[int_19h]

Which version of VS, and what language? If you're using VS 2010 or earlier, then both C# and VB were running the build (MSBuild and compilers both) on UI thread, so responsiveness was as bad as you'd expect it to be with such architecture. From VS 2012 onwards, VB builds on a background thread, and C# builds out-of-process (which also makes it scale on multi-core systems).

[voltagex_]

I definitely notice the performance improvements in VS2012. I wonder how many people reporting performance issues are also running ReSharper. JetBrains do great work, but ReSharper (<=v7) is very resource-heavy.

[sultezdukes]

Resharper can definitely bog things down, especially in big Razor pages.

But as you and the parent pointed out, I've also seen huge improvements in build times with VS2012.

And with VS2013 we finally get edit-n-continue on x64.