RAM, in itself, doesn't actually do anything when you get above a certain level.

It's how this RAM is used that makes the difference. Even fast RAM isn't anywhere near as fast as the caches and especially, the register RAM in the CPU and chip sets, and it's how the data is switched between them that speeds up applications.

Most modern CPUs have the fast cache memories actually as part of the CPU die and they utilize the main memory when necessary. In recent computers, there is so much RAM that its speed and size are becoming less important than parameters like the wait state (created by the difference between the RAM speed and the cache speeds, which means the CPU has to wait for the RAM to catch up)and bus speeds.

So, doubling the RAM size, which in the past, had a huge effect on speed, won't have the same effect in, say, a Pentium 4.


David C.