VPS CPU Speed

[randn123]

The VPS CPU speed seems very slow. I benchmarked the cpu of my VPS and got that it was 1/4 as fast as a Intel Core Duo 8400 which is a processor launched in 2008. What is the CPU performance so low?

[Euler]

Some of it depends on what you are trying to benchmark. But all VPS's can't really be considered desktop machines, they were not built for that. Desktops often have dedicated GPU's which will radically change benchmarking performance.

[randn123]

THE GPU is unrelated the CPU test I ran. The VPS has much lower performance then a lot of VPS's. Plus if you are running your own trading software on the VPS, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have such an underpowered VPS.

[Euler]

Guess it depends what you are trying to do. We have higher spec ones planned shortly but, obviously, they will be more expensive.

You can spec up a vps to whatever standard you wish, but the sky is the limit in terms of cost on that front. Again it depends on exactly what you are looking for.

I run lots of automated stuff on SS and don't' experience any problems, but I understand that wont completely suit everybody's needs.

[randn123]

When are they getting dedicated servers?

[Euler]

We can do them now, but it requires a manual set up at the moment. They are higher spec and more raw grunt power if you need it.

[PeterLe]

A couple of years ago, I tested a Dedicated v Virtual (the dedicated being more expensive)..and the virtual was faster to betfair..
by all means; test it yourself, but would be interested if you would post your results/findings..
Thanks
Regards
Peter

[randn123]

I will post some benchmarks later. I think the disk write and read speed might lag a lot sometimes.

[xitian]

I can vouch for the fact that disk speed can make a huge difference to the experience of using a remote server. I've found that a VPS backed by an SSD is far more responsive than a dedicated server on a magnetic disk.

Whether this translates into much of a performance difference when running things like automated betting programs or BetAngel is another question though.

I'd say your latency to the exchange is more important, unless you're running highly CPU intensive or disk r/w intensive tasks.

[randn123]

I don't need to write to disk, it's just that I'm doing it for log purposes. It would take over 200 milliseconds to open a small file and write it sometimes.

[xitian]

Yeah, it shouldn't take 200ms, although opening the file initially will take longer than writing to it subsequently. You should try retaining a handle to the file and see if it continues to take that long with subsequent writes.

You can also try writing to the logs asynchronously so that your program doesn't block while that's happening and can get on with other stuff.

If writing does prove to be constantly slow, I would definitely recommend getting a VPS backed by SSD.

[randn123]

I benchmarked my vps hard drive using hdtune software and compared it to my home computer with a standard hard drive.

VPS Hard Drive

Transfer Rate:
Minimum: .1 MB/sec
Maximum: 62.8 MB/sec
Mean: 19.9 MB/sec

Access Time 87.6 Milliseconds
Burst Rate 33.2 MB/second

My standard home hdd drive:

Transfer Rate:
Minimum: 35.8 MB/sec
Maximum: 141.1 MB/sec
Mean: 108.3 MB/sec

Access Time 17.0 Milliseconds
Burst Rate 125.9 MB/second

[randn123]

betfair listmarketbook api response times:

average 133 milliseconds
minimum 22 milliseconds
maximum 3519 milliseconds

[Euler]

I was going to get somebody to contact you through sporting servers, but your details here don't match anything over there?

[randn123]

I was going to get somebody to contact you through sporting servers, but your details here don't match anything over there?

Thanks for following up with me. I am going to try to improve my program first and do some more benchmarks before getting a dedicated server.