The speed with which you are able to browse the Internet, view videos, or perform other online-related tasks is determined by a combination of your computer’s attributes and your Internet service. Any activity you perform on the Internet uses a variety of your computer’s resources. Using the Internet encompasses devices like routers, modems, network cards, processors, RAM and the hard drive. Some of these you can control, change and tweak. However, others you have no control over besides choosing a different Internet provider. Network cards are available in a range of speeds. Typically they come in the format 10/100 or Gigabit. 10/100 means the card can function on networks running 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. Gigabit network cards can handle network speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second. Obviously, the more RAM you have the better. A 32-bit operating system can usually handle up to 3.5 MB of RAM, and 64-bit operating system can handle RAM over 4 MB. Budget will play a part in how much RAM you add to your computer, but having at least 2 MB of RAM is a good practice. Again, budget will play a part in your processor choice. If you can at least obtain a 1 Ghz processor it will help remove the processor as a bottleneck to your Internet speed. Writer Bio
