How does increasing ram improve performance of a pc?

Question

plainwolf, cool explanation

Answer 1

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ROM or read only memory is used in different areas in a computers motherboard (ie the bios chip) for different reasons.

RAM or random access memory is a high speed (compared to your hard disk or secondary memory) memory which the processor goes to when the required data is not in the computers cache memory (highest speed memory but not seperatly upgradeable)

basicly what happens is when you run a program a portion of that program gets loaded into your RAM, and from that portion that gets loaded into RAM a portion gets loaded into your cache. now if you do something with your program, say click a button, and the data needed to process a reaction to that click is not in your cache, the system takes a performance hit because it has to go all the way to your RAM to get the data, if the data is not in your RAM it takes another performance hit because it has to go to your hard disk to get the data (hard disks are very very very very slow compared to ram)

so think of it this way if your not following, your the processor and you need some milk to drink, first you check your fridge (cache) which is really quick to do... if its not there you go to the closest corner store and check if they have milk (RAM) this takes longer but still isnt so bad... however if they don't have it you have to go on a 2 hour trip to the nearest superdupermart that has everything... (hard drive)

hope it helps, cheers.

Answer 2

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Lions, and Tigers, and Bears --------------------------------------... RAM, Processors, and Hard Disk Storage are among the most common components of a computer that are misunderstood by end users. People often state that RAM makes a computer faster which is not necessarily the correct explanation. The Playing Field ------------------------ Think of a park or playing field. If you have a very small field you can only have a few activities going on at the same time. If you try to overload the field with more activities, what happens? Everything slows down. RAM is exactly the same, it is space for activities in the computer to work. RAM and Memory ------------------------ Now RAM is classified as Memory and there are two types in a computer. Physical RAM which is an actual integrated circuit board inside of your computer and Virtual RAM. Virtual RAM performs the same function as Physical RAM, but is slower. This is because the computer uses part of your hard disk to function just like Physical RAM. Access Times for Physical and Virtual RAM --------------------------------------... Access time for Virtual RAM is about 8/1000th of a second while access time for Physical RAM is about 5/100,000th of a second. Now this may seem fast in our world but in the computer world 8/1000th of a second is slow. Does the Computer become faster by adding more Physical RAM? --------------------------------------... The answer is, all computers have a performance mark called a benchmark. When you increase the amount of Physical RAM you do three things: 1. Bringing the computer closer to its maximum benchmark 2. Allow more activities too occur at the same time 3. Allow single activities to occur without affecting the performance of the computer Answer to your question -------------------------------- So the reason why you are not seeing a performance increase is that in your situation you have created the condition where you can have more applications running at the same time without affecting the current performance of your computer.

Answer 3

OK so many people have answered this question, but all in a technical way, and I suppose someone should explain it in layman's terms, so here it is :
Imagine your computer is an office.
- the filing cabinets are your Storage devices ( hard disk ) , the more you have the more files you can store.
- The man sitting at the desk is the brains i.e. your processor or CPU
- The size of his desk , is your RAM ! I'll explain more in a minute.
- The room, air conditioning, paper trays, stationary are your motherboard.
- Telephone , fax, internet are your com. ports.

Now , the man can work on a very large file, if he has enough space on his desk to open every piece of document ! if his desk is not big enough, he has no choice to open some of the documents, work on them, when he needs the other documents, fold the first one , storing it in one of his drawers ( for time being ) while he works on another, and then get the first one out of his drawer to finish what he was doing. this is called swap-filing or page-filing in computer terms. you can appreciate , that this method is time consuming, the constant file swapping to the drawer . just give the man, a large desk, so he can open all the files in one go ! in other terms, give him more RAM.
The reason for this is, your processor can only access data, while it is on the RAM. Data has to be loaded from hard disk ( filing cabinet ) to the RAM ( the desk ) before it is of any use to it.
Now if the man is really good ( i.e. faster processor ) , given enough desk space ( RAM ) , he can work on few different files, all at the same time !
So more RAM improves multi-tasking.

I hope , I have been helpful.

Answer 4

Okay, first of all, neither hard drives, nor BIOS's are ROM. If they were, you wouldn't be able to change ANYTHING about them, at all. ROM is Read Only Memory, and there are two types of ROM. There is data storage ROM, which is any CD-R, DVD-R, or DVD+R that has been finalized. The other type of ROM only gives instructions to other computer components.

Everything inside of your "box" that's got a chipset has a ROM chip, some have more than one. For instance, every motherboard has a minimum of two chipsets, the Northbridge and the Southbridge. If it has built-in USB, Firewire, and/or IDE connections, each requires a separate chipset. If that same motherboard has built-in audio, then it's got 3 chipsets (ROM chips), at the minimum, since the Southbridge chip usually handles the IDE, USB, and Firewire (1394a). If it also has built-in video, then it's got an additional ROM chip. This computer has 8 ROM chipsets inside of it, not including the ROM chips in both hard drives, and both DVD drives.

And since your question has already been answered by ahddub and plainwolf, I'll shut up for now. Well, except to say that the average person needs no more than 512MB of RAM, if they only do web browsing, e-mail, that type of thing. A gamer needs between 1GB and 2GB of RAM, depending on what resolutions and in-game settings he/she usually games at.

If you don't try to go above 1280x1024 res, and don't try to max out all of your settings, both in the game, or in your video card's AA & AF settings, then 1GB is enough. If you DO do any of those things, then you'll want 2GB.

Answer 5

RE:
How does increasing ram improve performance of a pc?

Answer 6

If you look in your computer under System Information, you will
see a section with WINDOWS MANAGED SWAP DRIVE or such,
which is your Virtual Memory ( also under My Computer, Properties, Performance, etc. ), and this is how much space is reserved on your harddrive for use a RAM. Ram scratch pad on a harddrive is 100 times slower than real ram, so that by increasing your real ram to the point that the harddrive is NOT used, vastly increases your speed. Then, after that point, there is a trade off, since adding another 5 Gigabytes of ram, means that your computer has to LOOK AFTER that extra 5 GIG, and while
each GIG added is " faster" the total is not = twice as fast for twice as much ram, 3 time faster for 3 times as much ram, etc.
You gain, but not much, after a GIG or two. It also depends on what kind of ram you are using, in what kind of slot, with what kind of chipset, with what operating system, and, in that operating system, what features are available to USE the ram efficiently.

Answer 7

RAM allows your computer to access programs quicker. The more RAM you have, the more programs you can run. If you have a bunch of windows open, you're using a lot of RAM, which is temporary memory. ROM is your hard drive space that only stores files and will not increase speed if you increase ROM.

Answer 8

Increasing ram on a pc allows it to lets say "breathe easier". The ram "Random Access Memory" is what the computer grabs everytime you open a program. It doesn't save anything to the ram its self.. it just uses it for a helping hand. So in essence adding more memory allows less strain on your hard drive,, thus giving you faster computer speed.

Answer 9

Lots of RAM doesn't matter. 512 is a good all around amount of ram for most systems, unless you do alot of graphics editing or movies, 512 is fine. The difference between 512 and 1 gig, will only improve your system speed by 8 or 9%.

Answer 10

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