What factors play a role in a computer's speed? --Serious answers please--?

Question

My computer runs really slow. I want to know what parts and applications of a computer slow it down. Like memory stuff.
PLEASE HELP.

Answer 1

First it easy to have speed up, upgrade your computer.



Your computer could run slow, if there's to much application running in the background. Usually you don't realize there's many programs installed without you realized, or some kind of virus.



If you don't want to extremely upgrade your computer, the cheapest way to make your computer run faster is to add more physical memory.



Though many factors really affect your computer speed, such as the processor, RAM, harddisk, and the bus which connect all of them. So every factor in your computer must match it's speed. If one or the other is better than others, it would not effect. But if you have one slower hardware, then it would slow overall.

Answer 2

Factors Affecting Computer Speed

Answer 3

The memory and CPU are probably the two biggest contributers to your computer's speed.



When you run a program, it is loaded from your hard drive in RAM (memory). If you don't have enough memory, only a portion of the application will be loaded, and the rest will be loaded as needed. A hard drive is extremely slow compared to memory.



So more memory allows bigger and/or more programs to run.



The actual speed at which your application executes is mostly determined by your processor (CPU). Each generation of CPU gets faster. What do you have now? Might be time for an upgrade.

Answer 4

There are several factors:



RAM (probably the single most important, and definitely the easiest to upgrade)

Video card (available video memory, number & speed of processers)

CPU speed

HD rotation speed

Bus speed

Software issues (i.e., what operating system, HD fragmentation, available cache size)



The single most prevelant cause of a Windows computer slowing down (not always slow, but now it's running slower than it used to) is NOT a hardware issue - it's start up routines and programs loading crap at boot that aren't necessary. Get a start up manager like PC Fine Tune (from EarthLink) to get a peek at what your machine typically loads at startup and kill what isn't necessary to your every day usage.



Hope this helps some. Best to you.

Answer 5

The speed of a computer mainly depends on the Processor and while multitasking (when you load multiple softwares at a time) it relies on the Ram and Cache memory on board, if you seek speed try getting a computer which has some L2 cache on board and a good RAM.



Sometimes even the fastest systems perform like snails which is due to software problems, assuming you are a PC user, its caused by operating system conflicts,low disk memory on hard drive or excessive data load (for example if you load a long list of softwares in your startup)



considering you have asked this question under laptops and notebooks below is a link which could clarify some facts about system components.

Answer 6

a spec list of your computer would be helpful, especially since you want a specific case for your comp, but i will try.



generally, the speed of the computer is limited by the CPU, the RAM, and the video card. nothing else has as big of an impact as these three things. and the video card only limits you in 3-d games. so for general operation, that limits us to the CPU and the RAM. if you have a Celeron or Sempron CPU, then that is probably your problem, an upgrade to a new system will solve that. if you have a pentium at about 2.0+ GHz (for desktops, 1.5+GHz for laptops) or an athlon at about the same speeds (athlons run more efficiently due to different architecture, so a little slower speed will yield the same performance as a littl efaster pentium, this hold true for intel Vs. AMD debates up to Core2Duo, where Intel has overtaken AMD in superior architecture, read some reviews comparing athlonx2 to core2duos for more info). If your comp meets these speeds, then maybe you memory is the problem, if it doesn;t meet these speeds, then an upgrade may be in order.



Memory: (RAM) for Win 98, 512MB shuold be enough, for XP, 1 GB will do nicely, and for vista, 2GB fo any serious use will keep things running smooth. (yes i know that vista only REQUIRES 512 MB, but manufacturers likie Dell forced microsoft into using that, if you read some reviews, most will recommend at least 1GB, and usually 2 GB for a smooth system). anyway, RAM is cheap, easy to install, and offers a huge performance oost for the price. find out what kind of RAm your computer has (should be something like PC3200, or DDR xxxMHz) then head on over to newegg.com and pick out some more. it will be at your door in about 3 days.



the other thing you can do is clean out the processes you have running. hit ctrl+alt+del to bring up the task manager. in the lower left corner, there are processes listed, this should be around 35-50 (at the most) for information on how to clean these out check out th eTweaking Companion from Tweak Guides (http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html). this will tell you how to clear thos out, and which ones you can clear out. be preparred, it is a lenghty document, but following it completly will make your system as good as it can be.



also, a defrag, spyware sca, and virus scan will help. use adaware, spybot s&d, and anti-vir for a strong free defense. (anti-vir--http://www.free-av.com/) (spybot--http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html)(adaware--http://www.lavasoftusa.com/download_and_buy/product_comparison_chart.php)



this should get your computer to be as good as it can be. if its really old, you may want to consider an upgrade. nothing to be done about that, just the nature of the industry.

