Computer speed. (should I buy a new pc!?)

by **rogerpalmtree** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:03 pm

Hello all. I spend most of my time on bet angel either backing or laying the entire field, when a margin of half a percent or more is being offered by other users. This stratergy requires the bets to be placed very quickly, (within half a second or preferably quiker) to make any long term profit. I'm just wondering if investing in a new pc would be worthwhile. My current response times are generally between 50 and 100 milliseconds, and then it takes another fraction of a second until the bets are actually in the market. This delay varies, but I'd say it usually around a quartar of a second. Is this delay always going to exist (ie is it just down to internet connection speeds and the betfair severs), or could this delay be reduced to virtually nothing with a more powerful system. I currently have 2gb ram and a core2duo proccessor. I also use a non api mode. If anyone could let me know whether a faster computer would reduce this delay that would be much appreciated.

by **JollyGreen** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:08 am

Hi Roger

Who is your internet provider? Those response times seem pretty good to me.

As for the PC, a C2D and 2Gb of RAM should be more than enough to run Bet Angel. Only question I would have is about your graphics card, what is the specification of that?

JG

by **rogerpalmtree** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:25 pm

Hi JG

not really sure about my graphics card, (my knowledge of computers is pretty poor and I can't find the manual). Also don't no my service provider as I'm in student accommodation and it comes with the place.

But it's not really the response times that are the issue, (although at times they can slow a little), its more the time it takes for bets to actually reach the market after I here that "beep." don't no if this is Betfair related and will always happen regardless, or whether it's my computer. But presumebly the faster the computer the smaller the delay??? Or am I wrong and does computer speed stop mattering after a point??? Any other comments would be great

Roger

by **andyfuller** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:49 pm

Got to: http://www.speedtest.net/ and run the speed test and post the link to the result or the image itself. Will show your connection speed, ping and ISP

by **rogerpalmtree** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:21 pm

ok. download was 1.82 mb/s, upload was 0.34 mb/s, ping was 22 ms. My sever is in Maidenhead, (150miles away) and my ISP is Torch communications Ltd.

by **andyfuller** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:58 pm

Your response times sound pretty good to me. Can't see you shaving too much time off them. Perhaps work on speeding up your own reactions.

by **jimrobo** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:08 pm

Personally I think 1.82 is pretty slow. It depends on what type of trading you are doing though

by **andyfuller** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:36 pm

The response times are 50ms to 100ms which I think is good. Anything near 50ms is excellent imo.

by **TheRiddler** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:48 pm

personally I don't believe a super fast (expensive) computer would pay dividends. Your best bet is to find/upgrade to as fast a broadband speed as possible.
And if your already at that point then maybe improving the efficiency of your present computer would do no harm. Is there a better way of firing your stakes into the system eg through software etc
?
That's how I would approach this before shelling out. Unless of course a faster computer would benefit you in other ways unrelated to this topic?

by **jimrobo** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:54 pm

andyfuller wrote:The response times are 50ms to 100ms which I think is good. Anything near 50ms is excellent imo.

Fast internet is crucial IMO unless you are an excellent trader. 100 is putting you at a disadvantage straight away.

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