Written by: Tom Sawyer (Who am I?)

You no doubt invested a relatively large sum of money for your computer and I’m sure you want it to run as fast as possible - within reason of course.  Today, let’s discuss what many may be familiar with while others don’t understand: RAM.

Random Access Memory (RAM) provides space for your computer to read and write data to be accesseed by your computer - actually the central processing unit (CPU), but that is another discussion.  When computer memory is mentioned, RAM is specifically what it being talked about.

A computer hard disk/drive spins on a platter and it takes time for your computer to read this - a hard drive is actually one of the bottlenecks that slow a computer down, but at this time it is not cost effective to do anything about this.  Adding RAM to a computer reduces the number of times a CPU must read data from the hard drive - information is stored temporarily in RAM - which results in a faster computing experience.  RAM is volatile meaning data stored in RAM is erased when computer power is turned off.

So RAM is faster than a hard drive and since information is temporarily stored on RAM, having more RAM would improve the computing experience.  Now I mentioned computing experience previously and I want to explain.  Looking at raw horsepower in one area doesn’t necessarily equate to a computer seeming faster to the user overall.  Certain bottlenecks will cause a fast processor or fast-spinning hard drive to be a waste.  As a user you are interested in how fast your computer seems to you right?  That is why I like to talk about the computing experience.  Video cards play a role too, but right now we are talking about RAM.

How much RAM is enough?

I knew you would ask that and this is where I let technology take over.  There are far too many types of RAM, but crucial.com is a site that will do the work for you.  After navigating to the site there is a icon called “Scan My System” that will tell you exactly how much RAM your computer will take, an idea of how it will improve your performance (think improved computing experience) and even how much it will cost if you choose to purchase it from Crucial.  If you don’t want to purchase from Crucial be sure to write down what type of RAM they are recommending. 

Installing the RAM

First and foremost, don’t be intimidated.  It is not above your skill level to install RAM in your desktop and surprisingly even easier for your laptop.  He most important thing is not to have a static charge - you remember dragging your feet on shaq carpet and zapping someone - on your body.  Oh, and disconnect the computer from power too.  Keep in mind, there is no way I can guarantee you will not mess something up, but what I’m telling you is simple and will save yourself some money in the long run.  Businesses will charge you more for memory than you can purchase it online and they will charge you a good amount to install it.  The primary difference between them doing it and you is they are more comfortable doing it because it is something they do on a regular basis.  Hey, I’m uncomfortable in the kitchen, but that doesn’ t mean it is hard to cook everything.  Go for it!

I have included a video and I will say up front some things about this video (only worry about DIMM modules) are outdated, but I chose this video because it is short and there is no way to cover every case and manufacturer out there.  The important thing is opening your computer and installing the memory (on the motherboard) in the right place.

I think I’m going to be talking about re-installing operating systems next week.  Again, something businesses charge way too much for.

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Tags: computer, computing, experience, memory, RAM, upgrade

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Technology Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.