Nt8 lagging

[Southpaw]

I recently upgraded to from NT7 to NT8. Along this path of migration I went from free license to full lifetime. My laptop is a bit dated. However I believe my hardware is plenty to handle this platform. Ive got an ASUS G75VW purchased from Xoticpc.
CPU: i7 2.5GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 660M 2,048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
This was purchased in 2012 - and is a high powered gaming pc.
Why a gaming pc for trading? Simple - processing power.
Support seems to acknowledge NT8's performance issue.

Issues details:
1) Chart lagging; crosshairs, chart dragging from 1 monitor to another, etc..
2) Msg diplays: Entering orders, getting the confirmation pop up takes like 1-2 minutes.
3) Getting the Indicator Properties to display - same as above if not more.

I have followed all of supports suggestions provided. All of them. Still, zero improvement.
I do have 8-12 workspaces open at any time. These are my mkts i trade. So closing them until I want to view them is entirely not an option - I day trade - so opening a closed workspace is something you might as well forget about if you plan on a trade any time in the next several minutes as this function locks up the whole platform and you cannot do anything until this newly opened workspace is opened. I keep nothing but my email open in the background and am not wireless.
All I can say is that when Market Delta was around, I had their platform w a plethora of spaces/ charts opened all the time and alot of these charts - like the volume imbalance for example - were some seriously data / resource intensive applications that never once lagged.
I love NT and am not going to use another platform - however it would be nice to know what is being done and what - in the meantime - can be done to improve this platform to the level of a professional, enterprise level application. Even if I have to buy a new laptop I would not be opposed to that - but NT support cant offer that as being a solution. So Im not going to spend 4k on a sick system maxed out in terms of hardware w/out a guarantee I would see an improvement.

So if anyone reading this has a configuration that is smooth like a trading platform should be then please reply w what you have.

NT Support- if you have any updates to what the brand is doing to take this platform to the level it should w regards to my info here, well, that would be great to hear about.
Thanks to all who took the time to read this - I know its lengthy but I know I am not the only one who has this lack of performance issue.
Cheers,
Chris

[sledge]

Even if I have to buy a new laptop I would not be opposed to that - but NT support cant offer that as being a solution. So Im not going to spend 4k on a sick system maxed out in terms of hardware w/out a guarantee I would see an improvement.

So if anyone reading this has a configuration that is smooth like a trading platform should be then please reply w what you have.

1 workspace.
Any more than that - good luck. You gotta close the previous one.

[NinjaTrader_JoshG]

Hello,

Thank you for your post.

The best way to ensure that your extra workspaces do not use PC resources, is to keep any workspace other than the current active workspace closed.

You can keep as many separate workspaces as you want, if they are not open they will not use your PC resources. Simply enough if you hover over any active workspace (displayed in green) and click the Close button you will be able to save a lot of processing power.

I would advise that you see the following PC performance connection guide for more information on the CPU intensive items.

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/en-us/?performance_tips.htm

I have provided below all the CPU intensive items that I would highly recommend looking at when building your workspace.

-We always recommend restarting or shutting down your PC at least once a day. If you have not done so today, please troubleshoot by doing so now.

-Running multiple applications while NinjaTrader is running has been known to affect NinjaTrader's performance. Please limit the number of running applications on your PC to troubleshoot. Web browsers have been specifically known to consume a lot of resources.

-Limiting a number of workspaces that you have running. You may check this by navigating to the Control Center > Workspaces. Any workspaces with overlapping boxes to the left of the workspace name is an open and running workspace. To close a workspace hover your mouse over the workspace you would like to close and click close.

-Having a minimum Days to load on your charts will be less intensive. This setting can be found by right-clicking on your charts and selecting Data Series.

-The indicator option Calculate set to On each tick or On price change is known to be a more CPU intensive settings. Setting it to On bar close is less intensive. You may find this setting by right-clicking on your chart and selecting Indicators. Once the Indicators window appears, the setting will be located to the right-hand side of the window.

-Large databases have been known to slow down NinjaTrader. If the above doesn't work, what size is your database? You may check this by navigating to the Documents > NinjaTrader 8 > db folder. Next, right-click on the file called NinjaTrader.sdf and select Properties. The size of the database will be in the General tab.

-Also, if you are running a custom or 3rd party indicator or strategy, remove them to isolate if these custom NinjaScript objects may be a CPU or memory drain.

Please let us know if we may assist you further.

[AndyM]

The graphical quirks, crosshair etc can be fixed as follows.

1. bring up NVIDIA control panel
2. select manage 3D settings
3. select program settings
4. select program to customise, Ninjatrader 8 64bit
5. select preferred graphics card, high performance NVIDIA processor.

Do the same for global settings, and then you should be good to go. Crosshair etc much smoother.

