Questions tagged [performance]
For questions concerning computer, or computer-related, performance. Please include metrics in your questions.
4,414
questions
449
votes
8
answers
77k
views
Why don't websites immediately display their text these days?
I've noticed that recently many websites are slow to display their text. Usually, the background, images and so on are going to be loaded, but no text. After some time the text starts appearing here ...
273
votes
17
answers
451k
views
How can I produce high CPU load on a Linux server?
I’m currently in the process of debugging a Cacti installation and want to create CPU load to debug my CPU utilization graphs.
I tried to simply run cat /dev/zero > /dev/null, which works great ...
226
votes
6
answers
671k
views
Troubleshoot High CPU usage by the "System" process
I have noticed that from some time my system is freezing and its probably caused by the high CPU usage which is caused by the system process.
All applications I'm running is the Skype, TeamSpeak and ...
225
votes
9
answers
125k
views
Is there still a reason to choose a 10,000 RPM hard drive over an SSD?
For anyone who's serious about storage performance, SSDs are always the fastest solution. However, WD still makes their 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor hard drives, and a few enthusiasts even use enterprise-...
194
votes
9
answers
32k
views
Why does emptying disk space speed up computers?
I have been looking at a bunch of videos and now understand a bit better how computers work. I better understand what RAM is, volatile and non-volatile memory, and the process of swapping. I also ...
178
votes
10
answers
275k
views
How to measure disk-performance under Windows?
I'm trying to find out why my application is very slow on a certain machine (runs fine everywhere else).
I think i have traced the performance-problems to hard-disk reads and writes and i think it's ...
156
votes
9
answers
428k
views
Linux: find out what process is using all the RAM?
Before actually asking, just to be clear: yes, I know about disk cache, and no, it is not my case :) Sorry, for this preamble :)
I'm using CentOS 5. Every application in the system is swapping ...
140
votes
24
answers
242k
views
Why is my SSH login slow?
I'm seeing delays in SSH Logins. Specifically, there are 2 spots where I see a range from instantaneous to multi-second delays.
Between issuing the ssh command and getting a login prompt and
between ...
130
votes
9
answers
123k
views
How much space to leave free on HDD or SSD?
In the informal (i.e. journalistic) technology press, and in online technology blogs and discussion forums, one commonly encounters anecdotal advice to leave some amount of space free on hard disk ...
117
votes
1
answer
64k
views
Why are there many processes listed under the same title in htop?
Can anyone explain to me why there are sometimes 10 or 15 processes with the same title and "stats" listed in htop? I'm guessing there are multiple threads running - but that many of them obviously ...
116
votes
4
answers
419k
views
Windows 10 high memory usage (unknown reason)
A few days ago I updated my PC to Windows 10. However, after some use my PC started to slow down until it was impossible to use – it was due to high memory usage. After a restart, everything came back ...
112
votes
14
answers
134k
views
Should I disable swap file if I have lots of RAM or should I move it to a virtual RAM drive?
Imagine I have tons of RAM. Let's say 64GB. That's a lot for even gaming PCs. Now the default location of a pagefile in Windows is on the main OS drive, be it HDD or SSD, which are faster in general, ...
100
votes
5
answers
100k
views
Why are my games slower on battery power, even with the power plan set to High Performance?
My laptop is capable of running most games on high settings at decent frame rates. However, if the power cable gets unplugged while I'm playing, the game immediately starts slowing down, even if I'm ...
96
votes
7
answers
18k
views
Does a computer use fewer resources when programs are minimized?
When programs are minimized in Windows 7, do they use less memory and CPU than leaving them maximized?
93
votes
2
answers
46k
views
Is there a way to identify the busy (CPU-consuming) tab in Firefox? [duplicate]
Sometimes there's a nasty, guilty, CPU-hogging tab in Firefox that's maxing one of my CPU cores and making the whole browser sluggish. I'd like to find it and close it.
Sometimes I get lucky, but ...
91
votes
13
answers
257k
views
How can I produce high CPU load on Windows?
For testing purposes I need to generate high CPU load on a Windows Server 2003.
I cannot install any software but have to make do with what Windows provides.
What would be the best way to achieve ...
86
votes
10
answers
34k
views
Are computers with more RAM potentially faster if not all memory is usually in use?
