RAM is your computer’s short-term memory. It stores information for immediate use by your operating system and other components like your graphics card.
RAM allows you to open apps, websites and files quickly. Without it, other components would need to rely on slower storage components such as hard drives or solid state drives.
1. Speed
Aside from being necessary to run any PC, high-speed RAM can improve performance if your CPU is struggling. This is especially true with regard to the speed of memory channels, which affect how much data can be read and written from the system’s RAM at one time.
However, the CPU can only process the information stored in RAM so quickly before it must move it from that short-term storage into longer-term storage on an SSD or hard disk drive (which resets every time the computer shuts off). This slowdown is referred to as a bottleneck.
Faster RAM can eliminate this slowdown by offering more bandwidth for the CPU to work with, though not all software is equally affected. More importantly, the amount of RAM you need will be determined by what you use your computer for and how many programs you can run at once. For most average users, 4-6 GB should provide enough RAM to handle most applications and games with ease.
2. Capacity
When a program is running, the information is stored in RAM for immediate access. If the program had to continuously access its data from the hard drive, it would be extremely slow. That’s why having sufficient memory capacity is critical for optimal performance.
The amount of RAM your computer can hold depends on your motherboard and operating system, but the typical desktop will support up to 8 GB. That’s enough for most web browsing, office software, and light multitasking. For gaming and professional work that requires high-performance, you can go as high as 128GB on modern motherboards.
To check the current capacity of your PC’s memory, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc or right-click on the Taskbar and select “Task Manager.” Then, click the Performance tab to view current usage. You can also use the Command Prompt to find out, by typing wmic memphysical get MemoryDevices into it. Alternatively, you can open the BIOS and look at the number of slots and maximum capacity that are available.
3. Timings
While RAM frequency gets most of the attention, timings also play an important role in performance. Memory timings are the number of clock cycles that must pass between sending a memory address and receiving data from it, and they affect how quickly your computer can perform tasks like gaming, content creation, and workflow projects.
When choosing a memory module, pay attention to the timings listed in its SPD (Serial Presence Detect) information, which is used by your motherboard and other devices to retrieve attributes like memory capacity, manufacturer, serial number, model part number, and CAS latencies supported. The lower the timings, the better the performance.
However, tighter timings place more stress on your memory and your system, so you may have to balance your speed and timings for the best results. Also, when overclocking your RAM, remember that there is often a ceiling beyond which further adjustments will not yield additional performance gains due to instability.
4. Compatibility
Whether you’re building a new PC or upgrading an older one, it’s important to ensure that your RAM is compatible with your motherboard and CPU. Incompatible RAM will often fail to work and, in some cases, can even cause your system to crash.
Ideally, your RAM should match the technology of the CPU and motherboard, as this will provide the most efficient access to data. RAM is the component that holds the data that the processor uses to execute tasks, so it’s essential that they can communicate quickly and effectively.
There are a couple ways to verify compatibility: you can manually examine the motherboard’s RAM slots for their physical form factor, or you can use a RAM compatibility tool like Crucial’s System Scanner. Keep in mind that different generations of RAM aren’t backwards compatible with each other, so if your motherboard supports DDR4 memory, it won’t fit into modules designed for DDR3 systems. This is because DDR4 modules have a different key notch and pin configuration, so they can’t be inserted into DDR3 sockets.