[Tasuki]

Sledge (as usual) hit the nail on the head. One workspace at a time, otherwise, lotsa luck. I've complained to NT about this frequently. The real problem is that NT is not designed for daytraders like us. When I had Tradestation, I'd have a dozen workspaces open at a time, zero lag. NT is a nice, clean platform, but I'm still using the free version precisely because they haven't fixed the lag problem. Not being a programmer, I can only surmise that NT's code is written "clunkily", to coin a term.
Tasuki
p.s. Josh has some good suggestions, and I've tried them all, but with only minimal improvement. There's something more fundamentally wrong with NT's coding, or that's what it appears to be when comparing it to other trading vehicles like Tradestation (or like the one you mentioned, Market Delta).

[Southpaw]

Its a shame NT cant performance tune their code. I love the platform and am a day trader.
It is absolutely not an option to only trade using 1 workspace. Opening the closed ones takes a lot of time. To suggest keeping all but 1 workspace closed is like telling a football team to only play the quarterback. Ive tried all suggestions from support. I do not use a plethora of indicators. I use PFAZoneSuite and eMiniWatch's package and bookmap. Everything is set to TRUE for Calc on Bar Close. I shut down all other apps. My sys RAM usage is around 45% so i have plenty of reserve in my opinion. CPU usage is nominal as well. Im used to the performance. Just thought migrating to NT8 after postponing it for over a year that I would be pleasantly surprised.

[Tasuki]

Southpaw,
Well, of course they *could* performance-tune their code, but it would have to be a priority because it would be a whole lot of work, and if they won't bother unless alot of traders complain and say they won't buy the program unless/until NT *does* the necessary programming to fix their performance issues. This is pretty much why I keep harping on the subject, because I really like the general layout of Ninjatrader, but this one sticking issue of performance lags keeps me mostly on the sidelines.
One thing that would *really* help is if they hired programmers who are also traders (hint, hint).
Tasuki

[RandomTask]

After months off from NT8 due to this exact problem I see it is still not fixed. Cursor jumps around while trying to modify Chart Trader orders. Completely unsatisfactory.

[Southpaw]

I couldnt agree w you more - totally unacceptable. I cant imagine this platform demanding more GPU and CPU resources than the most sophisticated 3D game on the market - none of these type of graphic intensive programs lag if you have the hardware to render it. Im not a gamer so i cant toss a name out. Point being, it sucks NT doesnt have the talent to performance tune the code. After all, its only our MONEY on the line when using this platform if you trade live. I had a situation today matter of fact, had a SIM trade on NQ and a LIVE trade on ES. I moved my last target for the NQ SIM trade so that I would take profit and be out. Soon as my order filled - NT locked the F up. Message displayed something about NT stopped working. My only option? To click the Close Program button. WTF i thought. Had to make a 911 call to NT Brokerage and have my LIVE ES trade flattened. Just deflating when you pay a G for full lifetime license of ---- worry. Because this **** is sad that NT8 been out for years and still suffering this issue. If I was running application support / development; ALL defects non performance related are put on hold until NT8 performance is dialed in. Because its all fun and games until your money is jacked from a lack of functionality on the platform part. :mad

[RandomTask]

I have clients asking for NT8 versions of my indicators and I have been stonewalling them for months waiting for NT8 to reach a level of maturity where I felt comfortable recommending it. I'm beginning to wonder if that will ever happen given the length of time 8 has been under development and the core performance problem has not been resolved.

[RandomTask]

Here's a side by side example of the problem with NT8. I have an NT7 and NT8 chart with nothing but a moving average. There are no other windows open on either platform's workspace. When you grab a chart trader order in NT7 the order moves instantaneously with the cursor position. In NT8 the lag is proportional to the size of the window. Make the NT8 window large and the order lags the cursor position considerably. Add in fast market conditions and it becomes unusable. Here is the demo video:

https://www.screencast.com/t/DEtucUPi9Q5o

[RandomTask]

After more troubleshooting, the cursor lag is definitely a function of window size. Open a small window and the lag is imperceptible. It feels almost as snappy as NT7. As you increase the size of the window the lag gets worse and worse.

[lavalampmj]

I see the same behavior. Smaller window = less lag. Not surprising really. The current performance (specifically local crosshair lag) makes this one issue a show stopper for 8.0 for me.

[Tasuki]

Everybody, please re-read AndyM's post from 9/18. Does his advice work on your computers?
Tasuki

[sledge]

The graphical quirks, crosshair etc can be fixed as follows.

1. bring up NVIDIA control panel
2. select manage 3D settings
3. select program settings
4. select program to customise, Ninjatrader 8 64bit
5. select preferred graphics card, high performance NVIDIA processor.

Do the same for global settings, and then you should be good to go. Crosshair etc much smoother.

Someone posted previously about other individual settings to change inside here. I didn't have much luck or notice any difference. Searching on nvidia control panel might be a start in the nt8 beta archived section.