what is internal RAM and EXternal RAM?

[lizhiyuan]

Dear all

i am a novice in hardware aspect, due to my study i need to master this part. my question is what is internal RAM and exteral RAM, where is located in motherboad?

seconde one is what is off-chip and on-chip? where is located in motherboad?

thanks a lot

[compdoc]

Are you talking about the Microcontrollers?

As far as I know there is just RAM on the motherboard of a computer. Internal and external RAM can be found when you are talking about microcontrollers.

on-chip refers to any memory (Code, RAM, or other) that physically exists on the microcontroller itself

External RAM is RAM memory that resides off-chip. This is often in the form of standard static RAM or flash RAM.

[lizhiyuan]

Are you talking about the Microcontrollers?

As far as I know there is just RAM on the motherboard of a computer. Internal and external RAM can be found when you are talking about microcontrollers.

on-chip refers to any memory (Code, RAM, or other) that physically exists on the microcontroller itself

External RAM is RAM memory that resides off-chip. This is often in the form of standard static RAM or flash RAM.

thanks friend

the on-chip memory actually is located inside CPU, off-chip is located outside CPU, but it is not DRAM, off-chip and on-chip are all SRAM, so for external RAM, i am not sure it is off-chip memory or DRAM. thanks.

[lizhiyuan]

thanks friend

the on-chip memory actually is located inside CPU, off-chip is located outside CPU, but it is not DRAM, off-chip and on-chip are all SRAM, so for external RAM, i am not sure it is off-chip memory or DRAM. thanks.

another question is where is smart buffer,and how to work?thanks

[compdoc]

thanks friend

the on-chip memory actually is located inside CPU, off-chip is located outside CPU, but it is not DRAM, off-chip and on-chip are all SRAM, so for external RAM, i am not sure it is off-chip memory or DRAM. thanks.

when it comes to CPUs you have L1, L2, and L3 cache. Cache is just another name for memory. L1, L2 and L3 cache are static RAM(SRAM) this is not the same as DRAM. When the CPU looks for data to process it will look in L1, L2, and L3 before it will go to DRAM. L1 will be on the CPU (on-chip) L2 may be inside the CPU package but not directly on the CPU chip, and L3 will be on the motherboard somewhere (off-chip).

now since we are talking about CPUs I would think that internal RAM refers to the L1, and L2 cache and external RAM would refer to the L3 cache. Remember L1, L2, and L3 are not the same as DRAM.

[madoverclocker]

L3 cashe is ON chip for all modern processors (AMD Phenom http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_15331_15332^15334,00.html). the last time L3 cashe was off chip was the AMD K6.

[jbennet]

3 memory

Cache (fast)
RAM (quite fast)
Swap/pagefile on the hatd disk (very very slow)

[franzkie]

nice thanks!!

[John karner]

Internal and external RAM can be found when you are talking about microcontrollers.
on-chip refers to any memory (Code, RAM, or other)

[katokato]

register(closer to processor than L1) : FASTEST WTF MABOB SO FAST <snip> FAST
L1(each core has its own) : lol wtf fast
l2(each core has its own) : fast
l3(cores share this) : lil fast
ram:(cores share this) slow
swap file(slower but stores a fuckton more info, used when you use too much ram): SLOWEST WTF MABOB SO <snip> SLOW

you can increase speed by having 2 hard drives and putting the swap file on another hdd and have the main os on a primary one.

when you talk about gpu:
Integrated GPU soldered on mobo(uses your dimm for storing graphics info) :: <snip> slowest of all, if you game on this you wont be happy, probably the weakest part of the computer

discrete gpu:: its a giant card that uses its own ram (and since its already together) its faster and contains more processing power (read better).

[somjit{}]

hi there katokato..
regarding this..

you can increase speed by having 2 hard drives and putting the swap file on another hdd and have the main os on a primary one.

so is that the same thing as putting your hard drives in a RAID config?
oh and that post was nice.. :)
thanks.
somjit{}