Why is it advantageous to eukaryotic cells to have intracellular compartments with different functions?

Cell Size: is governed by several factors: The size of the cell is controlled by metabolic requirements. DNA must be available to produce the enzymes and proteins needed for proper functioning. A too small cell will not have enough DNA to support life and a cell too large will need an enormous amount of DNA to carry on its functions. A second restriction involves surface area to volume ratio. As the cell increases in size, the volume increases geometrically while the surface area increases arithmetically. Eukaryotic cells cope with these problems in that they contain membrane bound organelles. These organelles break up the volume of the cell performing distinct functions which cuts down on the raw materials needed. Each part of the cell does not need the same material to function.

One of the advantages would be the physical boundaries created by the membranes of the organelles keeping the enzymes and other cellular machinery in certain parts of the cells and away from other cellular components. Imagine what would happen if your hydrolytic enzymes in the lysosomes weren't kept inside your lysosomes. They would basically hydrolyze many of your important proteins in your cell and cause your cell to die, which is what happens in necrosis.

The other advantage would be that it allows different reactions with different optimum conditions to occur in the cell at the same time. If enzyme A is optimum at acidic pH while enzyme B is optimum at basic pH, they can still function optimally in the cell at the same time if they are kept in different organelles, as it can be basic in one organelle while acidic in the other as they are both physical separated from each other.