What are the effects of a fragmented file system on disk performance?
Even on a brand new system with plenty of RAM and high-end processors, the performance of the hard disk may be a bottleneck causing system performance issues. It takes time to load large data files into memory - issues become particularly noticeable when dealing with movies, video clips, database files or .ISO image files which may easily be several gigabytes in size. On a freshly formatted disk, these files load fairly quickly. Over time, however you may start to notice performance degradation - caused by disk fragmentation.
How does process loads and number of running processes affect system performance?
If too many processes are trying to run at once, there are not enough resources. This is when things start to slow down.
How does adding more motherboard RAM improves virtual memory performance?
It's been proven that adding more memory to a computer system increases its performance. If there isn't enough room in memory for all the information the CPU needs, the computer has to set up what's known as a virtual memory file. In so doing, the CPU reserves space on the hard disk to simulate additional RAM. This process, referred to as "swapping", slows the system down. In an average computer, it takes the CPU approximately 200ns (nanoseconds) to access RAM compared to 12,000,000ns to access the hard drive. A greater amount of RAM memory means that more instructions fit into that memory and, therefore, bigger programs can be loaded at once.
What are the factors that affect performance in a Windows computer system and how to improve its performance?
• Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, and then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
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