Block 18 Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Just recently I have been looking for a new computer, now I get the general idea that the bigger the memory the better it will run. I fully understand that a 600Gb will be quicker than a 200Gb. I also understand that a 1Tb will be guicker still, what I would like some one to explain to me is just what is a byte. I can visulise an inch, I know what a metre looks like, I know what a pound of weight feels like, I certainly know what a pint looks like, but how do I visulise a byte or a Gb Can anyone explain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulSaint Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Try this, it worked for me: http://tandemtables.com/database/tables/basics/BYTES_EASY.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenevaSaint Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Just recently I have been looking for a new computer, now I get the general idea that the bigger the memory the better it will run. Sounds like your talking about disk sizes there for terabytes rather than memory, unless you're looking at buying a mainframe or clustered unix server! In which case, it doesn't necessarily make the PC run faster, although cache size would have an impact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsdinho Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Just recently I have been looking for a new computer, now I get the general idea that the bigger the memory the better it will run. I fully understand that a 600Gb will be quicker than a 200Gb. I also understand that a 1Tb will be guicker still, what I would like some one to explain to me is just what is a byte. I can visulise an inch, I know what a metre looks like, I know what a pound of weight feels like, I certainly know what a pint looks like, but how do I visulise a byte or a Gb Can anyone explain Hang on a sec mate..... the size of your hard drive doesn't dictate the speed of the PC. Its just storage space.... In order to improve the speed, you need a fast processor and loads of RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdearlove Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Mods might want to move this to the Technology forum. http://www.zyra.org.uk/kbytes.htm The memory size is the important bit when you are looking at speed. If you give us an idea of what you want to do then we can give some recommendations. The numbers you quote are more to do with storage capacity, not speed. Memory will be anywhere between 2GB and 16GB these days. Hard disk capacity for storing files will go from around 250GB upwards. I just ordered a 2TB drive for my home media server. This could hold around 570000 music files of average size and quality, or 400-500 hours of standard definition video, 180-200 hours of HD video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey-deacons-left-nut Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Memory will only improve the speed if you are running out of it. If your pc is sat there and only using 50% of the available ram then more memory won't speed anything up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block 18 Posted 9 June, 2011 Author Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Try this, it worked for me: http://tandemtables.com/database/tables/basics/BYTES_EASY.html At last some sense thank you Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 I'm of the impression that RAM and the processor are the main things that determine whether a computer is fast/can multi-task effectively? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 In answer to the OP: You know everything thats digital is made up of 1's and 0's (or a 'bit'). well, a byte is 8 bits. Simples Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Just recently I have been looking for a new computer, now I get the general idea that the bigger the memory the better it will run. I fully understand that a 600Gb will be quicker than a 200Gb. I also understand that a 1Tb will be guicker still, what I would like some one to explain to me is just what is a byte. I can visulise an inch, I know what a metre looks like, I know what a pound of weight feels like, I certainly know what a pint looks like, but how do I visulise a byte or a Gb Can anyone explain As others have said, the size of your hard drive - whether it's 200GB or 1TB - won't improve performance or speed. If the latter is what's important, better to go for souped up RAM (I have 12GB on my machine) and not worry about the HD. I prefer to keep my media separate anyway, and have started using the cigarette-case sized WD Passport SE, which is 1TB and costs about £80 or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLove Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 To all those talking about speed. The computer is only as fast as the slowest component in your machine. So if you have an amazing Processor, Amazing Ram but a slow HDD this will make your machine slow. Or If everything is amazing apart from the system board then it's still going to run like a dog stuck in treacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 To all those talking about speed. The computer is only as fast as the slowest component in your machine. So if you have an amazing Processor, Amazing Ram but a slow HDD this will make your machine slow. Or If everything is amazing apart from the system board then it's still going to run like a dog stuck in treacle. Except if you have loads of ram and the application you are using doesnt need to cache to disc... of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey-deacons-left-nut Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 I'm of the impression that RAM and the processor are the main things that determine whether a computer is fast/can multi-task effectively? Kind of. A computer is only as fast as its ability to move and process data. Anyhting that speeds up eitehr of those two things will speed up your computer. Puttign in extra ram when you're not running out of it will have no affect. Putting in faster ram (or matching the sticks in pairs or three's) WILL speed it up. Putting in a new motehrboard with fatser bus speeds, WILL speed it up. Putting in a new CPU that's faster WILL speed it up. Putting new hard drives that have a nice big cache, quick seek and read times WILL speed it up. Just bunging in more ram or a bigger hard drive wont speed it up unless it improves what you have. Extra space is just extra space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 Iirc then a 'bit' is like a microscopic switch. It' either a 1 (on) or a 0 (off). Try to picture it as pixel ( what you see when you zoom right in ona digital image) but smaller. 8 bits make up a bite and a megabite is 8 to the power of 10 ie 1024. That's why the actual size of a computers memory is slightly more than the oft quoted size, people round them down to 1,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 You need to study more of those pints to realise that this **** matters not a jot to us normal people though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 9 June, 2011 Share Posted 9 June, 2011 In IBM terms, half a byte is a 'nibble'. Just to show how old I am, the first MAINFRAME I worked on had 64Kb of memory, mind you it was ancient even for those days. A few years later we got our first PCs, with 540Kb of RAM, 2 floppy drives with no hard discs, and 8086 chips. You get more power in a watch today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 10 June, 2011 Share Posted 10 June, 2011 In IBM terms, half a byte is a 'nibble'. Just to show how old I am, the first MAINFRAME I worked on had 64Kb of memory, mind you it was ancient even for those days. A few years later we got our first PCs, with 540Kb of RAM, 2 floppy drives with no hard discs, and 8086 chips. You get more power in a watch today. Luxury! The oldest I've worked on was an Elliott 803. The program was run through three passes on five-hole punched tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 10 June, 2011 Share Posted 10 June, 2011 Luxury! The oldest I've worked on was an Elliott 803. The program was run through three passes on five-hole punched tape. Paper tape readers, punched card sorters, OCP switches, 7-track open reel magnetic tape units, green screen 80*25 CRT monitors, chain printers, - you could shut down an ICL system by typing 'DIE', it came back with 'OK' and stopped. Those were the days. ( This is danger of becoming the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypie Posted 10 June, 2011 Share Posted 10 June, 2011 A byte can be anything between 00000000 and 11111111. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 10 June, 2011 Share Posted 10 June, 2011 Paper tape readers, punched card sorters, OCP switches, 7-track open reel magnetic tape units, green screen 80*25 CRT monitors, chain printers, - you could shut down an ICL system by typing 'DIE', it came back with 'OK' and stopped. Those were the days. ( This is danger of becoming the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch ). Don't forget loudspeakers on the main bus, you could hear the machine thinking. Are you old enough to remember when they were called 'electronic brains'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 10 June, 2011 Share Posted 10 June, 2011 Don't forget loudspeakers on the main bus, you could hear the machine thinking. Are you old enough to remember when they were called 'electronic brains'? Not quite THAT old ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MongoNeil Posted 11 June, 2011 Share Posted 11 June, 2011 There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MongoNeil Posted 11 June, 2011 Share Posted 11 June, 2011 There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 11 June, 2011 Share Posted 11 June, 2011 There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't. A bit like grammer then? And ironing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 11 June, 2011 Share Posted 11 June, 2011 There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't. A bit like grammer then? And ironing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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