Does CPU affect Windows 7 performance?
- Thread starter treewilly
- Start date
Solution
- Jul 15, 2014
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Windows uses only a small portion of the CPU, it's the programs that run Windows that use more of its power. Upgrading to a more powerful CPU will not make "Windows faster" unless that CPU's cores are already reaching high percentages. Windows speeds can be improved by upgrading to a faster HDD or an SSD.
James Mason
Titan
- Jan 2, 2014
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Yes, your CPU is the primary factor in how Windows performs.
SATA speeds are:
Sata: 1.5gbs
sata ii: 3.0 gbs
sata iii: 6.0 gbs
An SSD also provides a great deal of a performance boost to windows over an HDD. about 50%. But in real world it's the difference between 8 seconds to open something and 4 seconds to open something.
If your system is taking longer than 10-15 seconds to open something, you may have viruses or it's also possible your computer is just very old.
SATA speeds are:
Sata: 1.5gbs
sata ii: 3.0 gbs
sata iii: 6.0 gbs
An SSD also provides a great deal of a performance boost to windows over an HDD. about 50%. But in real world it's the difference between 8 seconds to open something and 4 seconds to open something.
If your system is taking longer than 10-15 seconds to open something, you may have viruses or it's also possible your computer is just very old.
James Mason
Titan
- Jan 2, 2014
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The CPU.
THe CPU you have is very weak, if you could get an intel i3 you'd see a big difference, but that'd also require a new motherboard.
THe CPU you have is very weak, if you could get an intel i3 you'd see a big difference, but that'd also require a new motherboard.
k1114
Titan
- May 2, 2010
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The cpu is probably not the issue. I've used weaker cpus with w7 and would say you're not going to see any difference with an i3 if it's just normal usage like browsing. My 2.1ghz core 2 duo with a hdd plays world of tanks just fine as well as anything else less strenuous. The only sluggish thing about it is the old 250gb hdd it's using as a boot. Has a 500gb running everything else. My more recent pc I upgraded with a ssd. An ssd is what's going to make it more snappy depending on the uses.
synphul
Champion
- Mar 11, 2011
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Everything helps I believe. I think it was a slight exaggeration with program load times. Unfortunately on this machine I don't have any 'heavy' apps to load. Browsers, sketchup, win media player, handbrake were the apps I tested. I have photoshop on my workstation pc but it's also running an ssd and I wanted to check using a 7200rpm hdd. Using passmark's apptimer, I opened them once (successive loads would have been faster, I wanted the slowest times). These programs I hardly use so they're not 'cached' and this pc's been running normal throughout the day not a fresh restart. I have several google chrome tabs open (21), yahoo messenger, a couple of explorer windows open, I played far cry 3 earlier. Current ram usage is 5.45gb of 8gb.
Load times in milliseconds.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe - 1 executions
0.0075
C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe - 1 executions
0.0023
C:\Program Files\Handbrake\Handbrake.exe - 1 executions
0.0014
C:\Program Files (x86)\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp.exe - 1 executions
0.0019
The only reason I didn't try loading a larger game is because they're either tied to steam or uplay, both of which take forever and a day thanks to my slow internet connection and constantly needing to download updates every time I try to open one. (I miss the good ol' days of just playing a game purchased).
Considering those loaded in mere milliseconds, how much faster does an ssd need to load programs? Also note how much ram is being used with a relatively light load of programs open. The cpu is likely holding things back. It also depends on how full the hard drive is (my earlier tests were done on a 100gb partition with only 12.8gb free, roughly 12%), and the amount of ram. When ram runs low it will invariable hit the swap file on the hdd causing massive slowdowns and sluggishness.
Load times in milliseconds.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe - 1 executions
0.0075
C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe - 1 executions
0.0023
C:\Program Files\Handbrake\Handbrake.exe - 1 executions
0.0014
C:\Program Files (x86)\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp.exe - 1 executions
0.0019
The only reason I didn't try loading a larger game is because they're either tied to steam or uplay, both of which take forever and a day thanks to my slow internet connection and constantly needing to download updates every time I try to open one. (I miss the good ol' days of just playing a game purchased).
Considering those loaded in mere milliseconds, how much faster does an ssd need to load programs? Also note how much ram is being used with a relatively light load of programs open. The cpu is likely holding things back. It also depends on how full the hard drive is (my earlier tests were done on a 100gb partition with only 12.8gb free, roughly 12%), and the amount of ram. When ram runs low it will invariable hit the swap file on the hdd causing massive slowdowns and sluggishness.
k1114
Titan
- May 2, 2010
- 14,240
- 93
- 75,540
You can't compare hdds just on rpm. 250gb hdds can be quite a bit slower than modern larger ones. They don't even make 250gb platters anymore. Randoms and access times can be half as good and that will kill performance as you know it. Ram maybe an issue with multitasking but I'd like to know uses. He has 4gb if his other thread is what he has now.
Thank you for all the help so far!
I have just taken a look at the CPU usage inside of windows 7.
It turns out that when I open chrome, the CPU jumps up to around 70% load. In fact, just when moving the cursor it goes to about 30%. Oh and btw, this PC is playing games also, but it handles it fine with my r7 250. So I'm not sure if my CPU was maybe a bit damaged on shipping? I have no idea. For anyone asking, right now the only game I am playing and have played on it is csgo, and it runs butter smooth on 1080p medium settings, with very few framerate drops (although there are some).
I have just taken a look at the CPU usage inside of windows 7.
It turns out that when I open chrome, the CPU jumps up to around 70% load. In fact, just when moving the cursor it goes to about 30%. Oh and btw, this PC is playing games also, but it handles it fine with my r7 250. So I'm not sure if my CPU was maybe a bit damaged on shipping? I have no idea. For anyone asking, right now the only game I am playing and have played on it is csgo, and it runs butter smooth on 1080p medium settings, with very few framerate drops (although there are some).
jsmithepa
Polypheme
- Jun 14, 2014
- 13,096
- 263
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So as confirmed by the other fallah, has nothing to do with Windows but your browser.
We used to say, oh if ur just gonna Browse, email, word processing, just a low end CPU will do, but these days the STUPID BROWSER is a major culprit. They are making web pages ever more complex. A lot has to do with FLASH, that stupid thing fires up without permission. IF you have a web page and has multiple Flash panels, the stupid thing AUTO-PLAY ALL of them simultaneously, in the background, when you don't have them on-focus. No wonder Steve Jobs hated it so much.
James Mason
Titan
- Jan 2, 2014
- 13,553
- 7
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Are you really sure about that?
Chrome is actually a pretty heavy program.
Even just having 1 chrome browser open with 1 tab and adblocker on my system i using up about 350mbs of ram.
But I have 16gbs of ram so it's not a big deal, and chrome runs smoother than IE or FF for me.
But I have experience, going from AMD cpus (especially their weak ones) to even weak Intels actually gives a pretty noticeable performance increase in Windows.
SSDs give a decent increase as well.
But a clogged hard drive can be a slow down either way.
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