Questions tagged [performance]
For questions concerning computer, or computer-related, performance. Please include metrics in your questions.
4,420
questions
22
votes
7
answers
58k
views
Is there an optimal setting for the number of CPU cores exposed to a VM?
VirtualBox, and possibly other VM software, allows the user to specify the number of CPUs exposed to the VM. In my particular case, I have a dual core CPU, with Windows 7 64-bit running natively, and ...
22
votes
5
answers
29k
views
NTFS compression on SSD - ups and downs
This topic discusses NTFS compression on HDDs as a method of improving disk access performance, and concludes that it's poor at that more often than not. But I have always viewed compression as a way ...
22
votes
6
answers
60k
views
What regulates Intel SpeedStep CPU throttling? Can I get some control of this on Windows7?
I’m trying to get a big virtual disk file compressed (using WinRar) before I go home today, but my CPU frequency keeps merrily going up and down between the nominal 2.8 GHz and a measly 800 MHz!
The ...
22
votes
3
answers
86k
views
Logical vs. Physical CPU performance
A computer has 2 physical cores, and 4 logical cores (For example, a computer with an i5-3210M processor).
When a program A runs, htop shows that it uses 100% of 1 core, and other 3 cores are nearly ...
22
votes
4
answers
175k
views
Should I use n only, b only, bg, bgn, or gn?
I have a choice between n only, b only, bg, bgn, and gn on my 2.4 GHz wifi and I would like to know which one would be the fastest for me.
21
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Is defragging relevant to improving disk performance anymore?
Does it stil make much difference, now that we have much faster and larger HDDs? Generally I find if disk performance is getting too slow, it's probably because of too little free space, and the ...
21
votes
3
answers
51k
views
What is the performance difference of a Virtual Machine vs the Physical host?
Where I work we are running relatively powerful PCs using the Debian Linux Distribution. However for certain programs which we need to install it would be better to have CentOS and these would be our ...
20
votes
5
answers
25k
views
Super slow opening my downloads folder
I have an exe file in my download folder that I half downloaded through utorrent (it's not piracy, a legit file from people who use bittorrent to distribute large files). I think I tried to open it ...
20
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What to do with a ton of extra memory?
I have 8gigs of RAM in this machine. I never really use more than say 4gigs (includes my virtual machines I use for dev testing).
What can I do with this extra space to best improve system ...
20
votes
3
answers
60k
views
Should I split VMware virtual disk into multiple files or not?
I'm using VMware Workstation 12 to create Win7 virtual machine that I can use it on Linux for programs like Photoshop and After Effects.
VMware is asking for this option to split virtual machine ...
20
votes
5
answers
62k
views
Optimal RAM configuration: one large DIMM vs multiple smaller DIMMS?
I have always been told there were performance advantages in using multiple smaller DIMMS vs a single larger DIMM (as the combined bandwidth of all the motherboard's RAM slots would be used).
My boss ...
20
votes
6
answers
6k
views
How do I conduct a performance test of my internet connection?
Right now I'm in the process of possibly switching from a Cable provider to a DSL provider. I have both connections live, and before I cancel one or the other, I'm wanting to do some exhaustive ...
20
votes
4
answers
18k
views
Does changing Windows XP theme to classic enhance performance?
A lot of my colleagues and friends who are still using Windows XP use the Windows Classic theme (i.e. the Win98-like theme, unlike the XP theme). Some of them just like it, but some others say that ...
19
votes
6
answers
44k
views
Does low disk space affect SSD performance?
I was wondering if having less than 5-10GB of free space on an SSD would affect performance. Is it specific to SSD or is it more of an operating system aspect?
For example, on an Intel X-25 G2 that ...
19
votes
1
answer
22k
views
Sequential vs Random I/O on SSDs?
I believe I understand the difference between sequential and random I/O on HDD's, and that sequential I/O is much faster.
My question, this article states that:
there is no physical concept of ...
19
votes
4
answers
27k
views
How to control RAM / swap usage
Is there a way (application) to control RAM / swap usage policy at application level.
I have some applications that I use all the time and I want them to stay in RAM all the time and there are also ...
19
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Can I "hibernate" a program?
Yes, I know that hibernate usually applies to a computer. (Hibernate her meaning saving program memory in disk and being able to restore it in a consistent manner.)
