CHAPTER 4

ADDING

RAM AND A CPU

Tasks performed in this chapter:

Plugging in your CPU Adding system RAM Testing your work

Your PC might still be missing one or two very important parts: its brain (the central processing unit, or CPU) and its memory (random access memory, or RAM). When you run a computer program, your computers CPU performs the calculations and executes the commands stored in that program. In tandem, your computers RAM acts as a work area for the program: storing, changing, and retrieving data.

Adding plenty of RAM is just as important from a performance angle as buying the fastest CPU you can afford. With only 128MB of RAM, for example, Windows is still going to run slowly, even with a super-fast Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme processor.

While shopping, remember that the type of socket your motherboard has think connector that the CPU plugs into determines what type of processor you can use.

Cache memory

acts as a high-speed workspace for your CPU, storing data that the CPU is working with so that your processor doesnt have to perform calculations on data in system RAM (which is much slower). The more cache memory, the faster and more efficiently a processor performs. Your motherboard communicates with the CPU and other components at a set bus speed, which you can think of as a speed limit for data throughout your system. Both your CPU and your motherboard must operate at the same bus speed. The higher the bus speed, the faster your PC operates.

DDR memory is assigned a speed rating as part of the name, so its commonly listed as DDR266/PC2100 or DDR3 1066.