6 votes
Accepted

250 GB SSD for programming cheaper than ~£100?

I've got the 256gb variant of the Samsung 850 Pro and running a few tests would be quite enlightening. Improving compile time may also depend on processor so... it depends on your options. Likewise ...
Journeyman Geek's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Upgrade HDD to SSD for Dell Inspiron 5558

Please note, this is answer is for the Dell Inspiron 15-5558, which hopefully is the same as the OP has. Is my laptop compatible to upgrade to SSD ? Yes, as you can see in the following picture, ...
SEJPM's user avatar
  • 1,428
4 votes
Accepted

Laptop for coding

Since, you're starting out with coding I wouldn't expect you to be using heavy Integrated Developer Environments, like Visual Studio + Resharper which can weigh heavily on the performance of your cpu ...
Bennett Yeo's user avatar
  • 1,142
3 votes

How does the performance of current i7 CPU's compare to i7 920?

Are there any benchmark tests which compare older i7's to current i7's? Cinebench (benchmarks) (6700k performs 72% better) 3DMark (benchmarks) (comparison1) (6700k performs 33% better) Passmark (...
Rubydesic's user avatar
  • 1,751
3 votes

Tablet vs Laptop

This is a rather vague question, but I will do my best to answer it. A budget of $5000 will bring you a long way. My recommendation is a Microsoft Surface Book. Without knowing what the "same ...
Rubydesic's user avatar
  • 1,751
3 votes
Accepted

Dual boot system--Better to have 1x 2TB with separate partitions or 2x 1TB SSD?

With SSDs, assuming all else is equal - same speed, size etc, then there is no speed advantage in having two separate drives. Instead you have an element of redundancy. If one fails, you still have ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 446
3 votes
Accepted

Is it worth getting a 144hz monitor when FPS games go only 80fps?

Well, it definitely won't increase your FPS :) Seriously, for gaming performance it technically doesn't matter. The only difference is the amount of frames that are shown by the monitor, not the ...
Irsu85's user avatar
  • 2,355
2 votes
Accepted

Tablet vs Laptop

Nowadays, many tablets have the same, or more, performance than laptops.The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is a very good option for portability and performance. It has a beautiful screen, a powerful ...
Peter Zhu's user avatar
  • 1,697
2 votes
Accepted

1066MHz vs. 1333MHz memory speed: how much will it impact a POV-Ray workload?

A general rule of thumb is that a 100% increase in memory speed corresponds to a 5% increase in overall performance. This is because memory access is slow relative to the CPU, so CPUs and programs ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,887
2 votes

250 GB SSD for programming cheaper than ~£100?

SDDs are quite conspicuous when it comes to quality and performance. Capacity, read/write times are made very clear so you can buy what you need. Any further optimisation will come down to your OS, ...
Mercer's user avatar
  • 121
2 votes

How can I evaluate processor performance when comparing processors?

The other answers are technically correct, but are IMHO unlikely to help. The benchmark you care the most about is your real-life usage of the processor. Watch yourself using the processor and watch ...
Nemo's user avatar
  • 333
2 votes
Accepted

Which configuration do I choose for my laptop?

I would suggest the Acer. Reasons. It has an SSD which improves boot times. It comes stock with 16GB of RAM, which is the most you should realistically need for gaming. Also, some applications, ...
Edward Nunn's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Is single thread performance of a CPU more important than overall performance for daily use (watching movie, browsing, etc)?

I can answer your question. In terms of CPU utilization, there are three kinds of programs the average computer user will encounter: Programs that don't use very much CPU at all (most programs) ...
Adam Wykes's user avatar
  • 2,340
2 votes

Upgrade for LGA775

I recommend getting a secondhand Core 2 Quad Q9650 or Core 2 Quad X9650 (for your purposes, they're all the same CPU, just with different branding). This will give you almost double the single-...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,887
2 votes
Accepted

Will a non-ECC memory work with motherboard and CPU that supports ECC?

Yes, it does work together. Yes, this motherboard will run both ECC and non ECC ram (always in non ECC mode though) according to AnandTech. Will the opposite case work? Depends. ECC unbuffered ...
Jules R's user avatar
  • 376
2 votes

Processor type for web development (webpack dev server, jest tests, node, docker building) - High clock speed vs multiple cores?

