CompTIA Tech+ (FC0-U71)IT Concepts and TerminologyMedium
A technician is setting up a new virtual machine for a client. The client specifies that the VM needs 4096 MB of RAM. How many Gigabytes (GB) of RAM should the technician allocate?
- A8.0 GB
- B4.0 GB
- C3.9 GB
- D4.1 GB
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. 4.0 GB
In computing, memory is typically measured using powers of 2. Therefore, 1 Gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1024 Megabytes (MB). To convert 4096 MB to GB, divide by 1024: 4096 MB / 1024 MB/GB = 4 GB.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. This is double the required amount.
- C. This would be the result if 1 GB = 1050 MB (approx) was used.
- D. This would be the result if 1 GB = 1000 MB was used (4096 MB / 1000 MB/GB = 4.096 GB, which rounds to 4.1 GB). However, for RAM, 1024 is the correct conversion factor.
Memory Unit Conversion (Binary)
Converting between units of computer memory (e.g., MB to GB) using powers of 2 (1024) instead of powers of 10 (1000).
- 1 KB = 1024 Bytes
- 1 MB = 1024 KB
- 1 GB = 1024 MB
- Used for RAM, CPU cache, and often storage capacity.
Memory trick: Memory: Always Multiply/Divide by 1024!