When & How to Add More RAM to Your Computer?

RAM or Random Access Memory is the base of your computer performance. High memory leads to better performance, but to serve the purpose you must know about the types of RAM to make better compatibility with your computer. If you are in a job of content generation or any such low memory consuming task, there is no need to go for a higher RAM. But make sure that if your system performance is getting slow day by day – it’s time to add more RAM to your computer!

Someone wants to play realistic 3D games on his computer, other wishes to edit videos; one is into 3D graphics & animation and other wishes to work in a high resolution full-colour illustrations – this is how requirements grow out of an advanced computer world! And for every requirement, you might hear people discussing about enhancing their computer memory. But not everyone knows what kind of RAM he/she should buy and how to install it.

Adding more RAM

Additional RAM is required in your computer when it starts responding slowly. To serve the purpose, it further accesses the hard drive. But it is not a permanent solution to enhance the efficiency of your computer. To serve the purpose, you need to add more RAM. For Windows XP, 128MB RAM is suggested as the minimum scale. Now a days, 512MB RAM or 1GB RAM are commonly used for optimal performance with standard desktop applications. In high-end technology sectors, where server is controlled & animation / designing is a routine job – 2GB, 3GB or 4GB RAM have become very common.

Types of RAM

To know which RAM is best suitable for your computer, you should be aware of the different types of RAM:

• SRAM (static random access memory): multiple transistors; used primarily for cache
• DRAM (dynamic random access memory): memory cells with a paired transistor & capacitor
• FPM DRAM (fast page mode dynamic random access memory): original form of DRAM
• EDO DRAM (extended data-out dynamic random access memory): 5% faster than FPM
• SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory): 5% faster than EDO RAM; most common form in desktops today
• DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM): higher bandwidth, greater speed
• RDRAM (rambus dynamic random access memory): operated at high speeds

Now, after analyzing about RAM types, their speed and efficiency, you may come to a conclusion about how much RAM do you need. Obviously, if you are into graphics-intensive work or gaming industry, you must go for an extraordinary piece of RAM. Otherwise 512MB SDRAM, 1GB SDRAM, 512MB DDR2, 1GB DDR2 are more then sufficient.