Can RAM speed exceed processor speed?

macs00macs00
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hello everyone, I am about to upgrade my RAM cards. My processors are 1GHz and 1,54GHz, and I plan to add RAM memory capacity on both computers to up to say 2GHz (maybe more)... My question is, is this worth it? Suddenly I am under the impression that no matter how much RAM I add, the computer will run only at the top CPU speed available... is this assumption right?



Second question, will my computer crash by having so much RAM capacity and less CPU speed? (i don't think I'm making much sense here, but I appreciate the help!)



Thanks in advance

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    macs00macs00 Posts: 3member
    Sorry I meant RAM capacity to up to 2GB, or more
  • Reply 2 of 3
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    When you have too little RAM, your virtual memory paging (it writes portions of memory to disk to save space) will really eat up your computer's speed - but once you have enough memory to avoid paging altogether, adding more memory will have no speed benefit.



    There is a tool to check out your memory paging statistics, system monitor or something like that in the utilities folder.



    And, no, your computer will not crash by adding extra memory, regardless of the speed of your processor - as long as you put in supported DIMMS you should be fine. If you go over 2 GB you should check out the maximum configuration that your computer will support, it may not support 4GB.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    macs00macs00 Posts: 3member
    Thanks, I'll see the status of the memory paging... If I understand correctly, if there is no paging happening, or too little, I should not bother upgrading RAM memory?



    The DIMMs are all figured out, I got the right specs and also the max capacity of the motherboards...



    Thanks for your help
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