Whats the difference between Ram and hard drive space..?

Question

System: PII 450 or equivalent
RAM: 128 MB
Video Memory: 16 MB
Hard Drive Space: 1300 MB

i have a gateway notebook, 64 bit powerhouse computer, 1.7mhz or something like that..have a lot of memory about 79G, ghraphic card is ATI radeon xpress 200M..can iplay neverwinter night with those requirements? i have a video memory of 64mb...

Answer 1

RAM is basically working memory. It's where your computer stores the stuff it's actually working with. Hard drive space is the actual storage space on your computer. The hard drive dictates how many programs you can have installed as well as how many files (documents, videos, music, etc) you can have. When you turn off your computer, the stuff in RAM goes away while the information on the hard drive is there until you delete it.

Also worth mentioning, the amount of RAM installed on your computer is one of the primary indicators of how your computer will perform. Generally speaking, more RAM is better. The specs on your hard drive can affect performance, but it's usually minimal unless you have a high end processor and plenty of RAM.

Answer 2

RAM = Random Access Memory
This is volatile memory (that means whatever is stored in that memory is lost when power is removed) that your computer uses as "workspace." This memory is in the form of an IC (integrated circuit) or "chip."

A hard drive is a magnetic disc(s). A "head" (somewhat similar to the head in a cassette recorder, VCR, etc.) reads and records data from/to the disc. The data is retained on the disc when power is turned off. Your operating system, programs, and data files are stored there.

The computer also uses space on the hard drive as "workspace" but data can be read/written to RAM much faster than to a hard drive. Thus the more RAM your computer has the better it will be at running multiple applications or demanding applications. Video cards also have RAM memory that is used exclusively for the video data sent to your screen. The video card takes some of the work load off the computer's main processor and main memory. So if you run video intensive applications (especially advanced games), then a better video card with more memory would be desirable.

Answer 3

Oh goody this is a fun one.

Hard drive space is what everything is stored on: your music, your operating system, all your files. When you want to access these things they are transfured as you use them to the memory. Not everything can be put in the memory because it is much smaller than the drive. This is done because the memory can be accessed hundreds and hundreds of times faster than the hard drive. When you stop using something such as your music (close down your music player) the memory taken up by the music player is returned.

Note: the file never gets removed from your harddrive, a copy is put into memory. Memory also gets cleared when you turn off your computer, your hard drive does not. Your video memory is on your GPU or your graphics card this is used because its even faster than main memory and closer to your graphics card.

Answer 4

RAM is the temporary memory that the computer uses while it's on and working on things. It holds the OS and programs you've loaded and are using. This goes away when the power is turned off.

Hard drive space is permanent storage where your files and programs and the OS are stored. You can add to these, delete them, and they stay there when the power is turned off.

Answer 5

Hard Drive space is to your harddisk and RAM is to your memory module. Hard drive is where you store your data, and retrieve your data even when you had turn off your pc. RAM is volatile, it stores data only when the pc is on. it stores data temporarily.

but do you know that sometimes your hard drive can be used as RAM? that is paging file.

and about the requirement, you had to be sure the requirements of neverwinter night with your pc.