what determines the 'speed' of a computer?

Question

Irrespective of internet connection. If possible please answer in some sort of order starting from the part that contributes the most.

Answer 1

There are many important things that contributue to the speed of your pc. I'll list them most important to least.
1.Processor speed (ex. 2ghz is a pretty fast comp.)
(Also system cache. 1 or 2 mb is good, I won't explain it how because it will take me a long to answer.)
2.Memory (ram)-The more the better and faster your programs and games work.
3.Hard Drive- The faster hd you the more efficient your computer can use virtual memory, load programs, etc.
4.Video Card- They don't really help with performance that much unless your playing games that need a lot of graphics power.
5.Sys. Version- If you run xp then your comp. will work at a really fast speed, but vista can slow down your computer a lot if your processor isn't fast or your memory.
6. Hd defrag.- you should defragment your hd when you install big programs so your comp. can place it in a way so it loads faster.

These are some good ans. to your ?.

Answer 2

cpu frequency is probably one of the most important factors, but you also have to consider the make, frequency and latancy timings of your memory, the lower the latency timings and the higher frequency are the better and the motherboard chipset and FSB speedhave a really big impact on all of this.

also if your into games then the gfx card and sound card play a considerable part in this especially when it comes to frame rates.

harddrives and optical drives can play a small part in this but nothing really that significant.

also, the more and more powerful computer is the higher the temperature is, so keeping it cool will have its benifits on the perfomance on the pc!

Answer 3

The power of the processor, thats (the brain), followed by the speed of the Ram that is the speed that the computer works at, and obviously the more power going into the computers motherboard depends on what speed the processor (brain)works at, therefore the speed of the Ram (works quicker).

Basically the higher the processor with the higher Ram will work quicker in theory.

Answer 4

It completely depends on what you do with that computer.
Like surfing the internet, it's your provider not the computer. Word processing, slightly cpu and some memory.
Gaming, video card #1, memory, then cpu.
Running folding@home, cpu most important, then video (if and can be used for it) then memory.
File server, harddrives then memory, then cpu.
cad, workstation video card, memory, and cpu.
Something like this guide can give you an idea of what to get:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/20/how_to_build_part_1/

Answer 5

Firstly there is the computer's processor which contributes mostly, these are getting smaller and faster so the newer computers are usually the best
Secondly, there is the combined total of all the files and software that is on your computer as this may slow down your computer if there is a large amount of this, you can check all this in Control Panel on your computer

Answer 6

Well I guess you mean how fast it deals with data.So I assume you want to know that it is how fast the processor works. So it means processor speed, the "brain" of the computer. Over the years they have got faster.It is generally best to get the fastest possible. Mine happens to be 2672 MHz

Answer 7

RAM size is a contributing factor I think. I have a Virtual Memory Tutorial, with which you can increase the virtual memory size, if interested email me and I'll send you a copy.

Answer 8

Ram strips

Answer 9

Processor power, motherboard throughput, available memory. Everything else is bells and whistles.

Answer 10

RAM strips...
128mb , 256mb , 512mb , 1024mb (1gb)

Older computers cant handle over 1gb, but modern ones now can handle 1gb in each slot