On a laptop, I would recommend an i7 8th gen for your use case. These CPUs are 4 cores for the U (low power), and 6 cores for the H (high performance) series. They have decent single thread ...
Peter Zhu's user avatar
  • 1,697
2 votes
Accepted

Screen change made half of my hardware obsolete: what to upgrade first?

could my the graphic card (NVIDIA GTX 570) be the limiting factor in the refresh rate? It is absolutely this. The GTX 570 is too old to have a DisplayPort that can handle 3840x2160 at 60hz. Update ...
Romen's user avatar
  • 1,263
2 votes

Are recent AMD CPUs or Intels with efficiency cores better for a MSVC (C++) focused developer PC setup (are those E-Cores any good?)

Are there any performance comparisons available? Are there recommendations? We can estimate the performance based on the numbers from timed compilation benchmarks on openbenchmarking.org. CPUs may be ...
panik's user avatar
  • 121
2 votes
Accepted

Why are ethernet connections disappearing from new laptops?

Probably fake answer that laptop manufacturers are gonna give you: yes, we need to make laptops thinner and ethernet ports are too big. Probably real answer: Cost saving. Good network controllers can ...
Irsu85's user avatar
  • 2,355
1 vote
Accepted

Best money for value GPU for Core i5 9600k processor and 16GB Ram

Going by https://gpu.userbenchmark.com, calculating "value" with the following equation: ("Effective 3D Speed" / Price in Dollars) and assuming your price bracket is at most $500, which seems to be ...
Rubydesic's user avatar
  • 1,751
1 vote

SSD as A Storage Drive

Here are a few advantages of an SSD in your scenario: Insensitive to shock, higher expected lifetime Considerably less energy consumption, so longer battery life. Less of a factor if you spin down ...
ypnos's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote

What improvements can I make in my laptop (Asus X555LJ)?

The biggest performance e increase would be to replace the hdd with an SSD. Any SATA SSD should work - I like Samsung EV8x0 series (where x is the generation, it won't matter too much which gen). ...
davidgo's user avatar
  • 181
1 vote

What HDD configuration is best for handling rapid read/writes of small files?

In general, performance RAID and SSD are not a thing you need to do. The performance improvement is pretty minimal, and you'd only want to use RAID as a way to maintain multiple drives in case one ...
CDove's user avatar
  • 894
1 vote

Budget Programming and Image Editing laptop under 300 Euros (Spain)

I recommend the Thinkpad X230, avalible on Amazon refurbished for € 273.71. It has an i5 3320M, 8 GB of RAM and 320 GB of hard disk space. While the N3060 is a relatively recent processor with ...
timuzhti's user avatar
  • 1,772
1 vote

CPU upgrade for heavy IDE (Visual Studio)

I'll like to go with Intel i7 8700k. Intel processors are more developer friendly. Supports more Advanced technologies like VT-x Turbo boost Intel Optane Intel supports more development ...
Muhammad Hannan's user avatar
1 vote

SDHC for the Wii

That card will work, but it's a UHS-II card and the Wii does not support UHS-II, so it can't use the high speeds offered by this card. In fact, the Wii is old enough that even UHS-I cards can't run at ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 185
1 vote

Upgrade for LGA775

You can install the modified s771 CPU. Modified xeons is much cheaper with the same performance. Even if you have the SATA 2 in you system you can use ssd for the swap and it will be as a RAM.
Andrew Romanenko's user avatar
1 vote

Upgrade for LGA775

You could upgrade to a quad core processor and 4GB of RAM if you intend to keep the motherboard. CPUs codenamed Yorkfield were the latest you could get for the 775 platform (they are about USD 40 on ...
LiveWireBT's user avatar
1 vote

Which configuration do I choose for my laptop?

Both the machines are upgradable to the same extent. SSD can be added. More RAM can be added. Now, Acer comes with the higher specs in ram and SSD. Which extremely reflects your performance. Now ...
vijayraj34's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

Recommendations for Linux Laptop 2017

According to the product page the Chromebook has a Celeron 3205U Dual Core clocked at 1.5 GHz. The other machines in your list (1, 2, 3, 4) start with Intel Core i5 processors of the 6th or 7th ...
LiveWireBT's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible