Effects of Hardware Upgrades on Clinical Laboratory Computer Performance
Author Information
Author(s): Arthur A. Eggert, Gary J. Smulka, Thomas J. Blankenheim, Kenneth A. Emmerich
Primary Institution: University of Wisconsin Hospital
Hypothesis
Upgrading hardware in a clinical laboratory computer system will improve its performance.
Conclusion
The study found that while hardware upgrades were expected to improve performance, the actual benefits were less significant than anticipated.
Supporting Evidence
- The disk-wait/compute-time ratio improved from 0.43 to 0.28 after optimizations.
- User program time increased from 44% to 60% of available machine time after optimizations.
- The average idle time on the upgraded system was 34%, compared to 16-17% on the previous system.
Takeaway
Upgrading a computer's hardware might not make it work much faster, and sometimes it just makes it less slow.
Methodology
The study involved benchmarking the performance of a LABCOM+ system before and after hardware upgrades and optimizations.
Potential Biases
User perceptions of performance improvements may not accurately reflect actual performance changes.
Limitations
The study lacked pre-upgrade benchmarks for direct comparison of performance changes.
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