Let's say I have a computer with 16 GB of memory. If my computer is usually only using about 4 GB and never reaches 8 GB, is it any faster than a computer with only 8 GB of (the same type of) memory? ...
85
votes
4
answers
74k
views
Why is piping 'dd' through gzip so much faster than a direct copy?
I wanted to backup a path from a computer in my network to another computer in the same network over a 100 Mbit/s line. For this I did
dd if=/local/path of=/remote/path/in/local/network/backup....
79
votes
17
answers
211k
views
How do I troubleshoot a Windows freeze or slowness?
A machine is described as being "really slow" or "freezing". How can I troubleshoot/resolve this issue? What should be the first steps to take?
78
votes
7
answers
71k
views
How does NTFS compression affect performance?
I've heard that NTFS compression can reduce performance due to extra CPU usage, but I've read reports that it may actually increase performance because of reduced disk reads. How exactly does NTFS ...
76
votes
23
answers
11k
views
Why does Microsoft Windows' performance appear to degrade over time?
Windows XP/2003 and earlier (can't attest to Windows Vista, but I suspect it's the same) all appear to become more sluggish over time as applications are installed and uninstalled.
This is not a ...
75
votes
3
answers
10k
views
Why are smaller capacity SSDs slower?
I was reading this Tom's Hardware article on testing SSDs and came across the following claim:
With SSDs, performance varies by capacity point. Smaller drives tend to be slower than larger ones, ...
74
votes
14
answers
38k
views
Is there a reason to keep Windows' primary partition / drive C: small?
In my jobs almost two decades ago, IT experts would keep the size of Windows' main partition (C drive) extremely small compared to the other partitions. They would argued this runs PC at optimum speed ...
70
votes
6
answers
32k
views
Why are USB flash drives so much slower than SSDs?
From what I understand, USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) are based on similar technologies, NAND flash memory.
But, USB flash drives are usually quite slow, with a read and write speed ...
68
votes
3
answers
45k
views
Why did adding memory significantly increase gaming performance on an AMD APU?
To be clear from the beginning, this is not a problem. This is just something that I really want to know the secret behind.
System specifications
CPU: AMD A10-6790K 4.0 GHz
GPU: AMD ...
66
votes
9
answers
22k
views
Why have CPU manufacturers stopped increasing the clock speeds of their processors? [closed]
I have read that manufacturers stopped concentrating on higher clock speeds and are now working on other things to improve performance.
With
an old Desktop machine with Intel® Xeon® Processor E3110 ...
63
votes
2
answers
44k
views
Why is the Alpine Docker image over 50% slower than the Ubuntu image?
I noticed that my Python application is much slower when running it on python:2-alpine3.6 than running it without Docker on Ubuntu. I came up with two small benchmark commands and there's a huge ...
59
votes
5
answers
67k
views
Quickest way to merge all snapshots in VirtualBox?
I have vdi with quite a number of snapshots taken from it - say, 50 or 70 snapshots.
I want to have one plain vdi with a current state. These snapshots take way too much disk space and are not needed ...
59
votes
5
answers
27k
views
What is the proper way of debugging a slow Windows installation?
You know the drill - you've been asked to check why your cousin's computer is running slow.
I was right there yesterday. Being a Mac user since 2007 I haven't really dug deep in Windows internals in ...
57
votes
4
answers
28k
views
NVMe ssd: Why is 4k writing faster than reading?
I have a Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB SSD on NVMe with PCIe Gen.3x4 running. I use the Samsung NVMe Driver 2.0.0.1607. The SSD is running fine. However, I don't understand why the writing of 4k is faster ...
57
votes
6
answers
12k
views
Why can't old PCs view modern sites? [closed]
The reason for this question is that many times clients, friends and parents ask me why their perfectly working old PC cannot be used online anymore.
I am looking for a good answer to those people ...
52
votes
1
answer
254k
views
What happens if I use RAM of a faster speed than the CPU supports?
Looking at the Intel E3-1230v2 CPU, under Memory types it says "DDR3-1333/1600". My question is, in what way does the CPU limit the RAM speed? What would happen if I put in a DDR3-2133 RAM chip ...
51
votes
3
answers
124k
views
Is it faster to have four times 2 GB or two times 4 GB of RAM with a dual-channel mainboard?
I'm building a Core i7-860 system which supports dual-channel memory (up to 16 GB in four DIMMs), my target is 8 GB. From the performance perspective, is it better to have two times 4 ...
