Whats the difference between adding more memory, more RAM, and a more powerful processor?

Question

For example, what symptoms/signs will I see if I need to get more RAM? Or a better processor? If my pc starts getting slower due to adding more software do I add more RAM? Basically, I'm asking what symptoms my pc will show when it needs either memory, RAM, or processor. thanks.

great answers so far. let me add this: when i say memory, im speaking as in my pc says it has 512 MB memory yet i have a 120 GB hard drive. my problem is for example, when im on the web and im converting a video file the web pages will take forever to load up. or if im doing a spyware check, a video im playing will stall.

Answer 1

From the additional, info you gave...what you will need to stop the stallling will be 2 things. Memory (RAM) and a faster CPU.

Memory always provides a nice boost in performance. The sweet spot for Windows XP is around 1 GB of RAM. The only way more is of benefit is if you are a gamer or into video or audio mixing and editing. More instructions can be loaded into memory which is the fast data access point.

The faster CPU will be able to handle more instructions per clock cycle providing a smoother playback even while running other tasks.

Answer 2

Lets analyze each of ur topic separtely,
Memory:
I'm assuming hard disk space for ur word 'Memory'. Its exactly proportional to the kind of application and usage u do. For eg. if ur a multimedia professionalist, u will be needing more of it to store ur clips, music, animations etc etc.,, as such if ur a s/w developer u just need a little of it as most of the work u do consumes little space.
So on either side, u can have a 200GB HD, which i think will be more than sufficient for any average user and also the cost of these device have drastically come down and u dont have much difference while u select the same.

RAM (Randome access memory):
From my point of view, this is one device which is very important. Before going into details let me put up the relation between the Processor and the RAM, Processor is actually a device which calculates (in simple) at a certain speed, whereas a RAM is a device which provides all the data necessary for calculation.
By this time u would have guessed the relation, if the processor is considerably very fast and if it has to complete its work the RAM should provide all the data to it in time. During this situation if u dont have enough space in RAM to store data, paging will happen with the available space in HD which has a very slower speed.
Hence to acheive the best of fast processors, one should have huge RAM say for now more than 512MB for a 3Ghz processor. The technology of RAM is also queit important, here i mainly would emphasiz on the transfer speed, the RD RAM thats available in market today has the latest technolgy and delivers high speed data transfer adversely its not economical. Hence the intermediate techology DDR2 RAM would be the best bet for now.

Processor:
Now u know the functionality of a Processor, a better understanding of it clock speed will help u a lot. I recommend to select a processor based on the tasks that anyone performs. Technology plays a important role, Hyperthreading(HT), Dual core, Multi processors all help for different applications considerably.

For a high end applications such as multimedia, graphics, animations, sound, game design, effects etc one should have the best Processor with top speed, huge RAM and HD memory.

Answer 3

Wow. More RAM will always speed things up, especially if you run a lot of background programs.
Symptoms of needing more RAM, everything seems to crawl. But once you have added enough RAM and things are still slow, a faster CPU and motherboard are the only way to go.
Some motherboards can be upgraded via a faster CPU, but ONLY if the motherboard was set up for that and someone just decided to install a slower and cheaper CPU.
Generally, when you want to upgrade your CPU, figure on getting a newer motherboard.
Now that means to get a dual processor CPU, like the newest from AMD, say an XP-4400 64 bit and an ASUS mother board, which is the combination a friend of mine just bought and put together.
And he tells me it 'smokes'.
Of course he, like I, is into a lot of video processing, where nothing is ever fast enough.

Answer 4

As far as I know,

RAM gives your computer more space to work with multiple programs/processes so RAM would be able to reduce the chance of your comp getting bogged down by too many programs running at once.

A better processor means simply a faster computer.

So both RAM and processor mean faster computer, but which do you need more of is the question. Well, there's ways, but if it looks like your comp can handle one or two programs speedily but slows down when you turn on more, then you may be in need of more ram.

Answer 5

System can be slow due to hardware or software issues.
When it comes to hardwre it can be less memory that is the RAM or there is very less space left on the hard drive. You can check for the memory in the sysetm spesifications. If you upgrade the memory it will certainly improve the performance of the system. Also please take a note that at least 2 GB of hard drive should be free in order to run the system fine.
For software soncerns, you can scan the system for virus and spywares and if the PC is affected by any.. please remove the same.
Hope this works for you. :)

Answer 6

lots of the time the i7 has greater cashe then the i5. The diffrence between AMD and intel is that intel has greater overall performance (sometimes) and the AMD is a lot greater much less high priced then intel. additionally motherboards the two settle for AMD or intel, under no circumstances the two so it ought to be counted on the motherboard you have chosen once you're construction a working laptop or computer. So if the two clocked the comparable velocity i could decide for AMD with the aid of fact it maximum in all likelihood could be greater much less high priced (no longer each and all of the time although). in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it they're the comparable fee i could chosen the intel if I have been you.

Answer 7

Apps require a certain amount of RAM to run. If you need to runs several apps simultaneously, get as much RAM as your HD can take.

Memory is required for your output. For example, say you only have 40GB of memory, and you have output files that have used up 39.5GB of that memory. You only have 500MB left to ouput with.

If you are working with video, music, photos, these can require a lot of memory for just one file or several files involved in a project. You won't be able to save some of the files you've worked so hard on, when you've used up the 500MB, because there isn't enough memory left. Get as much memory installed in your HD as you can

Answer 8

Hi,

Adding more Memory or RAM(Random Access Memory) is one and the same thing,when we say we need to get more memory we refer to RAM in terms of computers . RAM is measured in MegaBytes(Mb) and can be upgraded in multiples of 2 like 32MB,64MB,128MB,.........., 1GB etc .
Processor cannot be added to your existing Processor,it can only be upgraded only if the board of your computer (i.e Motherboard) provides the facility of upgradation .
Your PC will show symtons like late acess to your application , delay in processing and system speed . It is recommended that you upgarde the RAM of your computer (check with the h/w vendor first) and remove the unecessary softwares from your system .