Questions tagged [performance]

For questions concerning computer, or computer-related, performance. Please include metrics in your questions.

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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 ...
Austin ''Danger'' Powers's user avatar
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 ...
Nick Whaley's user avatar
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 ...
nh2's user avatar
  • 947
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 ...
James Smith's user avatar
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 ...
H B K's user avatar
  • 196
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
3 answers
5k views

How can I verify that my SSD is performing as it should?

I've got a brand new 256GB SSD (Crucial CT256M225) which should have stellar performance. However, on my (also brand new) Dell Studio 1557 with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, it's only giving a ...
Jon Skeet's user avatar
  • 5,144
15 votes
4 answers
69k views

My Mac is slow but don't know what's slowing it down

My Mac (Macbook Pro) is sometimes slow doing basic tasks, like browsing the web or something like that. If I open Activity Monitor, I have (maybe) one program that is about 10 % CPU, others are below ...
duality_'s user avatar
  • 423
15 votes
2 answers
37k views

Good OS X Hard Drive Benchmark

What software can provide some insight on the performance of the hard drive in my MacBook Pro? I would be interested in both sequential and random read and write performance. This is in the context ...
Erv Walter's user avatar
15 votes
5 answers
23k views

What's wrong with disabling the Windows page file?

People say that you always need a page file, and that it will increase performance, but my Windows 7 is set to run without a page file. I simply don't understand why people say this - I have 6 GiB of ...
user541686's user avatar
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15 votes
4 answers
5k views

Does the access speed depend on the number of files on a network share?

In our office we use a RAID5 of SSDs as a network share on a linux server. This share is accessed as a network drive from Windows-PCs and Mac. Sometimes this network share becomes awfully slow in ...
bobbolous's user avatar
  • 325
15 votes
2 answers
10k views

Best Linux for a single application & fast boot? (also How-to?) [closed]

I'm looking for a way to run Celtx,a screenwriting software on a Linux Distro and nothing else, no bluetooth, internet/WiFi, media, games, nothing, not even a desktop. Just boot up the OS and Bam! ...
YAS's user avatar
  • 730
14 votes
3 answers
159k views

Minimize file size of Microsoft Word documents

What are the best ways to ensure a small filesize for Microsoft Word documents when starting from scratch reduce the size of existing Microsoft Word documents using only tools available in the ...
14 votes
4 answers
9k views

Is (Ubuntu) Linux file copying algorithm better than Windows 7?

Windows Copying is a real mess ever since Windows Vista. Even Microsoft claims they've improved the performance, from a user perspective, it's not quite visible. Even with single file the copying ...
sarat's user avatar
  • 1,506
14 votes
2 answers
12k views

ZRAM vs ZSWAP for lower end hardware?

I spent the last 2 days researching about these two features that allow saving a bit of memory. Here's how I understood them: ZRAM: Once the RAM reaches 100% usage (or the remaining incompressible ...
alex's user avatar
  • 141
13 votes
6 answers
54k views

Windows 7 kills VMWare performance by disk caching?

We're running Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit SP1 on Dell Precision T3500's (Xeon E5630 @ 2.53GHz, 4GB of RAM). On top of this is VMWare Workstation 7.1.4, up to date. Running in a VM is Windows XP ...
qid's user avatar
  • 281
13 votes
1 answer
21k views

What is the performance cost to running BitLocker?

BitLocker encrypts the entire hard drive. I run Visual Studio and build projects much of my day. How much will BitLocker slow me down (dual core laptop with 3 GB of RAM)?
Andrew Arnott's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

The Windows Registry - Why (and Where) Does It Exist?

Was talking to a friend about the registry, and realized I couldn't remember the issues Microsoft was trying to solve that brought it into being. I know it had something to do with too many different ...
Fred Hamilton's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is it worth buying SSDs for a RAID?

