Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!UOTTAWA.BITNET!451061 From: 451061@UOTTAWA.BITNET (Valentin Pepelea) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Memory question Message-ID: <8908111841.AA22482@jade.berkeley.edu> Date: 11 Aug 89 18:33:44 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 22 "F. Michael Theilig"writes in Message-ID: <21467@louie.udel.EDU> > It is my understanding that each memory location is 8 bits wide > even on a 16 bit machine. And that this holds true for 32 bit machines. > What (without getting TOO technical) is the difference between 16 and 32 > bit RAM? Someone refered to 32 bit RAM as being wider. I'm confused. Each memory location contains a byte. (8 bits) On 16-bit systems, you can read or write 16 bits at a time. (2 bytes) On 32-bit systems, you can access 32 bits at a time. That is much faster, because the hardware has to specify the address accessed only once instead of 4 times. Depending on the architecture, it is also much faster to access 32-bit data on 4-byte aligned an instant address error. (That's Guru 00000003 for you and me) Valentin _________________________________________________________________________ The godess of democracy? "The Name: Valentin Pepelea tyrants may destroy a statue, Phonet: (613) 231-7476 but they cannot kill a god." Bitnet: 451061@Uottawa.bitnet Usenet: Use cunyvm.cuny.edu gate - Confucius Planet: 451061@acadvm1.UOttawa.CA