When you hear PC owners talking about the speed and performance of their computers, they're typically talking about one of three different components (or all of these components together, as a group):
- The central processing unit (CPU): Many of today's PCs use either an Intel Pentium 4 or its cheaper and slower cousin, the Celeron. Another popular processor is the AMD Athlon 64. The speed of your processor is measured in either megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz), with 1 GHz equaling 1000 MHz. The faster the speed of your processor, the faster your PC will perform.
- Your system memory, or random access memory (RAM): RAM is temporary storage, where the processor does its work, where programs run, and where information is stored while it's being worked on. RAM is the microprocessor's playground, its wood shop, its den. The more memory that your PC has and the faster that memory is, the better your PC will perform — especially Windows, which uses a great deal of memory.
- The graphics processing unit (GPU): This is the chipset used on your video card. The better the chipset, the faster and the more realistic 3-D graphics that your PC can produce.
 | To display what type of processor your PC uses, its speed, and how much RAM your PC has, right-click My Computer in Windows and then choose Properties from the pop-up menu that appears. You should see a dialog box appear with these facts |
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