[K-Ro]

Hi

What is the best computer for doing back tests in MT4?

What is the best CPU for doing back tests?

What is the best motherboard for doing back tests?

And what is the best hard drive for doing back tests?

Thank you all!

[ForexThinktank]

I was gonna ask the same thing. What's the best configuration to run backtests, is ram more important for back testing or is your CPU more important for back testing?

[henryduncan12]

There nothing required the best that you asked in your question like CPU etc. The most important is accurate "trading data" for backtesting.

[ForexThinktank]

There nothing required the best that you asked in your question like CPU etc. The most important is accurate "trading data" for backtesting.

Yea but when you're running an optimization on a Pentium 4 or an Intel Xeon, you may be cutting down the time it takes by half.

[henryduncan12]

Yea but when you're running an optimization on a Pentium 4 or an Intel Xeon, you may be cutting down the time it takes by half.

Backtesting is done to know the effectiveness of used strategies, software, tools etc. with help of total profit and lose. You should use same PC that is using for Trading.

[Mike]

I'm inclined to agree with HenryDuncan.

I've have a quite a few machines running many tests on many different things and use only 2 of them to actually make trades. But what's interesting is the fact that one of the machines is an Amd Athlon II X4 640 (quad core) and the other is an AMD Phenom Dual Core.

The quad core is 3.0ghz and the Dual Core is 3.2ghz.
The quad core has 4gb of ram and the Dual Core has 8gb of ram.

Running the same exact test on the same exact bot over a 5 year period, the slower CPU finished in 32 minutes and the faster CPU finished in 3 hours!

And I forgot to mention the faster machine has a solid state drive.

It kind of shocked me that the slower computer ran the test faster. I sort of figured that it may be because background system processes use up part of the available cores, so if you have a quad core these processes are spread out and free up some computing power, explaining why a "slower" quad core ran the test in half the time the "faster" dual core ran it.

MT4 is designed to use only 1 Core, or rather it does not make use of multiple cores, so you can run multiple MT4's per machine and make sure you set the affinity for each terminal to be on it's own core. I ran a test with that purpose to see if it would affect the speed of both tests, and the result for running two terminals on the AMD Athlon Quad Core 3.0ghz at once was 33:30, literally one minute more than running the test with one terminal.

To satisfy my own curiosity I plan on running some controlled benchmarks with my other machines too. I have a brand new 3770k Core I7 3.5ghz machine with 8gb of ram that I specifically bought to test out bots "quicker" but I might prove to myself the purchase on such a fast machine may have been pointless. We shall see, I'll keep you updated on my results.

[Mike]

Quick Update, I just finished running two sets of tests on the Core I7 3.5ghz machine and I was impressed with it's speed in testing one bot first, finishing in under 18 minutes.

But when I ran two MT4's on two of the 8 cores of this machine, it increased the time to complete to 29 minutes, a nearly 60 percent increase in time to complete both tests at once.

Running the same exact test with two terminals on a much older AMD Athlon 2 x4 640 3.00ghz machine it took 33 minutes, only a 4 minute difference.

[Mike]

I knew there was something "up" with the very long 3 hour test on a 3.2ghz CPU. So I unhooked my Solid State Drive and switched back to my good old 7200RPM 320gb sata drive, and ran the same exact test, and low and behold, it only took 31 Minuteswhich was very much in line with being "between" the 3.0ghz and 3.5ghz machines' times.

And my new machine with the Intel core i7 3.5ghz processor is using a Solid State Drive as well. So, I am perplexed as to why that test was the fastest (18minutes) and using a solid state drive on my older machine was abnormally slow, 3 Hours to run a 5 year test on the same exact bot with the same exact parameters.

This may be because I am using an older motherboard without SATA III on the AMD 3.2ghz machine in conjunction with this 6gb solid state drive. I've read that using a SSD on a 3gb SATA 2 connection wouldn't really be beneficial to you, but to make the test lag an extra 2 1/2 hours, a nearly 500% increase in time to complete is astounding. My new machine with the Core i7 has the newer SATA III connection so it is getting the true 6gb transfer speeds.