Im seeing people using SSDs for RAID-0 and getting excellent improvements in read/write rates. But now there is a good opportunity to acquire another SSD Force Corsair F60 identical to mine. I'm ...
Diogo's user avatar
  • 30.5k
12 votes
2 answers
8k views

Poor gaming performance with hyper-v installed in windows 8

I am getting very poor gaming performance on my Windows 8 host OS with Hyper-V installed but no guest machines running. For example World of Tanks reports 60-70 FPS without Hyper-V installed and 4-14 ...
SnowCrash's user avatar
  • 123
12 votes
1 answer
28k views

Opening VLC media player 3 takes a long time to open

VLC Media Player 3.0.8 is taking a long time to launch on my Windows PC. It typically takes 6 seconds or more. I have a Win 10 machine with a class 50 SSD, Six Core Xeon 2.90GHz, etc. VLC launch ...
Bort's user avatar
  • 1,534
12 votes
6 answers
11k views

Vim configuration slow in Terminal & iTerm2 but not in MacVim

Ideally, I want to use Vim from Terminal or iTerm2. However, it becomes unbearably slow so I had to resort to using MacVim. There is nothing wrong with MacVim, however my workflow would be much ...
Jey Balachandran's user avatar
12 votes
7 answers
24k views

What does the percent CPU mean?

I am watching my CPU percent utilization by a process. How does a process use only 50% CPU? Doesn't a process use 100% then 0%, then 100%? Its not like every other instruction is a different program.
Anthony D's user avatar
  • 233
12 votes
6 answers
6k views

Does opening a lot of tabs in Google chrome cause a performance issue?

I have heard that each tab in a Google chrome is a separate process. So if any tab crashed it won't be affected to the whole browser. So if you open so many tabs there will be as many processes in the ...
phoenix's user avatar
  • 315
12 votes
4 answers
24k views

Inkscape extremely slow on new, powerful computer

Last week I bought an ASUS ultrabook laptop: i7 6500U processor; 256 GB SSD hard drive; 8GB RAM memory; Intel HD Graphics 5500 video card. I was told this laptop should be extraordinary fast. ...
Funzies's user avatar
  • 233
11 votes
5 answers
42k views

How to speed up Windows 8 on Samsung laptop?

I just bought a Samsung Series 5 notebook, with Windows 8, but I found it unreasonably slow to reboot and install updates. Last night I waited for 1h30 for it to install 1 update and reboot, when I ...
Mauren's user avatar
  • 659
10 votes
2 answers
100k views

Does the amount of files on desktop affect computer performance?

I store thousands of files directly on the desktop folder. When I tell that to some people, they begin to yell "you're making the computer slower!" without any rigorous arguments whatsoever, just ...
user337370's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to move a file from one location to another on the disk?

I want to move a specific file (for example a binary .exe) that occupies a specific low offset (physical position) on my HDD to a lower offset (external edge of my HDD). From what I know I can't do it ...
Diogo's user avatar
  • 30.5k
10 votes
5 answers
40k views

Is it possible to use a server to play games?

I am curious on whether I could slap a high end video card into a server and use it as a high end gaming machine. The server is a HP DL360 G5 with x2 Intel Quad Core Xeon processors, 16 GB of RAM and ...
AtomicPorkchop's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
30k views

SSD with write cache buffer flushing turned on is way slower in AS SSD but not CDM

When running a benchmark using the program AS SSD on an NVMe drive, When the second checkbox seen in the image below is unchecked, the drive gets terrible write performance in AS SSD (see first ...
g491's user avatar
  • 504
10 votes
3 answers
27k views

Single Threaded Qaud Core v.s Hyper-Threading Dual Core [duplicate]

Let's say we have two CPUs, One is Quad Core 3.2 Ghz with 4 Cores, and We have a Dual Core 3.2 Ghz with 2 Cores with 2 threads in each Core (Hyper-Threading). My assumption as a programmer will be, ...
David's user avatar
  • 139
10 votes
3 answers
70k views

What's the typical performance of Windows File Sharing (SMB) on a gigabit ethernet network?

I've recently set up Windows file sharing over a gigabit ethernet network (I'm not using jumbo frames) with a Samba server and a Windows Vista client. I've done a few file copies, but the maximum ...
Kaypro II's user avatar
  • 1,492
10 votes
6 answers
170k views

Hard disk suddenly is extremely slow

Edit: New discovery! It seems there is something about idling that's getting to it. If I load a program immediately as after the OS is finished loading the speed is perfect and phenomenal, but if I ...
user1062760's user avatar
10 votes
7 answers
7k views

Are SSDs worthwhile for software development? [closed]

I have a MacBook with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB 7200rpm hard drive. I write software for a living. I am contemplating getting an SSD Drive, but I am unsure about the performance. Do SSD drives really ...
user avatar
10 votes
11 answers
235k views

What are possible causes of keyboard lag on my desktop machine?