However, hibernating a program ...
18
votes
3
answers
42k
views
Why is my UDP so slow?
I'm using Iperf on two VMs and when using TCP I find the performance is as follows:
notroot@ubuntu:~$ iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on ...
18
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Why is distributing random pieces of a file faster than a contiguous transfer?
Why is it said that BitTorrent is faster, partly, because it transfers random pieces of a file instead of transferring it from start to finish in a contiguous/linear fashion?
EDIT: But why do they ...
18
votes
1
answer
26k
views
How can I analyze performance issues before/during the logon process?
How can I analyze a performance issue that happens before or during the logon process?
18
votes
3
answers
151k
views
Is 60 to 100 hard faults per second normal?
When I monitor my computer's memory usage in Resource Manager, I see that I constantly get between 60 and 100 hard faults.
Is this normal?
Or is that hard fault graph ideally supposed to be flat at ...
18
votes
3
answers
23k
views
Why is gzip slow despite CPU and hard drive performance not being maxed out?
I have some JSON files, 20 GB each, that I want to compress with gzip:
gzip file1.json
This takes up one full CPU core, all fine.
It processes around 25 MB/s (checked in atop), my hard drive can ...
18
votes
9
answers
119k
views
Why do I only get 300-400 Mbit/s on my 1000 Mbit/s network?
My setup is like this:
Laptop <--> Router <--> Desktop
They all support gigabit Ethernet. I'm using the 'iperf' TCP/IP benchmark on the laptop and desktop, and I've never gotten more than 400 ...
18
votes
2
answers
20k
views
Google Chrome is slow to localhost
For some reason Google Chrome is slow when I'm working against localhost. I had the same problem in Firefox 3.5 but I changed some IPv6 setting in about:config which fixed the issue. I think the same ...
18
votes
7
answers
5k
views
How to measure disk performance? [duplicate]
A friend has asked me to perform maintenance oh his computer. The described symptoms point to a performance issue with the hard drive. I want to objectively confirm this suspicion by measuring the ...
18
votes
4
answers
220k
views
Should I install my operating system on my SSD or HDD?
I'm currently deciding whether to install my Operating System on my SSD (solid state drive) or HDD (hard disk drive). Should I install programs on the HDD and the OS on the SSD or vice versa? Which ...
18
votes
3
answers
46k
views
How can I find out what is using the hard disk? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
hard drive activity by program?
What is causing hard drive grinding?
Once or twice a day my computer starts writing significantly hard to the hard drive, the HD led is ON ...
18
votes
5
answers
64k
views
Windows is very slow with my new SSD
I have a laptop HP probook 4520s with
Core i5 M480 @ 2.67Ghz,
4Gb RAM,
640 GB HDD
Radeon HD 6370m 1GB video card.
It would seem like a good stack for work, right? But My HDD has ...
18
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Windows 8: 100% SSD Activity, 0 R/W Speed: System Hang Issue
Experienced a weird issue with my Windows 8 system where it hangs and it is very unresponsive at random intervals of time (in fact, the first clue that I had an issue was when boot to desktop time was ...
17
votes
5
answers
18k
views
What does "cost per bit" mean?
I am reading William Stallings' Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles (Seventh Edition), and a passage about memory hierarchy got me confused. What does the author mean when he mentions a ...
17
votes
7
answers
58k
views
RAMDISK OS? Installing Windows 10 on a ramdisk
Is it possible to put the entire operating system on a ram disk? If I have 16 GB of RAM and it is an Intel Xeon. I don't have an SSD and my hard drive is killing my boot time. So can I just allocate ...
17
votes
7
answers
14k
views
Which PC components make the biggest impact on your compile times for Visual Studio?
Which PC specifications have the biggest impact on your compile times? Disk? Clock speed? Number of CPU cores?
17
votes
5
answers
29k
views
How to increase performance of Remote Desktop
How can I increase performance of Remote Desktop on windows XP sp3? A better network connection is not an option, this is for at work. I have suggested a network upgrade to my boss and it is not in ...
17
votes
3
answers
107k
views
How can I find out which parts of an Excel workbook are the biggest in size?
I have an Excel .xlsx that weights 47MB. I'd like to know which parts of the workbook are the heaviest and work them, since I haven't made much progress manually trying to identify and reduce the ...
