RAM for Not Yet Techies

RAM / Random Access Memory is the part of your computer which is doing the real work at any given time. An easy way to remember what RAM / Random Access Memory does is to compare it to your conscious mind. Right now, your conscious mind is busy reading this web site. So in effect you have a small software program running through your mind that knows how to read and is interested in learning more about how computers work.

While your conscious mind is busy with this program and learning about RAM / Random Access Memory, it is NOT thinking about what you had for lunch yesterday, your sixth birthday party or how many miles your car has until it's due for another oil change. Me writing about those things is sort of like clicking on those concerns and memories and making you think briefly about them.

Until then, they were memories that resided in your brain (on your hard drive), but you were not consciously thinking about them.

One advantage a computer has over the human mind is that its RAM / Random Access Memory can be increased, so that a computer can run various software programs at one time. Our minds have limits to how much we can remember and think about at any one time. Even ditzy scatter brained people are really thinking of one thing at a time - they just jump from one subject to another without concentrating on anything.

It is measured the same as any memory. When I bought my first computer, the standard amount that came on the machine was 4 megabytes. This seems pathetic today, but it was enough for DOS and Windows 3.1.

Now you can get it packaged as SIMMs (single inline memory module) and DIMMs (dual inline memory module). The older kind is now known as SRAM (static) and is used for cache memory. DRAM (Dynamic) needs to have its storage cells refreshed or given a new electronic charge every few milliseconds. It stores each bit in a storage cell that is a capacitor and a transistor.

RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory) is a subsystem to transfer up to 1.6 billion bytes per second. DRDRAM (Direct Rambus) is a technology for this developed and licensed by the Rambus Corporation. It promises to promotes games and multimedia streaming. It provides for a two-byte (16 bit bus) rather than DRAM's 8-bit bus. The components inserted into the motherboard connection are called Rambus inline memory modules (RIMMs).

SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) that is synchronized with the clock speed of the CPU it is optimized for. By operating in sync the operation is more efficient and effective

As general advice, you should always upgrade the RAM / Random Access Memory when you buy a computer. Never keep only what it came with - that's always too small.

Every serious computer user should automatically include the price of a full upgrade of RAM / Random Access Memory into their new computer budget. I have 512 megs now and wish my computer could accommodate more.

When you have more RAM / Random Access Memory your programs run faster and Windows crashes less often. Life isn't perfect but it's easier.

It is true that if your RAM / Random Access Memory is insufficient that Windows will try to help you out before it crashes. It uses 150 megabytes of your hard drive as a form of extended memory called a temporary swap file. However, this still puts some strain on your computer resources and takes longer than if you have real memory available.

This is also how people can get in trouble going to porn sites. They think they're safe because they didn't download and store the image. They don't realize that just viewing a pornographic picture can put it on their hard drive, because Windows used their hard drive to store the image while they were viewing it, extending their available RAM / Random Access Memory. Yes, they didn't download and Save it - no matter, if it's on your hard drive at all, it'll never totally leave, even when overwritten by other files.

Next: Scanners