I have a computer which is about 5 years old. It has a Pentium 4 Processor (2.4GHz).

So now to the question. How do the new Pentium 2 Duo-Core Processors run so much faster their CPU speeds are the same as my Pentium 4? I am not very knowledgeable about CPU speeds so an in depth explanation would be helpful!

Thanks for your time,

M-Man!

Here you go:

http://runescape.salmoneus.net/forums/inde...howtopic=187378

Thank you, so how does the processor differ from RAM? Don't they both work to make applications run faster?

Well the computer has temporary memory, say you minimize a window, its stored in RAM for fast access.

The processor is basically what "pushes" the applications, every time you want to do something the processor will run that function.

In terms of upgrades, the processor is going to be harder to upgrade. extra RAM will allow you to run more applications at once. Having a 5 year old computer, a RAM upgrade would benifiet you most. A new processor isn't that liable, because your motherboard(another part of your computer which fits everything together) is not likely to support a newer processor.

The processor is like the brain of the computer. It can do all kinds of calculations, operations, etc. which is how programs work.

RAM is your computer's memory. In this memory, temporary values (knows as 'variables') can be stored and accessed by programs.

Now they both have an impact on your computer's performance. If your processors is fast, but not enough memory is available for the programs, your computer will be slow, and get slower the more programs you open. This has to do with the speed of RAM and harddisks.

Let me explain this a bit. Normally, programs use the RAM for storing variables, because of its very high speeds. But if there is no RAM free, the harddisk is used for temporary storage. This will significantly decrease your computer's speed because the harddisk is very slow compared to RAM.

If you have much memory but a slow processor on the other hand, commands are not executed fast, which results in a direct hit on performance.

You kind of have to get a balance between your processor's speed and amount of RAM. ;)

So if I was to run Adobe PS3, the processor would process such commands as Fill, Select, or Clone, while the RAM would remember exactly what I Filled, Selected, or Cloned.

Is this a good analogy?

Yes, that's a pretty good perspective.