17
votes
16
answers
83k
views
Why does Adobe Acrobat scroll so slowly, and what can I do about it?
I often am forced to view long PDF documents either in browser or out of browser. When I'm forced to use such documents, it's always frustrating, because whenever I scroll the document, the viewer "...
17
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Why would an incorrect password attempt take a lot longer to process than a correct one?
The most prominent place I've noticed this is when SSH-ing at work, but I feel like I've observed this behaviour elsewhere too.
When I try to log into Linux servers from my Windows desktop at work, I'...
17
votes
7
answers
37k
views
Setting process priority everytime it is launched?
My work computer experiences a lot of slowdown, so I want to do what I can to make sure the stuff I need to be response actually is responsive. For example, I run Pidgin, which loads everytime I boot....
17
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why is my Windows unbearably slow? [duplicate]
I use Windows since ever, sometimes Linux, sometimes OSX.
Since Windows ME/2000 I have been having this major problem:
I install a fresh copy of Windows, it boots fast as hell, everything goes ...
17
votes
2
answers
470k
views
What is the Optimal Virtual Memory Size For 8 GB RAM | WIN 10?
I would like to ask experts that What is the optimal Virtual Memory Size For 8 GB RAM | WIN 10 and how you calculate?
I know the system says 1906 MB is recommended but is it enough or I should set ...
17
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Chrome auto-fill saved passwords is very slow
I have been a Firefox user for more than 10 years; all my passwords are saved by Firefox password manager and protected with a master password. Now I want to move to Google Chrome (ubuntu 16.04), so I ...
17
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Slow HTTPS requests to all websites in Chrome
We have some weird behavior on a lot of machines here – computers running Windows 10 x64 and Windows 8.1 x64. Using Internet Explorer we face no problems when visiting different websites, but Chrome ...
16
votes
14
answers
59k
views
What's the fastest way to transfer files between 2 computers? [closed]
Let's say that I have 80Gb of data to transfer from one computer to another. What's the fastest method to transfer that files?
Network transfer?
DVD Recording?
Copying in a pen drive?
Removing one HD ...
16
votes
9
answers
39k
views
What is the fastest way to move a million images from one directory to another in Linux?
I have a million images that takes up 30GB of disk space that need to be moved from one local directory to another local directory.
What would be the most efficient way to do this? Using mv? Using cp?...
16
votes
7
answers
59k
views
Should I use "Raid 5 + spare" or "Raid 6"?
What is "Raid 5 + Spare" (excerpt from User Manual, Sect 4.17.2, P.54):
RAID5+Spare: RAID 5+Spare is a RAID 5 array in which one disk is
used as spare to rebuild the system as soon as a disk fails (...
16
votes
5
answers
111k
views
Can dual monitors make my PC slower?
I've noticed my PC (win-xp) seems to be running slower. (e.g., I'm getting jitter when watching video)
Recently, I upgraded a monitor (larger) and expanded the size of the desktop to take advantage ...
16
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Bash completion makes bash start slowly
Starting a bash on my ubuntu system takes about 2 seconds.
If I remove loading /etc/bash_completition in .bashrc it starts without delay.
Of course I don't want to give up completition and I don't ...
16
votes
2
answers
948
views
Why upgrade to solid state hard drive on desktop computer
Why upgrade to a solid state hard drive on desktop computer if non-solid state hard drive speed = 6GB/s and solid state hard drive speed = 6GB/s
Will I just be paying more to get less space? they ...
16
votes
6
answers
19k
views
"Task Manager" addon for Firefox? [closed]
Are there any addons for Firefox that can replicate the performance monitoring of Task Manager in Windows - seeing memory and CPU used - but for all the tabs in the current Firefox session?
I want to ...
16
votes
2
answers
24k
views
In the Resource Monitor of Windows 7, what does the "disk queue length" really mean?
In the Resource Monitor of Windows 7, what does the "disk queue length" really mean?
(View larger size)
In addition, what does the green area and blue lines stand for, as well as the response time ...
16
votes
4
answers
9k
views
Why does HDD activity slow the whole System down (on Windows 7)?
If I copy a large amount of data from on drive to another (physical) drive my whole system is running slow.
I am using Windows 7 64bit version on an Intel Core 2 Duo 3 GHz.
This is the situation:
...