Ram Performance and Dual Core vs Quad Core CPU's

Adding RAM, and Dual Channel Memory

Adding Ram to your computer can benefit your system greatly. There are various factors that may determine how much of a benefit it yields. Going from 2gb of ram to 4gb of ram should increase performance within your computer. If you have an older OS like Windows XP, it may not recognize any more than 2gb in your system, and the extra memory will not be utilized like it should. Windows Vista and Windows 7 will make full use of all 4gb, and will lessen the amount of times the cpu needs to access the HDD. It will just use all of the information stored in the 4gb of ram, increasing speed and performance.

Several years ago, a type of "dual channel" memory came on to the scene. These sticks of memory must be installed in identical pairs. You can not install a 1gb stick, and a 2gb stick on the same system, It will not work efficiently. Adding dual channel memory allows the memory to transfer data across two channels or pipes for the data to flow through. This greatly reduces information bottlenecks when exchanging information to and from the CPU and HDD. If Dual channel memory is installed correctly, it will add new life to any old, aging system.


Dual Core vs Quad Core Processors

Most modern computing systems these days come with basically two types of CPU's. There are dual core CPU's, and Quad core CPU's. Having two or four cores in a system is like having like double or 4-times as many CPU's on your motherboard. It is basically the brain of your computer duplicated or quadrupled and put on a single chip. This will allow your system(depending on your OS, and if the software is well written), to work literally twice, or sometimes four times as fast. During day to day operations, a dual core may be enough. In some benchmarking tests, a dual core core processor can be faster than a quad core processor. Software that is very CPU intensive can written to take advantage of all four cores(programs like Photoshop, Autocad, etc.). Utilizing all four cores when doing video editing, or CAD work will definitely speed up performance a noticeable amount.

  It is best to know what type of work, or how CPU intensive your programs are before deciding on which type of processor to buy. Obviously the quad core processor has four CPU's inside, and therefore is more expensive. You should always buy what your budget will allow