What is RAM?

[AdamHuw]

Okay, so the title basically says it all..
What is RAM?
I know its something to do with memory, but I have a few questions about it..

1) Will any computer take any amount of RAM?

2) Do I need a certain processor for a certain amount of RAM, or can I have a terrible one and have a load of RAM?

3) How do I find out how much RAM I already have?

4) How to I know what type of RAM I have/need?

That's all my questions for now, but I will probably ask more as we go on..
Thanks for any help! XD

[stoanee]

Google is your friend.

Here is one of a gazillion references to ram:

What is RAM? (Random Access Memory, Main Memory)

Every motherboard will take only a certain type and amount of ram. Best to check the manufacturers website to find out.

[Lpfan4ever]

1) There are many limits on RAM.
- Type (DDR1, DDR2, DDR3, etc)
- Speed
- Motherboard limits (Usually motherboards can only use up to a certain amount of RAM)
- OS limitations (32 bit can only address 4GB, 64 bit can address more but lower versions of Windows have limitations)

There's more probably, but I can't think of anything else.

2) You theoretically could, but having a boatload of RAM isn't really useful for many things.

[BrutalGreen]

Originally Posted by Lpfan4ever

2) You theoretically could, but having a boatload of RAM isn't really useful for many things.

setup a ramdisk for boot and core apps and blow all the SSD boys out of the water?

[AdamHuw]

Well I'm pretty sure I'm running on 32Bit, so your saying I can only go up for 4GB RAM?
I just want to be able to dedicated some RAM to gaming so I can run a few games a bit smoother.
Also, how do I find out how much I already have and what type I need?

[[nK]Sharp]

Originally Posted by BrutalGreen

setup a ramdisk for boot and core apps and blow all the SSD boys out of the water?

Afaik you can't use a ramdisk for boot because it always has to be on to work.

[gingerbee]

i have used a ram disk for years and it really has very few use's for the every day user i myself use it for vmware and scratch disk adn boot from for my cs5 works wicked fro this and some trans-encoding kinda offtopic sorry

[frontier204]

Originally Posted by AdamHuw

Also, how do I find out how much I already have and what type I need?

The best way to find out about your RAM is CPU-Z: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting
Under the "Memory" tab, it will tell you what kind of RAM is installed and what speed it's running. The "SPD" tab will tell you, for each slot on the motherboard, the details of the installed sticks of RAM (if any).

To find out what kind of RAM you need, you'll have to get a QVL (qualified vendors' list) of memory for your motherboard. If you're talking about the Dell you have in that other thread, then you'll instead have to do a pile of research into seeing what other people have installed and if it worked or not. (Dell doesn't release QVL for their lower end computers at least, because they want you to buy their overpriced RAM.) Generally you can get the same RAM as what CPU-Z shows you (same speed, same type, but higher capacity) but some motherboards have strange issues.

Originally Posted by AdamHuw

Well I'm pretty sure I'm running on 32Bit, so your saying I can only go up for 4GB RAM?

Yep, if you have a 32-bit OS your absolute maximum is 4 GB of RAM. Now it's a little more complex than that - depending on your motherboard or graphics card you may even have less than that. For instance, my old Dell ran Windows XP 32-bit and I installed 4 GB of RAM, but the OS could only use 3.5 GB. That number can go down as low as ~2.75GB if you install video card with a lot of memory.

Originally Posted by AdamHuw

I just want to be able to dedicated some RAM to gaming so I can run a few games a bit smoother.

There's no such thing as that unless you have integrated graphics or a very cheap video card. Close anything you're not using while gaming and the OS can use up all the RAM you have installed, or up to 2GB or 3GB for 32-bit applications. The exception to that rule is if you have an IGP (integrated graphics processor) or a GPU that uses system memory instead of dedicated memory. Then you could set a certain amount of RAM to be used for graphics.

[Bungwirez]

@Adam. see! ask questions. get many answers. :P

[AdamHuw]

Wow, that's a lot of information.. Thanks :D!
I've been looking around on a few other forums and searching through Google, and I have come across the ATI Radeon HD545;0 ATI Radeon HD5450 * 20484MB (2GB) DDR3 Video Card PCI Express * HD 5450 DVI and HDMI NEW: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories .. It seems pretty good, reasonable priced, but I still don't know if it will work with my computer?
I'm also starting to get annoyed with all this and thinking about just spending the money on it and if it doesn't work put it back in the box and cry!