What Factors Affect Computer Performance?
Factors that affect computer performance include the speed of the central processing unit (CPU), memory capacity and input/output devices. Other factors affecting performance include RAM size and disk speed.
All things constant, the higher the generation of the CPU, the better the computer’s performance tends to be. Parallel processing and instruction pre-fetching are techniques ued to enhance computer performance.
The amount of available memory on a computer is ultimately dependent on how many applications are installed. Additional memory can help to speed up performance when running multiple applications at once or when working with large files.
The most effective type of input/output device is synchronous protocol, which uses the clock in transmitting data. Asynchronous interfaces utilize self-timed protocols when sending data. Direct memory access hardware can be added to computers to transfer large amounts of data without the intervention of the CPU.
A computer starts to use the hard drive when all available RAM has been used. Transferring data between RAM and hard drive memory significantly slows a computer down. Since it does not have to be refreshed, static RAM typically performs faster than dynamic RAM.
The speed at which a computer’s hard drive finds, reads, writes and transfers data makes a considerable difference in computer performance; the size of the hard drive is relatively insignificant in computer performance.
