I recently switched a small office (12-14 workstations and a server) over to some newer server hardware. In the process of the switch we upgraded from Windows Server 2000 to Windows Server 2008 R2.
Due to simplicity and the administrative demands of the office being relatively low we changed over from domain controller to a workgroup as well. With hardware and software that is approximately 10 years newer we are now seeing some speed decreases across the network during peak hours and occasionally when the office only has 1 or 2 workstations up.
Would the switch from a domain controller to a workgroup result in a significant loss in performance?