8Mb Fast RAM

[sim085]

Hi,

Today I received the new 4MB 30-pin SIMMS (x2) and connected them to my GVP HD8+. However I have a question; In what areas should I notice (most) the benefits of the extra Fast RAM?

Regards,
Sim085

[Matt_H]

Everywhere. In addition to having more room in the RAM disk and being able to run more programs, Fast RAM tends to have better access speed than Chip RAM, so you'll probably see some level of a speed increase as well.

[sim085]

Matt_H wrote:
Everywhere. In addition to having more room in the RAM disk and being able to run more programs, Fast RAM tends to have better access speed than Chip RAM, so you'll probably see some level of a speed increase as well.

I can understand the part where you said that I can run more programs. However I cannot understand how the system should become any faster? Did Workbench (2.1) already have Virtual Memory? Because that is the only way I can imagine that could lead to speed up of execution.

[Matt_H]

Fast RAM gives the CPU its own dedicated pool of RAM to work with, separate from the (typically slower) custom chips. You'll see the biggest difference with 32-bit RAM on a 68030 (or higher) board, but even 16-bit RAM on the Zorro bus is better than nothing.

[sim085]

Matt_H wrote:
Fast RAM gives the CPU its own dedicated pool of RAM to work with, separate from the (typically slower) custom chips.

What confuses me is that when workbench loads, at the top of the screen I have two memory values; one for the chip ram and one for the fast ram. Is the dedicated pool of RAM part of the fast ram value I see here? If so then how come this does not change every second? (Like in Windows, Task Manager).

Matt_H wrote:
You'll see the biggest difference with 32-bit RAM on a 68030 (or higher) board, but even 16-bit RAM on the Zorro bus is better than nothing.

One day

[Piru]

If so then how come this does not change every second? (Like in Windows, Task Manager).

Windows box typically has hundreds of processes allocating and freeing memory all the time. This "memory pressure" causes the values to change constantly.

Idle amiga typically has all apps waiting for user input.

[NovaCoder]

What confuses me is that when workbench loads, at the top of the screen I have two memory values; one for the chip ram and one for the fast ram. Is the dedicated pool of RAM part of the fast ram value I see here? If so then how come this does not change every second? (Like in Windows, Task Manager).

That's because Windoze is always running about a million background processes (even when you're not doing anything).

[sim085]

Piru wrote:

If so then how come this does not change every second? (Like in Windows, Task Manager).

Windows box typically has hundreds of processes allocating and freeing memory all the time. This "memory pressure" causes the values to change constantly.

Idle amiga typically has all apps waiting for user input.

Yes that is true. However what I meant is does the value at the top of the workbench represent the memory not used by the CPU?

If so then if when I had 4MB of RAM I still had 3MB of RAM available, and now with 8MB of RAM I have 7MB of RAM available then my A500+ will not be any fast then when I had 4MB (because the CPU as it was still had plenty of space to use).

Mind you I am not sorry of having upgraded to 8MB, just curious

[Matt_H]

Since you already had some Fast RAM, then you're right. You probably won't see an increase in performance.

And the titlebar on the Workbench screen is set (hard-coded, I think) to only update every 5 seconds anyway. It's not a real-time memory monitor, but close enough for most uses. DOpus 4's memory clocks update every second, if you need that level of precision.

[sim085]

Matt_H wrote:
Since you already had some Fast RAM, then you're right. You probably won't see an increase in performance.

And the titlebar on the Workbench screen is set (hard-coded, I think) to only update every 5 seconds anyway. It's not a real-time memory monitor, but close enough for most uses. DOpus 4's memory clocks update every second, if you need that level of precision.

Thanks I understand better. I also discovered an application called 'No Fast RAM' (it has a rabbit icon on it). I could notice a difference without fast ram thanks to all