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When writing to memory, the CPU writes data from MDR to the memory location whose address is stored in MAR. MAR, which is found inside the CPU, goes either to the RAM (random-access memory) or cache. The MAR register is half of a minimal interface between a microprogram and computer storage; the other half is a MDR.
A portion of the computer's hard drive is set aside for a paging file or a scratch partition, and the combination of physical RAM and the paging file form the system's total memory. (For example, if a computer has 2 GB (1024 3 B) of RAM and a 1 GB page file, the operating system has 3 GB total memory available to it.)
Associated with speed, the more RAM there is in the system, the faster the computer can run, because it allows the RAM to run more information through to the computer's (CPU). Not only does adding more RAM to a computer help it run faster, it helps boots up a computer immensely faster compared to booting up a system with less RAM.
The operating system will place actively used data in RAM, which is much faster than hard disks. When the amount of RAM is not sufficient to run all the current programs, it can result in a situation where the computer spends more time moving data from RAM to disk and back than it does accomplishing tasks; this is known as thrashing.
A typical computer has only a single memory controller with only one or two channels. The logical features section described NUMA configurations, which can take the form of a network of memory controllers. For example, each socket of a two-socket AMD K8 can have a two-channel memory controller, giving the system a total of four memory channels.
Computer memory used in most contemporary computer systems is built mainly out of DRAM cells; since the layout is much smaller than SRAM, it can be more densely packed yielding cheaper memory with greater capacity. Since the DRAM memory cell stores its value as the charge of a capacitor, and there are current leakage issues, its value must be ...
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In computer science, random-access machine (RAM or RA-machine) is a model of computation that describes an abstract machine in the general class of register machines.The RA-machine is very similar to the counter machine but with the added capability of 'indirect addressing' of its registers.