A simple test of setting via value and setting via reference.

valuevsreference.cs

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

class ValueVsReference
{
	public static void SetValue(int somenumber, int maxi)
	{
		for (int i = 0; i < maxi; i++)
		{
			somenumber = i;
		}
	}

	public static void SetReference(ref int somenumber, int maxi)
	{
		for(int i = 0; i < maxi; i++)
		{
			somenumber = i;
		}
	}

	public static void Main()
	{
		int iterations = 100000;
		int a = 0;
		Console.Write("Iterations: {0} ", iterations);

		Console.Write("Value: ");
		Stopwatch valuetime = new Stopwatch();
		valuetime.Start();
		SetValue(a, iterations);
		valuetime.Stop();
		Console.Write("{0} ", valuetime.Elapsed);


		Console.Write("Reference: ");
		Stopwatch referencetime = new Stopwatch();
		referencetime.Start();
		SetReference(ref a, iterations);
		referencetime.Stop();
		Console.WriteLine(referencetime.Elapsed);
	}
}