Adding RAM to Computers

RAM

We can upgrade the memory of the computer by the adding extra RAM to the memory slots in motherboard in order to increase the overall performance of the computer. Random Access Memory (RAM) is the kind of data storage in the computer in which any storage location can be accessed directly. Both the size and capacity of RAM are lower than the hard disk.

Purpose of RAM

The programs and data that we are currently using are stored in the RAM temporarily so that the processor can access them quickly because the RAM access time is faster which is in nanoseconds compared to the hard disk access time which is in milliseconds. So if we have more RAM in our computer, the number of times the processor has to access the data from the hard disk is decreased.

Motherboards having 2 memory slots

Some of the low cost motherboards have only 2 RAM slots. Generally each slot can support 1 GB memory so we can connect 1 GB memory modules to each of the slot so that the performance of the computer can be improved with the total 2 GB RAM.

Motherboards having 4 memory slots

Some motherboards have 4 RAM slots. So we might think that we can connect 4 GB of RAM to the computer which will greatly increase the performance of the computer. Yes, we can connect 4 GB physically but some of the 32-bit operating systems may not provide the entire 4 GB RAM of memory to us instead it sets side some part of the memory for internal uses and provide around 3 GB for us. So, if we want to utilize all the memory slots for increasing the performance the better option is to connect two 1 GB memory modules to two slots and two 512 MB memory modules to the remaining slots. Even if we add four 1 GB memory modules to each of the slots we are going to get the performance that is almost same as 3 GB only. So we are unnecessarily spending money on one 1 GB memory module.