Kingston DDR1 SDRAM Computer 1 GB Capacity per Module Memory (RAM)

How Bandwidth Works

The key to getting the most out of your computer is making sure that the CPU is getting the data it needs. It doesn't matter how fast your computer is, when it stalls it spends billions of cycles doing nothing. The more bandwidth you have, the more data you can get to your processor.

How do Computers Use Bandwidth?

Whether you have a desktop or a laptop, and whether your computer uses Windows or Linux, the internal infrastructure bases around bandwidth. In technical terms, bandwidth refers to the amount of data transmitted and received between components both inside and outside your system, and generally, two different factors determine this:

• Frequency: In simplest terms, frequency is how fast the data is moving. In reality, each pulse moves at the same velocity so what they actually do is decrease the time between pulses so that the total flow of data becomes faster.
• Bus Width: This determines how many pulses of data can flow through the system at the same time. Wider busses have more capacity but require more advanced electronics technology to build. 

What was the DDR Revolution?

The problem arose when they started pushing the edge of the technological envelope. For years, the only way to improve bandwidth had been to either increase the speed of the front-side bus or widen the path by adding more traces. Both approaches could increase the speed at which the memory talked to the processor, but there were limitations. Each stick of RAM needed a lot of traces on the motherboard, so there was no room to widen the bus. Also, the greater the number of traces, the harder it became to raise the operating frequency. For the original SDRAM, that meant that anything above about 133 MHz was getting more and more difficult.  The solution was a whole new approach. The idea behind DDR was that rather than just increasing the frequency, why not increase the amount of data transmitted on each tick of the clock. This led to the introduction of a whole new class of SDRAM that effectively doubled bandwidth.

• SDRAM: Transmits one bit of data per tick of the clock; Kingston SDRAM delivers in a 168-pin DIMM requiring 3.3 Volts and offering 800 MB/sec of bandwidth at 100 MHz.
• DDR: Transmits two bits of data per tick of the clock; according to the specification 1GB of Kingston DDR delivers in a 184-pin DIMM requiring 2.5 Volts and offering 1600 MB/sec of bandwidth at an effective clock-doubled frequency of 200 MHz, which works out to a base frequency of 100 MHz. 

Using Bandwidth

Every accessory you plug into your desktop uses bandwidth to communicate with your PC. Thus, the more you do with your system the more additional RAM you need. It ensures you can switch between running apps at the push of a virtual button with almost no lag because you have the bandwidth your need to run every process.

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