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
For me it's mainly experience. But things that can effect your wireless connection are distance and what types of physical materials are in between you and the router, other air wave based communication data, the router itself and its traffic(lots of data at anytime means the 'clever' router will have to put more stress on its internal processor- many routers don't have very good internal processors). The other things you have to watch out for with wireless is things like power management. Laptops are set up (to some extent) to get good battery life. Wireless uses battery life. So it may turn the transmit/receive power down in an effort to save power. You may be able to specify a setting in the power management profiles of win7 for when it is plugged into the charger.

 

Good point about battery management, I have switched off 'battery stretch' and run in 'high performance mode'

The Router has been changed and my Guru suggests I do what he does and take my Router with me on my travels.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Having a PC connected to a WIFI network for trading like others said isn;t the greatest ideas, I am not saying that you can't do it, if you have your WIFI network designed properly, but so many factors can cause problems with it...so as a rule for my trading computers, I run them strictly direct via cat-5 into my switches. my lastest pc has 2 nics on the back of the computer.so in the future can lag them together, or else connect them into 2 different switches...

 

Also regarding your PC check your hardware and determine if you have SATA-2 or SATA-3. from my testing having a SSD run on SATA-2 isn;t much different that running a spin drive at say 7200 RPM... If you have sata-3 support on your MOBO, then get a SSD that supports sata-3 and you will be a happy person for improving your boot time and your app load time...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I use NT7...5,10, and 3 min charts...I have an ASUS laptop w an intel dual core processor 2.20 ghz processor and 3 gigs of RAM

 

whenever I am in a trade I use a bar timer, and after the timer hits zero, it always takes like 10-60 seconds for the timer to start counting down again. is this lag due to my slow laptop?

 

I am looking at laptop w an i5 processor w 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM...will I still have this lag problem w new, faster machine?

 

most of the charting software are event-driven programs.

 

ie it will make an update if there is a new tick coming in,

otherwise the program will just sit there in idle.

 

you can have the fastest computer in the world,

but if there is no new tick coming in,

the computer would just sit there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I use NT7...5,10, and 3 min charts...I have an ASUS laptop w an intel dual core processor 2.20 ghz processor and 3 gigs of RAM

 

whenever I am in a trade I use a bar timer, and after the timer hits zero, it always takes like 10-60 seconds for the timer to start counting down again. is this lag due to my slow laptop?

 

I am looking at laptop w an i5 processor w 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM...will I still have this lag problem w new, faster machine?

 

 

There is a discussion going on about:

ssds - good, and even on sata2 reduce access times (rather than bulk file transfer)

wifi - to be avoided

ram and cpu - as fast as possible while staying off the bleeding/expensive edge

 

 

But nothing being said would account for 10-60 second delays. I suspect that shooly has his system screwed up in some way completely unrelated to hardware speeds. Perhaps reinstalling at least the trading software but preferably the whole OS would be a good idea.

 

Note that I use Sierra Chart (which I abandoned NT for many versions ago) so I don't know how the timer works ... is Tams right in that if the OP isn't getting any ticks for 60 seconds the timer will sit and do nothing (poor timer design)?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
is Tams right in that if the OP isn't getting any ticks for 60 seconds the timer will sit and do nothing (poor timer design)?

 

I don't think that's what was being said as such. A bar timer is going to be based on time elapsed and not new data coming in. So I don't think it would be idle if new data was coming in in this case.

 

I suspect there is a bottleneck in his system and probably one where the software is either screwed up, corrupted or even infected. Although I think it's going to be about the OS. As much as it annoys the hell out of anyone, I would strongly suggest to do a clean install and OS tweak then re-installing NT7. If you have lots of stuff on your drive which you don't want to lose, get another small drive to do the install on. If you don't know how to do it, ask and one of us will find a guide for you(although it's not exactly complicated either).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I don't think that's what was being said as such. A bar timer is going to be based on time elapsed and not new data coming in. So I don't think it would be idle if new data was coming in in this case.

 

I suspect there is a bottleneck in his system and probably one where the software is either screwed up, corrupted or even infected. Although I think it's going to be about the OS. As much as it annoys the hell out of anyone, I would strongly suggest to do a clean install and OS tweak then re-installing NT7. If you have lots of stuff on your drive which you don't want to lose, get another small drive to do the install on. If you don't know how to do it, ask and one of us will find a guide for you(although it's not exactly complicated either).

 

if the bar timer is part of the charting program, then it should continue to run in the background.

