Help me speed up Visual Studio build, compile, run tests, for dotnet c# docker containers etc ...

[Thor]

I am a software developer , primarily working with C#, dotnet and Visual Studio 2019 with extensions like Resharper enabled. Visual Studio with Resharper is a memory hog!
I currently have the following PC at home where I do my development work :
CPU - Ryzen 7 2700x
RAM - 2 x 16 gb 3000Mhz
Storage - 512 GB SSD - WD Blue
Motherboard - Asus Rog Strix B350M-i Gaming
GPU - Gigabyte GeForce Windforce GTX1080 8GB
OS: Win 10 Pro
With a few Firefox windows, and few instances of Visual Studio debugging docker containers
I hit CPU utilization 100% and memory utilization 100% for 3-4 minutes.
The machine came to a crawling speed, even mouse wasn't moving smoothly.
Also build-compile-debug-run tests could do with faster speeds... not good for productivity
when I sit idle and watch build progress!! I would like to enable auto run unit tests on
every code change save. To ensure I haven't broken anything and have rapid feedback loop.
I can't run this effectively now because it slows down build-compile-run-test flow.
( I am also thinking of upgrading to 64GB RAM )
I am looking for an answer to the question -->
Does Visual Studio build/compile/debug/ run test workflow benefit from Multicore CPUs
or benefit from higher single core clock speeds ?
Seeing results of PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End ,
how does these scores interpret/mean for workflow like mine ?
Ryzen 7 2700x has a score of 16,927.
Ryzen 9 3900x has a score of 31943 ( almost twice the score )
Ryzen 9 3950x has a score of 35702 ( more than double of 2700x, and around 11% mroe than 3900x)
Ryzen 9 3950x is 50% costlier than Ryzen 9 3900x , but the performance CPU Benchmark scores only a 11% increase.
Is that synthetic score not relevant for my workflow ? Would having 8 extra cores ( as compared to 3900x ) is going to help me a lot ?
So would this mean if my build/compile takes around 60s now, getting a ryzen 3900x would make it near 30s?
Right now I have a SATA SSD Western Digital Blue, Would getting an NVME SSD help?
Thanks in advance people!!

 

[whitestar_999]

Your system is good enough so chances of this being some random win 10 issue seems higher. Which version of win 10 pro are you running(type winver in start menu search box)? Have you tried reset/fresh install?

 

[Zangetsu]

You have very excellent build setup.
Use Task Manager and see which process is taking more resources (CPU/HDD etc).

If required you can also save the dump files and raise a ticket with Microsoft. They will gladly help and will let you pinpoint the exact root cause for the issue.

 

[whitestar_999]

Use Task Manager and see which process is taking more resources (CPU/HDD etc).

With a few Firefox windows, and few instances of Visual Studio debugging docker containers
I hit CPU utilization 100% and memory utilization 100% for 3-4 minutes.

 

[Nerevarine]

Visual Studio is one of the most bloated piece of trash IDE.

 

[Vyom]

I was going to suggest SSD, but you already are on one.
I say follow these steps to make your PC faster and then rest of the steps to make VS improve performance, and get back in case you see any difference:

1. Ensure you are using 64 bit version of Windows 10 (if not, you are limiting to 4 Gigs of RAM usage)
2. Disable Indexing on C: drive (and use Everything app by voidtools to search any file on PC in an instant)
3. Configuring Windows Defender to exclude Visual Studio
4. Follow the rest of the steps to increase performance in VS

tl;dr: Follow this guide: Tweaking the environment to speed up Visual Studio