Type of hardware for NT8

[vlc]

I'm thinking of buying a new trading PC to run NinjaTrader on. Are there any guidelines on what type of config would likely work best with NT8 ? e.g. a high-spec games optimised machine or a high-spec general purpose machine? Fast graphics? SSD ? Many CPU cores or faster CPU clock-speed?

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Thanks for the post vlc, any high spec / state of the art machine should do very well. NT8 will be able to take advantage of multicore setups throughout the whole application, so both # of cores and core speed will matter. A SSD and 16 GB of quick RAM are a nice supplement for sure and should be standard in higher spec'ed setups anyway.

[vlc]

OK. So HDD IO, RAM and multi-core CPU are important.
In principle is the new NT8 suited to a gaming PC ? i.e. can 3D acceleration be a factor at all?
Can it take advantage of say a GTX 750 Ti graphics card ?

[NinjaTrader_CodyB]

Hello,
Yes, there are some similarities between a gaming PC and what could be used with NinjaTrader 8. The only part that would use 3D acceleration potentially is the 3D Optimization Charts.
NinjaTrader 8 will use a graphics card for rendering and will use Direct X. An Nvidia GTX 750Ti would be able to be used for these purposes.
For more information on the major enhancements NinjaTrader 8 will bring please see the following link, http://www.ninjatrader.com/downloads...njaTrader8.pdf

[vlc]

OK. So 2D performance is very important. I want to get this right. My current set-up, at market open and close sometimes takes several minutes to catch up with the market and pauses for a couple seconds a few times in the rest of the day ( CPU and HDD I/O constrained ?) . I can probably improve my current machine performance, but it's about five years old now, so might as well get a new, especially since NT8 is even more resource intensive.

[NinjaTrader_CodyB]

Hello,
In regards to your current PC.
How many charts do you have running?

How many workspaces do have running? Including ones that are running in the background.

How many indicators do you have added?

Do your indicators have CalculateOnBarClose set to "True?"

Do your indicators have maximum bars look back set to "TwoHundredFiftySix?"

What interval and how many days are you loading on each chart?

I look forward to your reply.

[sledge]

And is your machine wireless or wired to your router?

[vlc]

My connection is both wired and wireless, with a 4G backup. The normal connection is about 57Mbps download. The 4G connection is about half that. I don't think it is the broadband connection because, the PC load spikes, rather than sitting idle waiting for data.

[vlc]

How many charts do you have running?
Normally have three or four charts open, almost always on just ES ( but different timeframes and two session templates). I start about 3 hours before the day session so I load Globex before open and keep it for a couple hours during the day session, then ( because I can't collapse bars I no longer care about, but still want to see the prior day session) I re-load using the day session template. But generally keep Globex on my highest timeframe chart. Plus Market analyser on same ES, many timeframes.

How many workspaces do have running? Including ones that are running in the background.
Two. Default with no windows and the main active one.

How many indicators do you have added?
Too many. I'm still on training wheels and experimenting. There are a couple of them that are heavy, but all are set to calculate on bar close only.

Do your indicators have CalculateOnBarClose set to "True?"
Yes. All of them.

Do your indicators have maximum bars look back set to "TwoHundredFiftySix?"
Four were set to Infinite. I've just changed them to TwoHundredFiftySix.

What interval and how many days are you loading on each chart?
I load 500 bars on each, but would prefer to load more (by date range) so that trend-lines render correctly on all charts; however that makes loading 5min chart too slow for me, so I just load 500bars. One data series on each chart: 5min, plus usually 2min, 60min, 240min. But I also have a few indicators that e.g. show a 60min EMA on the 5min chart and 5min EMA on 60min chart. The market analyser has one indicator running on 14 time frames, but only one row, with 255 lookback and calculate on bar close only.

[NinjaTrader_CodyB]

Hello,
This is most likely due to the number of indicators running. The multi threading should help with this with NinjaTrader 8. To get the most performance out of NinjaTrader 7 I would recommend removing any indicators that you do not need.
I also recommend to review our performance tips. Click here to view the NinjaTrader performance tips

[vlc]

OK, thanks. I assume those guideline apply equally to NT8.

By the way, in NT8 will it be possible to apply processing priorities to different indicators? e.g. high, normal, low.

[NinjaTrader_CodyB]

Hello,
There is not an option to assign processing priority in NinjaTrader 8.
I will send this suggestion to our development team as a feature request for consideration for implementation.

[vlc]

It just happened again... news release. I'm typing away and my PC is still trying to figure out what hit it.

[NinjaTrader_CodyB]

Hello,
Please take the following steps to force NinjaTrader to start without your saved workspace
* Shut down NinjaTrader
* Navigate to (My) Documents\NinjaTrader 7\workspaces
* Delete the file named "_Workspaces.XML".
* After deleting this file, restart NinjaTrader which should startup without any workspaces.
* Once NinjaTrader has started on just the control center, please open a new chart and test for issue.

If no issues on this new workspace, please try opening the previous workspace by going to File--> Workspaces--> Open workspace.

If this reintroduces issues, I would suggest rebuilding your workspace.

[vlc]

OK, I missed the open today, but will run it without opening any workspace today and tomorrow; then report back.