Optimizing postgresql table for more than 100K inserts per second

Create UNLOGGED table. This reduces the amount of data written to persistent storage by up to 2x.
Set WITH (autovacuum_enabled=false) on the table. This saves CPU time and IO bandwidth on useless vacuuming of the table (since we never DELETE or UPDATE the table).
Insert rows with COPY FROM STDIN. This is the fastest possible approach to insert rows into table.
Minimize the number of indexes in the table, since they slow down inserts. Usually an index on time timestamp with time zone is enough.
Add synchronous_commit = off to postgresql.conf.
Use table inheritance for fast removal of old data:

CREATE TABLE parent ... ;
CREATE TABLE child_1() INHERITS (parent);
CREATE TABLE child_2() INHERITS (parent);

-- always INSERT rows into child_1.
-- SELECT from parent.

-- periodically run the follwing sql for rotating child_1 with child_2:
TRUNCATE TABLE child_2;
BEGIN;
ALTER TABLE child_1 RENAME TO child_tmp;
ALTER TABLE child_2 RENAME TO child_1;
ALTER TABLE child_tmp RENAME TO child_2;
COMMIT;

This is much faster comparing to

DELETE FROM parent WHERE time < now() - interval 'given period'

This also avoids table fragmentation, so SELECT queries work faster on the table.

yakjuly/README.md

Optimizing postgresql table for more than 100K inserts per second