I am running Windows 7 and began experiencing keyboard lag in most applications, and it seems to be getting worse. Certain websites are the worst - on some, I can type a sentence, take my hands off ...
Jer's user avatar
  • 1,104
10 votes
4 answers
896 views

What is overclocking the system?

I have heard this term many time and would like to know what does it exactly means?
jack.spicer's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
20k views

Is a VeraCrypt partition slower?

I just got a new external hard drive. I want to create an encrypted partition on it with VeraCrypt. I did the same thing with a similar drive. I just copied a file over to it and the speed was about ...
user511405's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
7k views

High CPU load from System when idle

I run Windows 8 Pro 64bit on a ~3 year old Sony Vaio. Pretty much since I installed Windows 8 I get high CPU load when I leave the system alone for a couple of minutes. The high load will continue (...
Martin's user avatar
  • 775
9 votes
4 answers
40k views

How to speed up the ftp upload process?

So why are FTP uploads soo slow? I am using filezila as a client. I have like 10 mb in 1000 files and I can upload each individual file with 300-500kb/s yet the whole upload is incredibily slow due ...
user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

Performance of Multiple RAM Sticks Compared to Single Sticks

It's no secret that using two physical drives gives better performance than two partitions on the same physical drive; because there are two devices, they each have their own platters, head, caches, ...
Synetech's user avatar
  • 68.8k
9 votes
1 answer
17k views

Windows 10 creators update (1703) - Very low performance on high-end laptop

I would like to start by saying that I've already contacted nVidia and Microsoft support via chat and they couldn't help me. My specs: - Laptop: Clevo P870km1-g - CPU: I7-7700K @ 4.2ghz - Drive: ...
DerpyNerd's user avatar
  • 264
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why can Vim open large files faster than some other text editors?

When opening large log files (well, not that large, but 80mb is still a lot of text!), I've always used Vim since it loads them almost instantly. Other text editors like Notepad, Notepad++, etc will ...
Anonymous's user avatar
  • 2,611
8 votes
1 answer
7k views

What's the difference between a power plan and a power mode?

In Windows 10 when I click the battery icon in the system tray a box appears asking me if I want to switch to better battery, better performance or best performance. Also there's an option called ...
desbest's user avatar
  • 918
8 votes
4 answers
8k views

Under what circumstances can/will a 10BASE-T device slow down a 100BASE-T or faster network?

Suppose I have a 10BASE-T device, but everything else on my network is 100BASE-T or faster. When I attach the 10Mbit device, one of two things could happen: It could be passed through as 10BASE-T, ...
Fred Hamilton's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
15k views

How to make high performance cluster out of 2 laptops I have at home [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible to combine processing power of 2 computers? Hi, I have 2 laptops at home. Could someone please suggest some free cluster softwares using which I can make a HPC ...
p2pnode's user avatar
  • 1,367
8 votes
3 answers
19k views

SSD vs RAM: what's the cost/durability difference and limitation to using SSD as memory?

I've read that some commercially available SSD are capable of 4GB/s writing speeds top, while current DDR4 Ram speed can be between 15GB/s and 25GB/s, meaning we're not far off. In fact RAM can ...
yazze's user avatar
  • 111
8 votes
2 answers
5k views

Load Dialog disk access slowdown on Windows 10

TL;DR my hard drive combination is causing load dialogs to take ~6 seconds to load, which is also confirmed via code, and I can't find any relief. I had Windows 7 for a long time, ignoring 8 entirely....
ketura's user avatar
  • 260
8 votes
4 answers
47k views

Why is the Core i5 5300u rated better than the i7 5600u?

I just purchased a new x1 Carbon with all the bells and whistles. I got a Core i7-5600u which I really thought would be the better chipset to get. But now I'm looking at some benchmarks and the i5-...
Ebsan's user avatar
  • 221
8 votes
3 answers
15k views

Increase Outlook 2013 performance?

I feel that Outlook 2013 (compared to Thunderbird) is quite slow at e.g. changing between mail view and calendar view - is there any way to disable e.g. the animation of the transition between mail ...
me.at.coding's user avatar
  • 1,577
8 votes
1 answer
620 views

What do different patterns mean in Windows 8 file copy dialog

When copying or extracting files, Windows 8 shows the chart with the speed of the operation. I noticed several patterns: Randomness, High speed at the beginning, then low speed during the most part ...
Arseni Mourzenko's user avatar

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