Modern Blog: All about performance

By Incredible Connection 08 May 2020

Whether it’s old or new you may sometimes wonder why your computer is slow and then there are other times when it is super-fast in processing. This could be caused by a number of factors which directly affect the performance of your machine.

They include the speed of the CPU, the space and speed of the hard disk, the size of the RAM and the type of the graphics card used.

The CPU is the Central Processing Unit of a computer. This is the most fundamental component of any system: it is the brain. When shopping for a computer, the CPU (also known as the processor) is one of the key parts that will tell you how fast your computer is.

The two biggest processor manufacturers of today are Intel and AMD. What’s important to remember is, the newest processors are the most powerful. Modern computers for everyday use generally use a Core i3 or the equivalent AMD Ryzen. Depending on the number of tasks you wish to perform simultaneously, you will have to choose your processor accordingly.

RAM (Random Access Memory) has the capability of storing data that the computer is currently using, due to the fact that it is faster to retrieve data stored in the RAM. Larger RAM size will mean faster computer performance while smaller RAM size will result in slower computer performance. You should consider RAM of 4GB or higher.

The higher the speed and memory capacity of the hard drive the faster the performance of the computer. Less space on the hard drive will result in slower performance. Hard drives contain data that use most of the memory leaving less memory for the operations of the processor. Modern devices use SSD’s (Solid State Drives) and eMMC’s.

You’re probably familiar with USB memory sticks - SSD can be thought of as an oversized and more sophisticated version of the humble USB memory stick. Like a memory stick, there are no moving parts to an SSD while information is stored in microchips. A hard drive uses a mechanical arm with a read/write head to move around and read information from the right location on a storage platter (disk). This difference is what makes SSD so much faster.

eMMC stands for Embedded Multimedia Card. These cards are like the memory card of your camera with the downside being that they are soldered to the motherboard. They are available in up to 128GB and basically work in the same way as an SSD. They are cheaper than HDD and SSD and make laptops affordable for those that do not require much space.

Finally, when it comes to the quality of pictures and animations, your graphic card is the main factor. If a machine processes many graphics and it has a weak graphic card it will perform slower. The more powerful the graphics card the faster the performance of the computer.

Be sure to view our modern computer range. From entry-level to extreme gaming, we definitely have a device or upgrade for you!