One of the main concerns of people who buy computers is the speed of the computer. A better understanding of the factors that influence how fast your computer can achieve can help you make the best decision for your needs.

A typical computer system performs many activities and in all areas speed is a consideration, but there are different types of speed. Some of the areas that should be considered are;

1. General computing and data management
2. Video Image Presentation and Frame Rate (Frequency at which video frames are displayed on a monitor, usually described in frames per second (fps). Higher frame rates improve the appearance of video motion. Broadcast TV (full-motion video) is 30 frames per second).
3. internet communication (loading and downloading), sending and obtaining data
4. peripheral speed such as printer, scanner or other connected devices

This article will focus on the heart of all computer operations; General computing and data management.

The architecture of this area of ​​the computer can be described in this simplified diagram;

CPU RAM memory disk drive

The brain of the computer is the CPU or Central Processing Unit. This component performs all data manipulation, evaluation, and calculation. It does all the math, logical comparisons, and arrangement of information. However, it is very limited in that it can only handle a very small amount of information at a time.

Unlike the human brain, the actual memory or data being manipulated, for the most part, resides in a different part of the computer than the thinking part. The memory area is known as RAM or random access memory. The CPU has to communicate with the memory all the time to get more data and to write changed data. Getting data to and from RAM takes time. Each component of RAM has a manufactured speed that can be accessed.

Also, RAM is limited in size. To handle large volumes of data, the RAM may not be large enough and the hard drive must be accessed. Accessing the hard drive is much slower than talking to RAM. This really slows things down a lot.

To complicate matters, for various electrical engineering reasons, the CPU cannot communicate directly with the memory. It has to communicate through a communications channel known as the front side bus. It’s like your brain has to phone your memory every time it needs to remember something.

Each part has a speed limit associated with it. The CPU has a certain speed for handling data, the Front Side Bus has a speed at which it can talk to memory, memory has a speed at which it can be accessed and so does the hard drive. They all add up to determine how long it takes to get things done.

Time taken for the computer to get data and work on it (in simplified terms) = CPU logical time + time to “travel” on the front side bus + time to access RAM + time to talk to the hard drive (if necessary). ).

what counts most

The factor that makes the biggest difference is the size of the RAM memory. If it is large enough, the system will have to go to the hard drive less often. This has the most dramatic impact on a computer’s performance. It never pays to skimp on the amount of memory you buy for your computer.

The minimum size to buy for modern computers is fast approaching 2 Gigabytes.

CPU speed is next in importance. The speed of most CPUs provided in modern systems is sufficient for most types of day-to-day operations. Unless you are doing very intensive math, complex database lookups, encryption, or graphics intensive such as computer-aided design or modeling, you won’t need the highest speed computer.

The speed of the bus is as follows. This will depend on the type of motherboard (main system board) provided by your computer manufacturer and basically cannot be changed after the fact for the average user.

Disk speed is the last factor, but should be considered if you are doing database intensive operations.

In short, get plenty of RAM, buy a dual-core CPU at the very least, and check your front-side bus speed to get the speed you need.