3 ms·
On most workloads typical desktop users run (there are many exceptions, of course, but in terms of numbers of people, those are in the minority), the computatio
by krylon 11y ago
On most workloads typical desktop users run (there are many exceptions, of course, but in terms of numbers of people, those are in the minority), the computational speed of the CPU is not a limiting factor any more. I/O, amount of RAM and probably memory bandwidth are far more important; on a typical mid-range desktop machine running Windows, Office and some line-of-business application, I/O completely dominates, at least from what I have observed working as a sysadmin / helpdesk monkey.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoMS Office: yes. Content creation: no. 3D rendering, video editing, and music production all need as many cycles as you can afford, and then some. VR and all those AI/ML technologies waiting around the corner are going to be even more greedy.
- krylon 11y agoThat is true. At work, our CAD people use Autodesk Inventor heavily, and that thing will happily gobble up all the CPU cycles one can throw at it. (It it the one example I have first-hand experience with.) What I meant was that for most users of desktop PCs in an office environment, a faster CPU is not going to make much of a difference in overall system performance. (I might be a little sore because at work, users will sometimes complain there computer is too slow and then demand a new one with an i7, and then I have to explain to them why that is not going to help, while a RAM upgrade and an SSD are going to make a big difference.) But you are right, there are plenty of examples where there is no such thing as "fast enough". ;-)