Memory!!!

Cache Memory

fast access memory, closer physically to processor than main memory, processor checks for an instruction there first before main memory, because it stores a list of the most commonly used instructions

Registers

temporary storage locations, 1 nanosecond access

VRAM
Video RAM
DRAM
Dynamic RAM - constantly refreshed, erases if not refreshed
SRAM
Static RAM

EEPROM
electonically erasable PROM
PROM
Programmable Read Only Memory


Methods of Comparison System Performance

Clock Speed - Hertz (Hz)
increasing clock speed increases system performance. faster clock speed = more instrctions per second

MIPS
Millions of Instructions Per Second
different computer structures execute instructions differently, so not a fair method of comparison

FLOPS
Floating Point Operations Per Second
measures the counting speed of the computer

Application Based Tests
run programs and do operations on them and compare the results.