'luck

Answer 7

Everyone made valid points, and each of the solutions speed up your PC at certain times (boot up, opening programs, web surfing etc). One thing nobody mentioned that will affect your computers' performance is DUST!. Dust is a great insulator, and heat is a great enemy of electronic components. The dust holds the heat in.

In addition to adding RAM, getting rid of unused programs, defragging and cleaning up the startup menu, take your case outside, open it up and blow that puppy out (don't forget the power supply). You can buy compressed air for this, but it's expensive. If you can find an air compressor that you're sure doesn't have moisture in the tank, you can use that too ( I do).

Removing the layer of dust from all the components allows the air to move freely over the electronics and do its' job...keep things cool.

Answer 8

Factors To Speed Up A Computer -- https://reimagefix.im

Answer 9

Depending on the exact issue at hand, a thorough Google search may be be your best bet at resolving for yourself whatever is causing dysfunction. Nonetheless, as a computer technician who runs his own business troubleshooting, repairing, rebuilding, and optimizing computers... I can probably guide you in the right direction. However, without having your PC directly at my fingertips, I can only make general suggestions. In this case, I would surely check out the highly esteemed world-class Reimage software from https://reimagefix.im ..



When people come into our shop and drop off their PC for repair, the first thing we do is run an initial diagnostic. For this function, I use Reimage exclusively. In many cases, I am able to diagnose very quickly what is making their computer run slow, or is giving them the crashes/freezes/errors/grief that brought them to me in the first place. After the diagnostic, in a majority of cases, Reimage is able to remedy All problems and replace any corrupted Windows files. I then proceed to charge a handsome fee for my services that took me all but 30-60 minutes to complete. Obviously sometimes I must work more, but often this is all it takes. It is a very powerful tool that would likely put me and others in my industry out of business if more people knew of it. So don't tell anyone lol, and Good Luck with your PC.

Answer 10

Upgrade that RAM. If you are using win XP, then you are actually running at a minimum. Get at least 512 total. Also if the machine is old, you can have the registry cleaned (there are applications available that can do this, don't tinker in there yourself) or you can use the installation disks to reinstall the OS. It will run like it did when it was brand new then. I reinstall twice a year for performance.

Answer 11

Firstly it depends on the amount of memory (Ram) in your system

Secondly if your hard drive is lacking in accessing data you need to replace the hard drive after some time it slows down and it takes time while retrieving data...

and if you are a high end user deals in graphics or you play games and then processor is also a factor then you need to have a faster processor

Answer 12

the more RAM you have the quicker your computer will run. A faster processor also helps increase the speed of your computer but the best thing you can do is increase your computers RAM. If it has 256 mb then you need to upgrade to 1 gb or 2 gb.

Answer 13

Your speed depands primarily upon processor speed and RAM. Later, as you install many programs, they too affect the speed. There will be many background applications that are needed to run the computer. Open the task manager and you will find many processess like explorer.exe, firefox.exe, etc. If you have installed too many programs, then there will be too many background process which will slow down the computer.

One way to increase the speed is to uninstall unwanted programs.

Answer 14

You may want to get an external hard drive. If you put your programs on that instead of your laptop. It can help out on the computer speed. Also you may want to get more RAM. you can get RAM cheap depends on the size of RAM that you want. If you had your laptop for more then 2 years you my would to wipe it. But before you do that back up everything you want saved.

Answer 15

You need to clean up your hard drive on a regular basis. If you have a lot of unnecessary stuff in it, get rid of them. You'll find an improvement in your speed and performance. Perhaps you need to upgrade your hard drive. It may simply be too outdated.

Answer 16

The hard drive may need formatting, most Windows computers need a reformat every 6 months or so, but the average user will not do this and the more you use your pc the slower it gets, with all the programs and junk that is loaded onto it over a period of time

Answer 17

i would say its the RAM, you need a lot more for doing more stuff at a higher rate of speed.

its really cheap, and most computers can go to 2 or 4 GB

Answer 18

Central Processing Unit

Random Access Memory



Photo and video editing also slow your computer down. So do video games and videos.

Answer 19

you need to ncrease the RAM. This can be quite cheap depending on the speed. Check out Pcworld they offer many varities of the ram to sit your computer.

Answer 20

the ram amount will help increase speed, also keep the pc

cleaned out of cookies temp files history, use a registry cleaner

Answer 21

check on your RAM, memory and stop all the programs running in the background that you are unaware of. Also, try to scan your drives to check for spywares,malwares,adwares and viruses.Uninstall unnecessary programs.

Answer 22

memory, cpu speed, and hard drive capacity, and how much things are running in the background that you are unaware of!

Answer 23

in your case your memory



256MB upgrade to 1GB you will see an difference

Answer 24

You can find detailed stuff here:

http://pctonic.blogspot.com/2007/05/speed-up-your-computer.html