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From: ervin@pinbot.enet.dec.com (Joseph James Ervin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: RAM vs. speed
Message-ID: <986@sousa.enet.dec.com>
Date: 20 Mar 91 21:47:03 GMT
References: <1991Mar20.175757.26768@en.ecn.purdue.edu>
Sender: newsa@sousa.enet.dec.com
Reply-To: ervin@pinbot.enet.dec.com (Joseph James Ervin)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 36

In article <1991Mar20.175757.26768@en.ecn.purdue.edu>, 
nichols@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Scott P Nichols) writes:

|> Does extra RAM on the HP48sx make it run faster?
|> 
|> SN
|> -- 
|> O-        /\
|> |\     /\/vv\
|>       /vv\   \        	      __Insight from Oregon...Scott P. Nichols
|> _____/    \   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     (nichols@en.ecn.purdue.edu)
|> 

If you mean faster in the sense that a VAX runs faster with
more memory, then the answer is no.  A VAX, or other virtual
memory computer, generally does less swapping between
main memory and disk storage when you give it a larger main
memory, thus making it run faster.  Since the HP48SX has no 
disk in the traditional sense, there is no speedup as such.  
The HP48SX's clock runs at 2 MHz, regardless of the amount of
memory.  In fact, some tasks such as the periodic garbage 
collection performed automatically by the calculator take longer
when you have more memory.

On the other hand, having more memory may mean that you
don't have to archive/restore the contents of  your memory 
in order to download the most recent version of TETRIS, etc..
In this sense, having the extra available memory is a plus.  

I have an HP 128KB module, and feel like I'm swimming in 
memory.  I created a directory for my wife with her own
copy of TETRIS (she kept bumping my name off the high
score list, so I gave her a personal copy of TETRIS.  Now we
each have our own high score lists :-)

>>>Joe Ervin