why do computers get slow?

Question

I mean, not only slow and unresponsive over time, but also within a working session. Does it have to do with the amount of programs running, the internet tabs open, the amount of time turned on, or just the physical materials wearing off? I’m both genuinely curious but would also want to know to see if there’s anything I can do when my computer gets slow

Thank you guys:)

In: Technology

Answer 1

First, if your computer is slowing down over the course of use in a single day, this likely speaks to your computer already being very old or that your doing something like leave a thousand windows open, never closing games, etc. This is not typical usage.

Otherwise, its a few factors. As computers age, there parts do degrade. Heat is the biggest offender for this. If you don’t ever clean your computers air intakes and fans of dust, your computer will steadily start running slower as its unable to get good airflow. Cleaning it with compressed air every so often will extend the life of your computers parts and help it run cooler. But under heavy loads, your CPU is still going to run hot, and can easily be 70-80c or higher under load. This, over time, will degrade the parts.

Next is bloatware and disk space. As your computer ages, you’ll have started installing more and more programs that are run on start up. This can drastically reduce your boot times. You can disable on-boot programs in task manager, under startup. Loads will also naturally slow as your HD or SDD begins to age and some of its memory becomes corrupted. Theres not much you can do about that.

And of course, feature creep. As your computer ages, the world doesn’t stand still. 5 years ago, the Ryzen 9 3900x cpu ran at 3.8ghz on 12 cores, boosting(being stronger for short bursts) to 4.6ghz. 5 years later, Ryzen’s 7900x runs at 4.7ghz on 12 cores, boosting to 5.6ghz. Thats a rough 25% power increase, with its base speed now being what the old CPU could only do for short bursts. With that new power, companies want to utilize it. Games get better graphics and most intense effects for example. Updates to its software stop coming as it gets too old to support. This can only be solved by upgrading your computers hardware now and then, or starting anew.