Getting The Most Out Of Your RAM

Contributed by Jay Schroyer

RAM, or random access memory, is what gives your computer the ability to quickly process information and run multiple applications. Without sufficient RAM, your computer use will become a painfully slow operation that will produce more frustration than actual work. Understanding RAM’s role in computer processing and understanding why more is better is the key to fast and hassle-free computing.

Whenever you give your computer a command, there are basically three components of the machine that get the job done: the CPU, or central processing unit, RAM, and the hard drive. The CPU receives the command and immediately turns to the RAM to see if the program being requested is currently loaded. If it is, it pulls the information from RAM and instantly launches it. If it doesn’t find what it’s looking for in the RAM, the CPU then turns to the hard drive to search for the information needed to start the application. This takes more time because the hard drive, much larger than your RAM, is a component that relies on physical movement to access the information stored there.

You can look at these three parts in these capacities: the CPU is the barbecue chef, the RAM thawed steaks, and the hard drive represents frozen steaks. The barbecue chef (CPU) wants to put more steaks on the grill. He looks in the fridge and finds that there are no more thawed steaks (RAM) and opens the freezer to retrieve some frozen ones (the hard drive). The frozen ones take longer to cook than the thawed steaks, thus slowing down his cooking time. So what’s the point? The more thawed steaks, or RAM, that you have available to use, the faster your cooking, or processing, time will be. Consequently, if there are more thawed steaks, the chef can cook more at a time, making his time in front of the grill that much shorter.

Now you have a general idea of how RAM, or the lack thereof, can affect your computer. How do you know if you have enough and how can you add more?

Do I Have Enough?
Depending on the applications you run, you may already have enough RAM in your computer. Some might ask, “Why can’t I use the hard drive for RAM? It’s huge!” The hard drive is simply for storage because it is a slower drive than the memory that is used for RAM. Having more RAM will allow you to run multiple programs by allowing the CPU to load the programs you use most into RAM upon start up. This will result in faster processing times when you access these programs. If the CPU has to go to the hard drive to start a program, it will take longer to load and may cause the computer to hang up if you are asking too much of its resources. If you access a program, and then exit it, and return to it a few moments later, the program will load faster the second time because the CPU is able to access it in the RAM. Whenever the computer is restarted, the RAM is wiped clean, so you can see the importance for having the computer load your most used programs into the RAM on start up.

You can check your RAM usage in the “Control Panel” section of your computer or by pressing “Control+Alternate+Delete” and choosing “Task Manager.” Under the “Performance” tab, you will see how much of your RAM is being used by the computer at that current moment. Through the “Control Panel” you can access the “System” and check how your memory is being allocated for use in your computer. Your owner’s manual will have specifications and recommendations of how much RAM your computer has for virtually any type of setting whether you do a lot of word processing (which generally doesn’t require a huge amount of RAM), graphics work (programs like Photoshop® eat gobs of RAM), or multimedia tasks. Have you ever had a program quit or not start and display the message, “Out of memory” or “Not enough memory to complete request?” This is an example of using a program that requires a lot of RAM and not having enough available RAM to run multiple programs.

How Can I Add More?
You can purchase RAM to add to your computer and greatly speed up your processing time. At one time, RAM was very expensive to purchase, but the cost has dropped dramatically over the last few years. It is available at just about any retailer that sells computers or computer components. You can usually find some pretty good deals online as well. As far as installing the new memory, your owner’s manual will have instructions and so should the RAM that you purchase. It really is as easy as removing the cover and sliding the memory cards into the memory expansion slots. You can always call the manufacturer help line or look online for detailed instructions for installation, but if you can plug in your computer, you can add RAM.

Adding RAM won’t solve all of your problems. If your computer is outdated, then it doesn’t matter how much RAM you pump into it. You’ll just have to break down and upgrade if you want to run RAM-hungry programs. But the more you can learn about computer basics, the better off you’ll be when it comes to troubleshooting, upgrading, and utilizing your computer to the fullest.

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