It makes me conclude Solid State Drives are simply useless without a SATA 3 capable motherboard and perhaps even slows down your computer unless someone can prove otherwise.

One thing I am ignoring to mention is RAM SPEED - but again, the same ram was being used on the 3.2ghz machine both with and without the solid state drive.

[MemioFX]

It makes me conclude Solid State Drives are simply useless without a SATA 3 capable motherboard and perhaps even slows down your computer unless someone can prove otherwise.

One thing I am ignoring to mention is RAM SPEED - but again, the same ram was being used on the 3.2ghz machine both with and without the solid state drive.

The reason is that your SSD will be bottlenecked by the SATA channel and will only give you SATA I or SATA II speed.

It's a total waste if you buy a SATA III and run it at SATA II bandwidth.

[IIO]

The reason is that your SSD will be bottlenecked by the SATA channel and will only give you SATA I or SATA II speed.

It's a total waste if you buy a SATA III and run it at SATA II bandwidth.

you actually just saved me about $150 bux, I was about to buy a solid state drive just for general use, but without a new motherboard and cpu I guess it's pointless.

[DickP]

One thing I am ignoring to mention is RAM SPEED - but again, the same ram was being used on the 3.2ghz machine both with and without the solid state drive.

RAM Speed is pretty important in gaming, the only way to test it out in back testing would be to buy two different speeds of ram and test them one at a time in the same PC.

[trade_forx]

Why's it matter what computer you use for back testing? Doesn't it usually take 1000 hours, whats 1000 hours for backtesting vs 900 hours with a $2000 machine.

[tean]

I use Forex tester because its pretty good and i really like it. It's powerful it gives you plenty of pairs, it builds confidence as well as gives you reliable data to at least step foot into the demo or live arena.

[nolube]

I'm inclined to agree with HenryDuncan.

I've have a quite a few machines running many tests on many different things and use only 2 of them to actually make trades. But what's interesting is the fact that one of the machines is an Amd Athlon II X4 640 (quad core) and the other is an AMD Phenom Dual Core.

The quad core is 3.0ghz and the Dual Core is 3.2ghz.
The quad core has 4gb of ram and the Dual Core has 8gb of ram.

Running the same exact test on the same exact bot over a 5 year period, the slower CPU finished in 32 minutes and the faster CPU finished in 3 hours!

And I forgot to mention the faster machine has a solid state drive.

It kind of shocked me that the slower computer ran the test faster. I sort of figured that it may be because background system processes use up part of the available cores, so if you have a quad core these processes are spread out and free up some computing power, explaining why a "slower" quad core ran the test in half the time the "faster" dual core ran it.

MT4 is designed to use only 1 Core, or rather it does not make use of multiple cores, so you can run multiple MT4's per machine and make sure you set the affinity for each terminal to be on it's own core. I ran a test with that purpose to see if it would affect the speed of both tests, and the result for running two terminals on the AMD Athlon Quad Core 3.0ghz at once was 33:30, literally one minute more than running the test with one terminal.

To satisfy my own curiosity I plan on running some controlled benchmarks with my other machines too. I have a brand new 3770k Core I7 3.5ghz machine with 8gb of ram that I specifically bought to test out bots "quicker" but I might prove to myself the purchase on such a fast machine may have been pointless. We shall see, I'll keep you updated on my results.

Hi Mike, you seem to have some valuable knowledge overlap of computers and MT4 requirements for quick(er) back testing! If cash wasn't an issue, what components would you recommend for a designated PC for back testing in MT4? Look forward to your reply!

Thanks
nolube

[Arief Makmur]

Hi

What is the best computer for doing back tests in MT4?

What is the best CPU for doing back tests?

What is the best motherboard for doing back tests?

And what is the best hard drive for doing back tests?

Thank you all!

For the Best you can use an Ivy-bridge Intel Core i 7, with the Motherboard ASUS and the HD Seagatte