51
votes
1
answer
98k
views
How to increase VLC RAM buffer for offline files?
I would like to configure VLC player to preload a significant portion (like a hundred megabytes or so) of a video file from the hard disk to RAM before playing it. Is this possible?
50
votes
10
answers
11k
views
Which malfunctions cause old computers to slow down and crash?
I've had a few computers of my own break after a few years of use, and I've seen computers owned by friends and family do the same thing. They either slow down (even running the original software ...
49
votes
11
answers
51k
views
Speed of TrueCrypt whole disk encryption
I'm getting a new development laptop soon, and I'm thinking of using TrueCrypt to encrypt the whole disk.
What kind of performance drop can I expect? 10%? 30%? More? Also, assuming the workload has ...
47
votes
11
answers
104k
views
Bitlocker Performance Impact on SSD
I've put a brand new SSD into my work computer and my IT department wants me to use BitLocker. I read one of the other threads on BitLocker performance on standard harddrives, but I was wondering - ...
47
votes
9
answers
141k
views
TiWorker.exe - Very High CPU Usage
I have a laptop running Windows 8. Although it originally ran well, it started having very bad performance issues. I decided to perform some research into the topic. Opening up Task Manager, I ...
45
votes
6
answers
183k
views
Does a USB hub affect performance?
I have two devices I want maximum throughput and latency with (MIDI drums and MIDI keyboard for example.)
Would connecting both to the same USB port via a hub effectively limit the maximum data ...
45
votes
4
answers
42k
views
How badly do SSDs degrade without TRIM?
SSDs have been out for a few years, and have seen all kinds of usage patterns. Windows and Linux support the TRIM command, with Mac OS still trailing behind here. Update (2011): It appears OSX Snow ...
44
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Why are newer generations of processors faster at the same clock speed?
Why, for example, would a 2.66 GHz dual-core Core i5 be faster than a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, which is also dual-core?
Is this because of newer instructions that can process information in fewer clock ...
44
votes
8
answers
173k
views
Why is VNC on Windows so slow?
In a test, I could stream a full HD movie across our network from my friend's computer, no problem.
It's as fast as I could want.
But VNC is painfully slow. We've tried Real VNC and Tight VNC, I've ...
43
votes
6
answers
64k
views
Why do file copy operations in Linux get slower over time?
I have 12 ~200 MB files. Copying one of them to another drive takes 20 seconds. When I try to copy all of them at once, it first says it's going to take 5 minutes, then it keeps slowing down into the ...
42
votes
9
answers
82k
views
Is there a way to transfer thousand of small files faster on Windows 7?
I noticed that if I transfer a few large files between two hard drives, it's pretty speedy, at around at least 30 MB per second, but if I transfer thousands of files less than 5 KB, it is ...
42
votes
3
answers
97k
views
How to diagnose slow booting or logon in Windows? [duplicate]
When I start my PC, it boots into Windows (Windows 7 32-bit) quite happily, I login and the main Windows screen appears. At that point, however, the system is extremely unresponsive for up to 5 ...
41
votes
7
answers
26k
views
How important is having 64-bit programs on 64-bit OS?
I recently upgraded to 64-bit OS(Windows 7) from my old 32-bit version. I noticed that while several applications are available in 64-bit(e.g. DC client, Tortoise SVN, Graphics driver), many are still ...
41
votes
16
answers
31k
views
Any reason not to disable the Windows pagefile given enough physical RAM?
The question of disabling the Windows pagefile has already been discussed quite a bit, for example here and here and here. People continue to upvote answers that say "you should not disable your ...
40
votes
11
answers
14k
views
Why does hardware get slower with time?
Why does hardware get slower with time? I have been a PC owner since 1990 and every computer I have had in my life became really, really slow after 3-4 years (even with a full system-reinstall). It is ...
40
votes
8
answers
44k
views
Does Windows ReadyBoost have a meaningful impact on performance?
Does Windows ReadyBoost technology, available in Windows since Vista, have a meaningful impact on performance?
Are there well-known benchmarks that compare systems with, and without?
Does the speed ...
40
votes
4
answers
69k
views
What is the cause of a high CPU usage of 'system and compressed memory' in Windows 10?
There is an observation to be made for Windows 10 on my laptop running with 24G memory available, and 2.5G used. There is no 'memory pressure'. Other questions have looked at memory consumption (...