Better be a smartass than a dumbass: RAM

If you open your computer case you will find little sticks standing out of your motherboard, those are called RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, that is to say you can access its information on any cell as long as you know its address. But first let us dissect a stick of RAM.

Dynamic RAM Biology 101: Basically RAM is an integrated circuit made of millions of transistors and capacitors. The two of them makes a “Cell” which is to say a place that can store a single bit in his 1 or 0 form. The capacitors makes all the memory work while the transistor makes the switching work. The problem with capacitors are that they are very dumb and have a bad memory. Every few millisecond you have to re-tell him that he is 1 or 0. To alleviate the task of the cpu, a memory controller reads every cell each several millisecond and re-writes back the information that was written on it, refreshing the capacitor’s memory. It happens thousands of times in a single second.

That was Dynamic RAM, static RAM also exist but it is used mainly used for CPU caching. And I will not talk about it in today’s lesson. Feel free to Google it. There is lots of RAM types. SRAM (Static RAM) and DRAM (Dynamic RAM) are two of them but there are other kinds of RAM, you might have an outdated kind of RAM but most computers will use newer versions of static RAM when memory sticks are concerned.

Now RAM is the kind of memory that is “Volatile”. Meaning that all its content are flushed when the computer is powered down because the memory controller cannot re-write the information back on the chip. This takes us to the next section of RAM knowledge. What does it do?

Theoretical RAM 101: In your computer, the CPU is there to handle all the data that is flowing in and out of your computer. To your monitor, or printer, or USB key. All of the data have to pass throught the CPU to get proccessed and put back in place in its new state. But when you are playing a game, or running an application like photoshop, what happen when you make changes to your drawing but you are not saving it? The problem with CPU-Harddrive relation is that the channels between the two is very slow. Your harddrive cannot memorise data as quick as your CPU can process it. So this gigantic bulk of 1’s ans 0’s have to go somewhere in the meantime. This is where RAM comes in. As soon as your CPU have finished something, it sends it to the RAM modules because the channels between both are extremely fast. So lets say you open an old picture of your friend in photoshop. First the data is tranferred from the harddrive into the RAM and it stays there for as long as the application is open. When you make changes the CPU takes the information from RAM, processes it and turns it back into the RAM again. When you save your picture is empties your RAM of photoshop data and sends it into the harddrive at a relaxed pace. All the while the CPU can continue its actions.

Memory Swapping: This is why the more RAM you have, the more things you can execute faster in your computer. But what happen when you want to open an application that takes more memory that your RAM can support? Memory swapping happen. Lets say you have a total of 512 megabytes of RAM. And you open an application that needs 1014mb of RAM to fully operate. Theres a problem, now your computer will take 512mb’s of data at a time, sends it to the CPU, wait to get it back again, sends it back to the harddrive, retrieve the OTHER 512mb’s that have remained untouched, sends to the CPU, wait to get it back, and re-send it to the harddrive. He will make that again, and again, and again until your application has closed. Due to the harddrive read/write speed memory swapping will greatly slower your system. The solution? Get more ram. The advantage of having more RAM is that you can execute multiple applications before going into a memory swapping situation.

Now that you know that you need more RAM, how do you install it? Read on !

Practical RAM 101: This section will cover the basics (in other word, pretty much everything there is to know) about installing RAM. First the tools, you need absolutely nothing. There’s that, installing RAM is extremely easy and quick. First unplug your case completely, don’t just turn it off. When that is done, open your case and ground yourself by touching a metallic part of the computer (like the metal frame) and with your other hand touch the ground. Second, look inside your computer and locate the slots in which RAM is inserted. Look at the image right by, you can see the arrow pointing to the RAM, two sticks are in place and there are two free spots. Now stop here, be careful when buying RAM. As I said earlier, there are several types of RAM. Not just Static and Dynamic. Depending on the date your motherboard was build it might be compatible with just a single kind of RAM. Newer computers are compatible with DDR2 RAM type. Be sure to check which one you are compatible before buying your sticks, there is nothing more frustrating than buying a stick of ram that won’t fit. To get back on the subject, now that you have your stick of RAM in the hand and the location on where you are going to put it in, the only thing that is left to you is to push the little brackets on the side outward so that the stick will fit right it. Now apply a gentle but strong pressure on the stick forcing it in the slot. DONT PUSH TOO HARD, or you might break it. If it does not fit, try inserting it the other way around. If it still does not work you might not have the correct kind of RAM. Try looking the the slot to see if the crevisses on your RAM matches with the bumps on the slots. If not, you have an incorrect kind of RAM. If all goes well the brackets will closes themselves on your ram stick holding it securely in place. And there you go, no more messing around it needed. Your computer will automatically regognize the RAM and use its power therefore making your computer faster.

~ by Tristan on July 3, 2008.