Ram Question

[Rhone]

This is probably a very dumb question but please humor me...Is 1gb or ram the same as 1024mb?

[Flogger]

Yes.

[Demokritos]

To clarify things, Rhone, "MB" means megabytes (of data), "GB" gigabytes (of data), the latter unit being a 1000 times larger value than the former. "1 GB" is just an appromixation of the actual amount of data talked about, which is exaxtly 1024 MB.
Might as well go on clarifying things here. For "1 MB" is similarly an approximation of 1024 kilobytes of data, and "1 KB" a final approximation of 1024 bytes of data. A "byte" is the smallest group of information the computer handles. It normally contains a binary code of eight "bits" (digits), each bit having the number "0" or "1". Different bit combinations in these bytes are used to represent everything we want in the computer. The letter "A", for instance, has been given the normal numerical code 65, which in binary code is written "01000001". So, whenever you see an "A" on the screen it means that the computer has read, among other things, "01000001" somewhere. Likewise for every other detail on the screen etc.
The knowledge of how it works makes the computer a truly wondrous machine, doesn't it?!

[AlfonsoVIII]

To clarify things, Rhone, "MB" means megabytes (of data), "GB" gigabytes (of data), the latter unit being a 1000 times larger value than the former. "1 GB" is just an appromixation of the actual amount of data talked about, which is exaxtly 1024 MB.
Might as well go on clarifying things here. For "1 MB" is similarly an approximation of 1024 kilobytes of data, and "1 KB" a final approximation of 1024 bytes of data. A "byte" is the smallest group of information the computer handles. It normally contains a binary code of eight "bits" (digits), each bit having the number "0" or "1". Different bit combinations in these bytes are used to represent everything we want in the computer. The letter "A", for instance, has been given the normal numerical code 65, which in binary code is written "01000001". So, whenever you see an "A" on the screen it means that the computer has read, among other things, "01000001" somewhere. Likewise for every other detail on the screen etc.
The knowledge of how it works makes the computer a truly wondrous machine, doesn't it?!

What he said.

[Erik]

This is probably a very dumb question but please humor me...Is 1gb or ram the same as 1024mb?

Yes, when talking about RAM 1GB is always 1024MB.

But to confuse things: other media like harddisks and DVD-R's are often advertised (for marketing purposes) using the 1GB=1.000.000.000 bytes formula, which means 1 GB is just 953.7 MB and that's 70.3MB short of what you might expect.

BTW: The reasons for the 1024 figure is that it's much easier for computers to devide and multiply by 1024.
1000 in binary is 001111101000
1024 in binary is 010000000000
And since 1024 is close to 1000 computer engineers decided to break with standard science (who use 1K=1000, 1M=1000000, 1G=1000000000).

[Rhone]

Many thanks guys...your answers are both informative and comprehensive!