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What does all
this junk mean anyway?
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So, what tha heck IS L2
Cache? What is the "Buss speed"? What do all these numbers mean anyway?
Good questions.
Most of us Macheads don't pay attention to all the numbers. And why should we? Our
Mac's just run-and that's really all we need!
But, these numbers DO really mean something, and are helpful, especially if you're
trying to get the most 'go' out of the least dough...
Megahertz, Mhz.. That's basically the speed at which something operates.
Megahertz = 1000 Hertz. Think of it as a "miles/hour" or Km/hr measurement
of the electronic world. For more info on Mhz, definitions, etc, go HERE.
Megabytes, Mb.Megabyte is simply a question of SIZE of a file, bit of info,
etc. If Mhz is the "mph" of the computer world, then Mb is
the weight or size..All data handling systems are measured by size (Hard drives,
RAM, video memory, etc)..Size DOES matter. See HERE
for more info.
RAM. See chart below for a basic diagram of how your Powerbook works. The RAM
is simply a slot for temporary storage of data. Think fast, but temporary; turn off
your computer, your RAM forgets everything it knew. RAM comes in multiple sizes:
32mb, 64,128,256, 512mb, and 1Gb or 2Gb, and shapes: SODIMM, DDR,SDRAM, etc... See
HERE
for more info.
HDD, Hard drive, Disk drive. This is a more "long term" place to
keep your information, data, etc. HDD's are measured in MB as well (or Gigabytes,
which is simply 1000x Mb - ie., 20gb = 20,000mb). Hard drives don't forget data when
you've turned them off. But they CAN go bad, so be sure to practice safe hex, and
backup regularly! See HERE
for more info.
Cache. Cache is simply a fast short-term memory bank. It generally
runs about 3x or 4x as fast as RAM, but not quite as fast as your processor. Your
processor needs it for REALLY short-term storage of computations, such as graphics
and match computations. Size: 1mb is generally the "sweet spot" for G3
& G4 processors--less will create a huge processing bottleneck, and anymore isn't
usefull for the system. Early Wallstreets came with NO L2 cache--that was a REAL
problem for the machines (see our chart
for examples)
BUSS. Ok, what weird kinda term is that? It's simple... Just think of it as
the pipeline between different components; the path that data travels to get to &
from the processor. It runs at certain set speeds (Mhz), and the faster it runs,
the faster your machine runs! Buss speed is usually NOT something which can be changed
(although we've managed to tweak it a bit with our Avanti cards).
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Diagram for basic Mac
Powerbook processing system. Certain units now carry variants to this diagram.
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