 

if the bar timer is an indicator, then it will wait for the next tick.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Agreed since some of the new traders usually lose money in start and some loses more while chasing their lost money and eventually ends up blaming to their brokers part.
    • The crypto market are also in phase of maturing like the forex and other trading assets so we can do much more accurate analysis than before since early days it was purely a luck if the investments in crypto bears results because most of the coins or tokens never come to fruition. Some early birds were also able to make profits on these tokens or coins. e,g., like turtle coin starts with 1 satoshi and go up to 7 sathoshis, quite good rewards. another token lmgx now hovering at 10 started from 1, 
    • How's about other crypto exchanges? Are all they banned in your country or only Binance?
    • Be careful who you blame.   I can tell you one thing for sure.   Effective traders don’t blame others when things start to go wrong.   You can hang onto your tendency to play the victim, or the martyr… but if you want to achieve in trading, you have to be prepared to take responsibility.   People assign reasons to outcomes, whether based on internal or external factors.   When traders face losses, it's common for them to blame bad luck, poor advice, or other external factors, rather than reflecting on their own personal attributes like arrogance, fear, or greed.   This is a challenging lesson to grasp in your trading journey, but one that holds immense value.   This is called attribution theory. Taking responsibility for your actions is the key to improving your trading skills. Pause and ask yourself - What role did I play in my financial decisions?   After all, you were the one who listened to that source, and decided to act on that trade based on the rumour. Attributing results solely to external circumstances is what is known as having an ‘external locus of control’.   It's a concept coined by psychologist Julian Rotter in 1954. A trader with an external locus of control might say, "I made a profit because the markets are currently favourable."   Instead, strive to develop an "internal locus of control" and take ownership of your actions.   Assume that all trading results are within your realm of responsibility and actively seek ways to improve your own behaviour.   This is the fastest route to enhancing your trading abilities. A trader with an internal locus of control might proudly state, "My equity curve is rising because I am a disciplined trader who faithfully follows my trading plan." Author: Louise Bedford Source: https://www.tradinggame.com.au/
    • SELF IMPROVEMENT.   The whole self-help industry began when Dale Carnegie published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936. Then came other classics like Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins toward the end of the century.   Today, teaching people how to improve themselves is a business. A pure ruthless business where some people sell utter bullshit.   There are broke Instagrammers and YouTubers with literally no solid background teaching men how to be attractive to women, how to begin a start-up, how to become successful — most of these guys speaking nothing more than hollow motivational words and cliche stuff. They waste your time. Some of these people who present themselves as hugely successful also give talks and write books.   There are so many books on financial advice, self-improvement, love, etc and some people actually try to read them. They are a waste of time, mostly.   When you start reading a dozen books on finance you realize that they all say the same stuff.   You are not going to live forever in the learning phase. Don't procrastinate by reading bull-shit or the same good knowledge in 10 books. What we ought to do is choose wisely.   Yes. A good book can change your life, given you do what it asks you to do.   All the books I have named up to now are worthy of reading. Tim Ferriss, Simon Sinek, Robert Greene — these guys are worthy of reading. These guys teach what others don't. Their books are unique and actually, come from relevant and successful people.   When Richard Branson writes a book about entrepreneurship, go read it. Every line in that book is said by one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.   When a Chinese millionaire( he claims to be) Youtuber who releases a video titled “Why reading books keeps you broke” and a year later another one “My recommendation of books for grand success” you should be wise to tell him to jump from Victoria Falls.   These self-improvement gurus sell you delusions.   They say they have those little tricks that only they know that if you use, everything in your life will be perfect. Those little tricks. We are just “making of a to-do-list before sleeping” away from becoming the next Bill Gates.   There are no little tricks.   There is no success-mantra.   Self-improvement is a trap for 99% of the people. You can't do that unless you are very, very strong.   If you are looking for easy ways, you will only keep wasting your time forgetting that your time on this planet is limited, as alive humans that is.   Also, I feel that people who claim to read like a book a day or promote it are idiots. You retain nothing. When you do read a good book, you read slow, sometimes a whole paragraph, again and again, dwelling on it, trying to internalize its knowledge. You try to understand. You think. It takes time.   It's better to read a good book 10 times than 1000 stupid ones.   So be choosy. Read from the guys who actually know something, not some wannabe ‘influencers’.   Edit: Think And Grow Rich was written as a result of a project assigned to Napoleon Hill by Andrew Carnegie(the 2nd richest man in recent history). He was asked to study the most successful people on the planet and document which characteristics made them great. He did extensive work in studying hundreds of the most successful people of that time. The result was that little book.   Nowadays some people just study Instagram algorithms and think of themselves as a Dale Carnegie or Anthony Robbins. By Nupur Nishant, Quora Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/    
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.