re: memory

sonicboom wrote on 10/3/2002, 11:02 PM
in laymens terms--
what is memory as it relates to a computer?
i have 512 RAM
but i see ddr ram etc. i

i know this is off the topic of vegas but you guys know your stuff and none of my friends can give me an explanation that i understand
they beat around the bush
which leads me to believe they don't understand it either...hehe
i mean, hard drive is storage
processor--is speed of the computer
but memory.....
thnx in advance
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Comments

Tyler.Durden wrote on 10/4/2002, 5:20 AM
Hi SB,

Ram is like your memory in yer head. Drives are like stuff you write down.

I currently have about 1,000 phone numbers I use.
I can remember 500 numbers off the top of my head. That is my ram, I can recall them almost instantly.
The other 500 I have to look up in my planner... that is my storage (drive).

If I add more ram to my head, I have more numbers to instantly work with, and spend less time going back to my planner.

If I could add faster ram (ddr) to my head, I could recall the numbers in my head even faster.

This talent might make it easier for me to *get* a date (less searching for numbers), but not necessarily make me more interesting *on* a date. Actually, I cannot remember any phone numbers, as "voice-dial" has eliminated my need to exercise my memory. In fact, what were we talking about?

HTH, MPH



riredale wrote on 10/4/2002, 11:39 AM
Nice. A+
sonicboom wrote on 10/4/2002, 1:39 PM
marty thnx
i may study your response and memorize it
this way i can spit it out next time i talk about ram & memory etc
thank you
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vicmilt wrote on 10/4/2002, 9:28 PM
Martyh -

Huzzah !

Most excellent answer.
Bullsplat wrote on 10/5/2002, 9:07 AM
Have you ever watched your Grandmother bake a pie???

The table that she used is just like RAM. And the cupboards where she kept her flour, sugar, shortening, etc. is just like a hard drive.

The bigger the table (RAM) the more items she can pull out of the cupboards (hard drive) at once. If the table (RAM) is too small, then the flour has to be put back into the cupboard (pagefile) before the apples can be sliced. Then the sugar has to be put back before the flour can come back out. And so on and so on. The pie eventually gets made, but there's a lot of swapping stuff off of the table and back into the cupboards.

But, get a bigger table (more RAM) and everything can be out at once, nothing has to go back into the cupboard, and the task(s) go faster, and we Grandma builds more pies. Hmmmmm,, seems like there's some apple pie up in the fridge, be right back... :-)




boomanbb wrote on 10/5/2002, 9:54 AM
I believe that ddr stands for double data rate. I have an Asus P4S8X motherboard that supports a 166mhz memory bus and ddr ram. With pc 2700 ram, my memory is actually functioning at 333mhz. Very helpful if you are running an application that accesses ram quite a bit.

This site has additional info. www.ddr-memory.com
riredale wrote on 10/5/2002, 12:15 PM
You know that little center "island" that many people have in their kitchens? That's like L1 cache memory--small, but close to the fridge and sink. The kitchen table nearby is much larger, but it's a few steps away. It's like your L2 cache memory. It's a little farther away, but it's still faster putting stuff there than going back into the pantry.