Increasing the physical RAM capacity of a computer system typically improves overall application performance because:
Increasing the physical RAM capacity of a computer system typically improves overall application performance because:
Multiple Choice Options
- A
Virtual memory address bus width increases
- B
Larger RAM chips run at higher physical clock speeds
- C✓ Correct Option
More resident memory space reduces the frequency of costly page faults and disk thrashing
- D
It permanently eliminates all segmentation fault errors
Detailed Technical Solution & Explanation
When physical RAM is small relative to the working set size of active processes, the operating system is forced to continually page memory frames to and from disk (secondary storage), causing page faults and disk thrashing (accessing disk at millisecond speeds instead of RAM at nanosecond speeds). Increasing RAM allows entire process working sets to stay resident in memory, dramatically reducing page faults.