Which factors of a PC determine the opening time of a program and a large file

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the factors influencing the opening time of programs and large files on personal computers, particularly focusing on storage types (HDD vs. SSD), reading and writing speeds, and system overhead. Participants explore various technical aspects and conditions that may affect performance.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that reading speed is a primary factor in determining the opening time of files and programs, while writing speed may also play a role, especially for applications like Excel that create backups.
  • Others argue that system overhead, including the presence of antivirus software and system bugs, can significantly impact performance regardless of hardware specifications.
  • A few participants mention that the performance of storage devices (HDD vs. SSD) and their fill levels can affect opening times, with less full drives potentially offering better performance.
  • Some contributions highlight the importance of CPU and memory speed, particularly for programs that require significant data manipulation after opening files.
  • There is discussion about the impact of external storage devices, such as SD cards and USB sticks, on opening times, with suggestions that the interface type (USB2 vs. USB3) can make a significant difference.
  • Participants also raise questions about the relevance of file fragmentation and defragmentation on older drives as a potential issue affecting opening times.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the factors affecting opening times, with no clear consensus on which factors are most significant. Multiple competing perspectives remain on the interplay between reading/writing speeds, system overhead, and storage conditions.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note that the discussion is general and not based on specific cases, which may limit the applicability of certain points raised. Additionally, there are unresolved questions regarding the specific contributions of various factors to opening times.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to individuals exploring computer performance, particularly in relation to file management, storage technology, and system optimization.

  • #31
mech-eng said:
Would you please
Would you please elaborate the problem?
We are shooting in the dark here for almost a week long already, and it's not really productive this way.
 
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  • #32
Rive said:
We are shooting in the dark here for almost a week long already, and it's not really productive this way.
Sorry for that.

Rive said:
Would you please elaborate the problem?

The problem was from the past but a few weeks later I might encounter the same problem. Then I can give detailed knowledge for my specific problem. But I thought my second question about RAM and CPU interaction was a clear and general one.
 
  • #33
FactChecker said:
Have you looked at the Performance Monitor and determined that I/O to a drive is the bottleneck?
mech-eng said:
As relevant question, If the bottleneck is either disk or CPU, is doubling the RAM a meaningful act? If you are having issues related to CPU or disk, to double the RAM is a bad idea?
That is not an answer. Why can't you give us more information? Is this something that happened a while ago and you can not replicate it?
 
  • #34
FactChecker said:
Why can't you give us more information? Is this something that happened a while ago and you can not replicate it?

Yes. it had happened a while ago, in the past. I will give you the information from the Performance Monitor in the future when my file become larger. I don't have a such big file for now.
 
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  • #35
mech-eng said:
Yes. it had happened a while ago, in the past. I will give you the information from the Performance Monitor in the future when my file become larger. I don't have a such big file for now.
That explains it. If you have the opportunity now, it might be wise to make a simple, large file to test it. Otherwise, when you have a real file that large, you might not have time to fix anything.
 
  • #36
FactChecker said:
It might be wise to make a simple, large file to test it. Otherwise, when you have a real file that large, you might not have time to fix anything.

Well, I will try to make one and check for which component is the bottleneck.
 
  • #37
I have tried to copy and paste a large amount of data into OpenOffice spreadsheet. The data was so big that it gave the error of "bad allocation". Above is Performance Monitor.

1661791699663.png


It seems that Disk is the bottleneck.
 
  • #38
And this is from a copy-paste to the openoffice. The operation has been taking a few minutes.

1661792667807.png
 
  • #39
It's hard to know whether the "copy/past" into an Openoffice spreadsheet is the same as reading a file to open. I imagine that there can be a lot going on in a "paste". I guess that "Bellek" is RAM memory. In the second screenshot, it is very stressed and the CPU is also. I recently had to increase my RAM memory above 8 gb because of problems with the Foxfire web browser. It can be tricky to get RAM that is compatible with a particular computer. If you search for RAM, search for an exact match to your computer.
 
  • Informative
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