# What you need to know about memory and CPU

DevFeed: [What you need to know about memory and CPU](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-memory-and-cpu-25315.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://kau.sh/blog/ram-memory-cpu-processing-performance/>)

Author: Kaushik Gopal

Published: 2011-12-20T07:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Kaushik Gopal's Site](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/kaushik-gopal-s-site.md>)

Topics: [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cpu.md>), [Operating system](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/operating-system.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>)

Tags: [computer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/computer.md>), [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cpu.md>), [memory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/memory.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>), [process](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/process.md>)

## AI overview

An introductory article explains how physical RAM stores temporary information, how virtual memory uses hard-disk space when RAM is full, and how paging between RAM and disk can affect computer performance. It also introduces the CPU's role in processing data.

## Source excerpt

What you need to know about RAM, memory, CPU Processing and other important stuff that could tell you why your computer is slow. Physical RAM/Memory ### RAM chips funcion quite literally like your Computer's Memory. All the information that needs to be remembered when operating between different tasks (or even the same task) gets stored here. You know how people who have great memories can be awesome, that translates to the computer world as well, more memory = more awesome. So 8GB " 4GB " 2GB " 1GB " (this is 2011, don't even consider anything less than 1GB). Virtual RAM or Virtual Memory ### Just like how humans can't store everything in their head, there are times when some of the stuff has to be written down or stored as reminders. When your computer's physical RAM or memory is full, it begins to offload some of the information onto a special space carved out of your hard disk (your hard disk is like a big notebook, you've generally got plenty of space here). This carved out area is called a swapfile or Virtual Memory or VM. VM, is hard disk space that can be used as memory and VM size indicates the amount of disk space currently being used as memory. Paging out/Thrashing: ### When you need to start writing everything onto your notebook, you've got a problem. You're either not organized or you're doing things too complex for your IQ to handle. In the computer world the process of writing stuff onto your virtual RAM is called Paging out or Thrashing. When you see too many page outs or thrasing cycles, you've got a problem because HDDs are much slower than RAM modules when calling back information (If you use solid state drives or SSDs, you're going to see a marked performance difference. Even still, nothing like physical RAM). The number of gigabytes of information your operating system has moved between RAM and disk space is generally indicated by Page in/outs. Page Out/Page Ins ### Page out is the movement of data from RAM to hard disk and Page in is the moveme