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From: creiman@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Chuck Reiman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: RAM vs. speed
Message-ID: <1991Mar21.031026.16613@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 21 Mar 91 03:10:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: ux1.1991Mar21.031026.16613
References: <1991Mar20.175757.26768@en.ecn.purdue.edu> <986@sousa.enet.dec.com>
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In article <986@sousa.enet.dec.com>, ervin@pinbot.enet.dec.com (Joseph James Ervin) writes:
|> 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.
|> 
|> [ stuff deleted]

Actually, <ahem>, I can attest that have little memory will make your
calculator very slow. Don't know about the other way around.

Try to fill up the stack. Use something like:
<< DEPTH DUPN >>
Then just stick that in a variable and keep pushing it till you get
Insuffceint memory. Try to do a few hundred more dups,  w/ dupn.
When free memory gets WAY down there, things noticeably slow down.

Fun things for a rainy day...

Charlie Reiman
-- 
Charlie Reiman
creiman@ncsa.uiuc.edu
sig limited to four lines??? That's outrageous! My lawyer will be in
touch!