I’m Matt Harrison I live in the United Kingdom and I’m co-owner of LiquidTutorials, I’m learning web development and Photoshop in my spare time.

RAM (Computer Hardware)

What is RAM?

RAM, Random Access Memory. The official definition states that “it is a form of computer data storage.” Have you ever opened your CPU cabinet? If you have, you must’ve noticed that there is a big fan mounted on the motherboard and right next to it is a couple of pieces of plastic sticks neatly tucked in. These sticks are RAM. These sticks allow you to access stored data in any order, hence the term “random.” The storage location does not matter neither does the fact that the data is unrelated to the previous data; any piece of data can be accessed easily. RAM can be divided into two kinds:

1)      Static RAM

2)      Dynamic RAM

How does RAM work?

Dynamic RAM is the most common form of RAM, It is made up of Integrated circuit which has millions of transistors and capacitors. A transistor and capacitor together make a memory cell. A capacitor can either hold a 1 or a 0. A capacitor holds electrons, when the electrons are charged the capacitor is holding 1 and when the capacitor is discharged it is holding 0. The CPU or the memory controller has to constantly refresh the capacitor so that it does not get discharged and loses what is stored in the memory cell. The process of refreshing takes place thousand times in a second. This is why it gets the name dynamic.

The chip is divided into rows and columns; the place where the rows and columns intersect is where the address of the storage location

As opposed to Dynamic RAM static RAM does not need to be refreshed, it has four to six capacitors in the same wiring. Static RAM is faster but expensive
Dynamic RAM is slower but cheap.

Various other types of RAM are:

1.)    SDRAM:  Synchronous dynamic random access memory

2.)    Rambus SDRAM: Rambus dynamic random access memory

3.)    DDR: Double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM

4.)    Credit Card memory

5.)    VRAM: Video Random Access Memory

What kind of RAM do you need?

Well, this totally depends on what you plan to do with your computer. If you plan to play some realistic games or do some graphic designing, then you should have more RAM. When upgrading your computer it’s important to upgrade everything, yes everything, it’s because when one part is upgraded then other parts need to keep up with the upgraded part. Say for example you upgraded your processer; it’s advisable to consider upgrading your RAM as well for optimum performance. Normal RAM memory can be as low as 64 MB to as high as 4GB. That’s the range you can opt for depending on your computers use. If you plan to operate high end programs then you would need to support it with high end hardware. Consult with your local computer dealer before you go ahead and buy stuff. It is important to note that the wrong hardware can cause your computer to crash. Decide on what you want to use your PC for and consult with the dealer to get the best and try and stay updated with the hardware news.

If you have an Nvidia Graphics Card go here to get the latest drivers.

Just set the settings below to match what you have and where you live.

Then click the search button and you will be taken to another page where your download will begin automatically.

If you have an ATI Graphics Card go here to get the latest drivers.

Just set the settings below to match what you have.

Then click go and you will be taken to another page where you have to manually download the driver.