Data jam

[aleitloff]

Hallo to all,

I use the activeX Api and when ex. the market gets very aktiv I got a data jam which could delay the data up to a minute, I believe the problem is with my workstation.

So I wan´t to buy a better one, what would you suggest I need for a processor size and how much RAM so I could eliminate this problem. Do I have to consider anything els??.

Thanks in advance,

Anneliese.

[GenSpoo]

The first thing I would want to do is to see how much of my current RAM and CPU are being utilized under the most stressful conditions in which I operate. Open up your task manager and see if you are using all your RAM (or more via the page file). If you are, that would be the first thing to upgrade as adding a faster CPU will have limited results if you are constantly hitting the page file. If you have enough RAM, what is the CPU usage like? Constantly at the very top usage-wise? If so, that would be a potential upgrade. If neither RAM or CPU are being taxed to their limits, what is your network connection like? Dial-up, cable, DSL?

Cheers... George

[aleitloff]

To George

Hallo George,

I use DSL, 2MB. You are right my CPU is used 100% when there is action (I have 256MB RAM). What do you think I need now?

Thanks,
Annelise

[GenSpoo]

Is the CPU sticking to 100% or just bouncing off it occassionally? Also, did you check on your RAM usage? 256MB does sound a bit on the low-side these days. I'd consider 512MB as a minimum myself, but the real gauge will be to see what you are actually using.

Cheers... George

[Cone Killer]

I'm new to the API but have some experience with general programming. It seems strange to me that mere data would fully utilize your CPU -- 1Gig x16bits is about 1 Billion characters per second. I suspect that it's your data processing that is burning your clock cycles -- redrawing graphics and stuff like that. You may want to check your data processing loops.

Also, I agree with George that memory could be the issue. If your computer is swapping data (including large code modules) in and out of the hard drive (to simulate a larger computer) with every data acquisition, that could be your entire problem.

Also, if you are testing in the development environment rather than with compiled code, the development environment can add a lot of computational overhead.

Best of luck.

[jimcole23]

I've found that if I have a few (e.g., 5) quotes streaming, and I try and redraw the ListView containing their data on every quote, my CPU gets pegged, and I start falling behind processing events from eSignal. I've changed my code to update the entire ListView every 10 seconds via a timer. My CPU usage is now usually way under 100%, and I'm keeping up with the ActiveX events.

Note that my app is written in C#, and the .NET managed ListView is completely lame if you turn on the custom drawing flag. It's very, very slow, and it flickers like crazy, so I'm sure it's contributing to the problem I was having. I'm going to convert my UI to use .NET components from Infragistics so I can avoid using the .NET ListView.

I would also suggest that you mght want to get more RAM. 256MB isn't very much these days, especially if you're running Windows XP.