Factors affecting computer performance

  

Date Posted: 10/24/2012 3:25:45 AM

Posted By: SAUCER  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 4885

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You may be wondering why you computer is slow at times and there are other times when it is fast in processing. This could be caused by a number of factors. They include: the speed of the CPU, the space on the hard disk, the size of the RAM, the type of the graphics card, the speed of the hard disk,, if the computer is multitasking, the defragmenting files.

1) The speed of the CPU
The speed of the CPU is also known as the clock speed of the CPU. The clock speed of the CPU is the frequency of which the processor executes instructions or the frequency by which data is processed by the CPU. It is measured in millions of cycles per second or megahertz (MHz). If the Clock speed of the CPU is fast then definitely the performance of the computer will be affected positively, in other words the computer will carry out processing functions at a faster pace.

2) The size of the RAM (Random Access Memory)
The RAM is referred to as the active part of the computer. This is because the RAM has the capability of storing data that the computer is currently using, because of the fact that it is fast to retrieve data stored in the RAM. With the definition above, a large RAM size will mean a faster computer performance and a smaller RAM size will result to slower computer performance.

3) The speed of the hard disk
The hard disk speed is defined as the rate at which material and content can be read and written on it. The hard disk speed of different hard disks is not consistent because they vary by manufacturer, drive type and the use of the hard disk. It therefore means that the higher the speed of the hard disk the

faster the performance of the computer and vice versa.

4) Hard disk space
The bigger the space on the hard disk will result to faster performance of the computer. The smaller the space on the hard disk will result in a slower performance of the computer. The hard disk is filled with data this will use most of the memory leaving less memory for the operations of the processor.

5) Multiple applications running on the computer
Multi-tasking tends to slow down the performance of the computer because memory is used to support more than one applications compared to when one application has all the memory to itself. This means that the more applications that are running the slower the computer will perform. Likewise if less or one application is running the performance of the computer will be faster.

6) Type of graphic card
When it comes to quality of pictures and animations graphic cards are the main factors. So if a machine processes many graphics and it has a weak graphic card it will perform slower. This means that the more powerful the graphic card is the faster the performance of the computer.

7) Defragmenting files
Files that are broken or it takes long to read them will mean that the computer will have to defragment them first. This will slow down the performance of the computer.

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