RAM?

[megjake101]

What exactly is RAM? I know it stands for random access memory but I want to know more about it than just that. Im still learning alot about computers

[Prastupok]

What exactly is RAM? I know it stands for random access memory but I want to know more about it than just that. Im still learning alot about computers

 

Read: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html

[Guest]

Any byte can be accessed without using the preceding bytes. Furthermore, hence the name, the memory can be accessed randomly. 

 

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html

[Oshino Shinobu]

It essentially stores the information for the CPU to work from. While HDDs and SSDs can perform the same functions as RAM, they're much slower. 

 

It is a volatile storage type. Meaning that it loses everything stored in it without power. 

[Guest]

If you want to know details than read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access_memory

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_random-access_memory

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_dynamic_random-access_memory

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_data_rate

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM

than this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM

 

thats a lot to read

[megjake101]

Ok. I sorta knew those things but I didnt understand completley. One more question, does that mean the more Ram the faster programs will run?

[Prastupok]

Ok. I sorta knew those things but I didnt understand completley. One more question, does that mean the more Ram the faster programs will run?

 

No. More RAM means more applications can run concurrently, or more can be handled in each app.

[Guest]

Ok. I sorta knew those things but I didnt understand completley. One more question, does that mean the more Ram the faster programs will run?

More RAM allows more processes to run simultaneously without slowing down the computer. It wont mean that applications run faster. 

[jscho]

To understand RAM, it's good to know what a hard drive does too.

A hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) is long-term storage. It'll store your games, music, photos, videos, whatever, and it'll store them for as long as the drive is working.

RAM on the other hand, is short term storage. When a program is opened off of an SSD or HDD, the necessary files are stored on the RAM. RAM is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than any HDD or SSD, orders of magnitude faster. Basically, anything that you've got open will use RAM. Games, Steam, Microsoft Word when you're typing up an essay, whatever.

Note: RAM is known as 'volatile' storage, in that, when you power down your PC/device, the RAM is wiped. That's why when you're typing up in MS Word and you have a blackout, you lose your progress if you didn't save

There are more advanced uses for RAM, but that's the basics of it.

 

More RAM = more things open generally speaking, but only up to a certain point is more RAM a good idea. For most users, 8GB is enough, sometimes 16 if you're a little bit of a power user like me. More hardcore applications like video editing applications or 3D modelling programs will eat RAM like it's nothing. Those users have 32+ gigabytes of RAM typically.

[GoldSrc]

More RAM allows you to have more programs open at the same time without your computer slowing down, more RAM doesn't mean that your programs will run faster.

If you run out of RAM, your hard drive will pay the price, and that will slow down your computer.

 

Or to understand RAM, you need to understand Chrome lol.