Did some prelim comparisons between two systems I have on hand: SYSTEM 1: AMD Athlon3700+ lightly OC'd to 2.8GHz (previously incorrectly referred to as 3400) 1GB RAM XP Pro SYSTEM 2: Stock Lenovo ThinkPad X61s Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.6GHz 2GB RAM XP Pro I ran several controlled tests on both systems: - time to start Blocks - time to close Blocks - time to run a custom scan on S&P100 watchlist on 2,000 5-minute candles per symbol - time to run same custom scan on Nasdaq100 watchlist on 2,000 5-minute candles per symbol Each test was repeated 5 times. The scans were run with CPU UTILIZATION set to HIGH. Here are the results: TIME TO START BLOCKS: System1: 58 seconds avg System2: 36 seconds avg TIME TO CLOSE BLOCKS: System1: 13 seconds avg System2: 9 seconds avg S&P100 x 2,000 bars scan: System1: 4 minutes, 6 seconds avg System2: 2 minutes, 11 seconds avg Nasdaq100 x 2,000 bars scan: System1: 4 minutes, 9 seconds avg System2: 2 minutes, 12 seconds avg Things noted: ^^ During a scan on System2, Blocks utilizes one core at 80-90%, while the other only at 10-20%. I wonder if this behavior is normal? Shouldn't it be evenly dispersing the load amongst the cores? ^^ During a scan on System1, the single core was utilized in the 70-90% range. The HDD containing the data set saw regular reads with fewer writes. Will post more results and tests when/if I have time. _mad
It would be interesting to see how it does with the same amount of memory. Otherwise the system is really fighting a losing battle when one has 1 gig and the other 2 gig. : o )
UPDATE The purpose of this post is to publish the results of a benchmark on 3 different systems against a constant layout and rule set which I have programmed. These tests will be performed using Worden's StockFinder (the new version of Blocks). The goal is to figure out "How to build a fast RealTime Scanning / BackTesting computer?" -- a question I have asked many times before, and also one that is of frequent discussion on this forum. The layout used for these tests is modest: A 5 min chart and a Daily chart, a single watchlist, a debug window. The 5 min chart has a volume indicator added. To perform the tests, StockFinder's BackTester was used. Under normal market hours, I would not normally use the BackTester tool. The reason its being used is because it helps obtaining significantly more accurate benchmark results. System 1 - Single Core AMD Athlon 3700+ @ 2.81GHz (slightly OC'd) 2 GB DDR1 RAM 7200rpm HDD WinXP Pro SP2 System 2 - Dual Core Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.6GHz 2 GB DDR2 RAM 7200rpm HDD WinXP Pro SP2 System 3 - Quad Core Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz 12 GB DDR3 RAM Intel X25-E Extreme SSD WinXP x64 SP1 Code: [b]SCAN #1 - 250 bars - 5min candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s1_250666.jpg]S1: 2 min, 40 sec [img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s1_250666.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s2_250935.jpg]S2: 1 min, 45 sec [img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s2_250935.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s3_250573.jpg]S3: 57 sec [img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s3_250573.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] Code: [b]SCAN #2 - 250 bars - Daily candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 1 min, 27 sec S2: 1 min, 4 sec S3: 42 sec Code: [b]SCAN #3 - 500 bars - 5min candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 3 min, 34 sec S2: 2 min, 12 sec S3: 1 min, 24 sec Code: [b]SCAN #4 - 500 bars - Daily candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 3 min, 26 sec S2: 1 min, 47 sec [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s3_500123.jpg]S3: 1 min, 7 sec [img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s3_500123.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] Code: [b]SCAN #5 - 1000 bars - 5min candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 7 min, 13 sec S2: 5 min, 3 sec S3: 2 min, 17 sec Code: [b]SCAN #6 - 1000 bars - Daily candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 4 min, 23 sec S2: 3 min, 4 sec S3: 1 min, 54 sec Code: [b]SCAN #7 - 2000 bars - Daily candles - S&P 500 watchlist[/b] S1: 10 min, 5 sec S2: 7 min, 12 sec S3: 3 min, 23 sec Note that Daily bars are taking less time to scan than Intraday bars. Now what would we see if a 1,000 symbol watchlist was used instead (2X as many symbols than before)? Code: [b]SCAN #8 - 2000 bars - Daily candles - Russel 1,000 watchlist[/b] S1: BSOD - computer crashed S2: 5 min, 25 sec [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s2_2kd01128.jpg][img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s2_2kd01128.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] < start end > [url=http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09051&f=s2_2000_daily02127.jpg][img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09051/s2_2000_daily02127.jpg.xs.jpg[/img][/url] S3: 3 min, 21 sec And at this point it is getting late and I need sleep, to be continued... _mad