I have a basic understanding of RAM, but have a few more general questions...?

Question

I think I have a basic understanding of RAM, is it the main piece of hardware that handles the execution of programs? Or is that the CPU? I know I am probably asking a very broad and extensive question but if you could lay down the answer for a newb I would really appreciate it.

Answer 1

The CPU handles the calculations demanded by the programs.

The hard drive stores all such programs on your PC.

RAM allows the programs to run faster by storing vital bits of information while the programs are running. RAM is MUCH FASTER than the hard drive, so the more RAM you have, the faster your computer will appear to operate...up to a point.

Answer 2

Simile:
You have an office (Your Computer) created and designed by an office design specialist (PC or MAC).
You have a personal secretary (Monitor/video card, keyboard, mouse, etc [user interface stuff]) that you give instructions and he/she shows you what you need to see.
Your personal secretary works with your office manager (Your CPU or Central Processing Unit), passing info back and forth, to get things done.
Depending on what needs to be done a specialized secretary (a program) is called in by you and/or the office manager.
That specialized secretary gathers the information it needs to complete the task. He/she gathers that information from you, through the office manager and your personal secretary, and from the filing cabinets (Hard drives, CD ROMs & other removable media and/or other sources of data).
The work gets laid out on a work table or desk (RAM [Random Access Memory]). The work gets passed from the specialized secretary to the office manager and back till the job or a part of the job's complete, then the results are sent back up the chain of command to you, and also (likely) the results are filed back in the filing cabinet.

The larger and more efficient your work space (RAM), the more efficient and appropriate the specialized secretary (program), the faster and more organized the filing cabinets(your data storage devices) and the office manager (CPU), and the better the quality of your personal secretary (user interface stuff), the faster and more efficiently the job at hand will be completed.

That's it. Of course it's really both simple and complicated, but you should now get the picture of what goes on inside a computer.

Answer 3

I would go to wikipedia.com and do a search on ram to get the best answer. Otherwise, from my understanding of RAM, it is not responsible for the execution of programs. Rather, it stores program and documents you launched so that the CPU can access it faster. If there was no such thing as ram, opening files back and forth from the hard drive would take a long time.

Answer 4

The CPU is what handles the execution of programs the RAM is were the program is loaded into so that the CPU can read and execute the program. RAM has a bit of a partnership with the CPU.

Answer 5

RAM is the working memory of the pc.

The processor is where the work is done.

Data is set up and temporarily stored in RAM. It is then fed to the processor where it is processed and then returned to RAM.

Data is stored on the hard drive.

If RAM is limited, data has to be loaded onto and from the HDD which cuts into efficiency.

Think of RAM as desktop space, hard drive as a file cabinet. You have a large paper sort job to do. You are the processor. You have only so much desk space (RAM). You have to load as much paper on the desk as you can and then sort; you will load stuff in and out of file cabinets because the desk top is too small if you need to sort 5,000,000 sheets of paper but if you need to sort 10 sheets, it is big enough. So for the large job, the processor (you) spend a lot of time loading and unloading paper to the file cabinet and the job takes longer. A larger desk top (RAM) would reduce the time it takes to do the job because the processor does not have to spend as much time loading things in and out of the file cabinet and the job gets done quicker because it is more efficient not to load and unload file cabinet.

I hope the analogy helped.

Answer 6

The CPU handles the execution of instructions. RAM is also known as working storage i.e. where the immediate data for processing by the CPU is held.

Answer 7

O.K. Violet, You have so much of it simply first-class, so I'll simply upload a bit of data. The purpose that multi-cored processors paintings faster than unmarried center processors is effortlessly to do with time as opposed to duties. A functional analogy maybe to think a undertaking that you simply ought to do for your possess. Now, participate in the undertaking, and time how lengthy it took you. Now have a pal help you to whole the equal undertaking, time that (procedure), and of path it did not take so long as while you did it for your possess. Moreover, the processors' cores paintings in combination very successfully. This could be like your pal and your self acting a undertaking and the entire at the same time your pal 'is aware of' what you have got to whole the following part of the undertaking and truthfully palms you the right device simply on the proper time. The effect is that much less time is wasted 'watching for gear' - a lot more effective. Hard Drives - The 'typical' rough force utilized in computer systems is an electro-mechanical gadget. That is, it has digital and mechanical add-ons. The digital add-ons are very speedy to participate in their duties. The mechanical ingredients nonetheless, are slower. The mechanical add-ons incorporate a spinning platter (disc) and a 'stylus' that reads the know-how that's saved at the disc. The disc is made to spin through an electric motor (referred to as a servo motor), and in view that the know-how at the disc truthfully occupies a bodily house at the disc, the stylus has to 'discover' the bodily situation of the information handiest after the servo motor has spun the disc to the proper function wherein that piece of information is. Of path, that every one takes time. In an try to velocity-up the time it takes to discover the information, a few Hard Drives have quicker servo cars. A typical velocity is 5400 RPM the quicker ones run at 7200RPM. There is a seen change within the time taken to entry the information utilizing the quicker one. SSDs Solid State Drives - SSDs are MUCH quicker at having access to information than HDDs in view that of the functional proven fact that they're wholly digital. There aren't any relocating ingredients. These instruments show awesome speeds for information entry in view that the gradual mechanical ingredients of the HDD don't seem to be gift. With no have got to look ahead to a disc to spin and a stylus to be located in simply the proper spot, SSDs are the following iteration of information garage instruments and sure, you will have to get one. As you've gotten most of the time already learned, the SSDs are drastically extra highly-priced than HDDs. A usual fashion to preserve bills down, is to put in a relatively small SSD within you pc, and feature greater outside garage on HDDs. The small inside SSD signifies that you pc begins-up faster, accesses your packages and begins them extra swiftly, can multi-undertaking bigger and along side a well praise of RAM, will participate in very properly. Store matters like films and vids (enormous dossier dimension models) on an outside HDD, in view that they're less expensive according to gigabyte of garage. Hope that is helping. Good success.