How much Faster do programs run in RAM DISK?

they run similarly to an ssd but significantly faster, (for most programs, you wont notice it since the difference will probably be a program launching in 50ms rather than 200ms

I have tried using a ram disk for an install of red alert 2 and it was fast.

But for a good benefit, I recommend using one for caching purposes, eg some video editors or programs like photoshop will not use all of the available RAM, even if you have ample available. many professional programs allow you to have more than one cache location.

(When I do my next upgrade, if memory prices are still good, I will move to 16GB RAM and probably have a 4+ GB RAM disk for my photoshop cache) (I did my red alert 2 test with my main PC but only have 4GB RAM so it is not worth keeping one)

I thought software runs in ram anyway?..... I'd be interested to know the answer for this too :-)

from what i have been told it runs a lot faster but when it crashes its a big big problem

You probably do not want to try installing a program to a RAM disk. Rather, use them for temporary and cache directories. For example, on my Linux install I have a RAM disk set up for /tmp and ~/.cache (among others). The speed benefit is not really noticeable, and is overshadowed by factors such as running an SSD. Honestly, if you do not know what you are doing when you deal with this sort of stuff, it is best to leave things be.

When it comes to a RAM Disk I see the benefit of using it to store temporary files like internet cache and such but if you installed programs to it wouldn't it erase every time you turned the computer? That's the point with temp files, they can be erased but not when it comes to software.