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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Installing additional RAM - progeasy

RAM, or random access memory, is an integrated circuit on the computer that is used for data storage. RAM is volatile memory because the data stored in the memory chip will be erased when the computer is powered off. RAM is the primary storage method for loading applications. Without RAM, the computer will be unable to temporarily store data and, therefore, the user will not be able to open and run programs.

Installing additional RAM helps speed up a computer by enabling it to load programs much faster. Computers use random access memory to temporarily store data. Every operating system has a virtual memory manager. Virtual memory is used to help the RAM chips store data. Take, for example, running programs that require up to 128 MB or memory on a PC that has a 64 MB RAM chip. This limited amount of RAM cannot handle these kinds of programs. This is where virtual memory comes in.




Virtual memory creates a swap file that is used to help RAM store temporary data. If a user is currently using 128 MB of memory and only has 64 MB of RAM, the virtual memory manager determines which data is not currently being used. This data is temporarily stored on the hard drive until it is needed. When the computer needs to use the data, the data is “swapped” with the data that is no longer needed. It is this swapping that slows down the computer. While the data is being swapped, it will feel like the computer is lagging and sluggish.

In order to reduce the amount of times a computer swaps files, the user will need to add RAM chips. RAM allows more data to be stored on random access memory, which is much more faster than the hard drive. Because more data can be stored on the RAM chip, the computer does not have to swap files as much. Because of this, the computer performs much more efficiently.

So the obvious logic would be to add as much RAM as possible to maximize your computer’s performance. Contrary to this myth, this is not necessarily true. Random access memory increases your computer’s performance only up to a certain point. For example, if you only use programs that need only up to 128 megabytes of RAM, there is no point in buying RAM chips that are 1 gigabyte. This would just be a waste of money because your computer will never need that much RAM.

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