You probably take RAM for granted. You may not know that there is a lot to know about it, and how it works. There are different types of RAM which are differentiated by the type of material they use in their construction.
Table of Contents
What is RAM?
Computer RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory. It refers to the memory chip that stores data and instructions from your computer’s processor; it can also be used as a temporary storage location for data from programs running on your PC. Computer RAM has many uses, but most people know it as the component of a computer system which temporarily holds active information – in other words, its primary function is to act as a short-term buffer between CPU and external storage devices such as hard disks or network cards.
RAM allows you to run more applications at one time without having them slow down each other because they are all fighting over the same space in real-time. Having more RAM will allow you to store more applications simultaneously, which means that you can perform tasks such as browsing the web, checking your email and editing a document at the same time without sacrificing performance.
The more RAM that is available in a computer system, the better it will be for multitasking – each application has access to its own space on the chip with ideally enough room so that one program doesn’t slow down another. As well as this benefits of having more storage capacity or speed (because all data must pass through memory before being saved), there are also some disadvantages: if you don’t have enough RAM then applications will start swapping out data to make room for new information which slows them down considerably; using too much power from your CPU because everything has to constantly refresh itself.
Most people notice problems when their computer don’t have enough RAM because programs run slower, they start to crash more often and it takes longer for applications to load.
Computer RAM is used by the computer’s CPU as a form of short-term working memory when running processes like an application or game.
2 Types of RAMs
There are two major types of RAM – static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
DRAMs, or dynamic random access memory, have been around since the early 1960s and were quickly replaced with SRAMs, or static random access memory, due to its high cost per bit and low capacity relative to DRAMs. SRAM was also limited by its reliance on external clocking circuitry because it stored data as electric charges on capacitors that dissipated over time.
SRAM retains its contents after power loss while DRAM must be constantly refreshed in order to retain data meaning that if there isn’t enough RAM then your entire system will restart as soon the power goes out.
