Random Access Memory (RAM) is the ‘memory’ of the computer. This is the physical component in all hardware that temporarily stores all the data required by your computer’s operating system and software for as long as it’s turned on. When you turn off the power, all data will be lost. When the computer is turned back on, the operating system reloads its files into RAM, from the hard disk.
RAM explained with an analogy
RAM is like a highway between a computer processor and other forms of storage like hard disks and flash drives. The processor can access data much faster if it is in RAM. RAM and hard disk are often compared to a person’s short-term and long-term memory, respectively. We use our short-term memory to do all the tasks right away, but there is a limit to what we can retain. As new data emerges, old data must give way.
The hard disk is where data is permanently stored, like our long-term memories. Our short-term memories are erased, but long-term memories remain. Let’s add that RAM is like a piece of paper you have in your hand. The hard drive is your entire filing cabinet.
Why is it called random access memory?
The data on RAM can be accessed in any order. Think of an audio cassette – there, we have to access the data in a sequential manner. It was actually used to distinguish memory access from tape in the early days. On tape, you need to start from the beginning and work your way up to a specific point in sequence.
What does RAM look like?
RAM is actually very small in terms of physical size. It is made up of microchips systematically arranged in modules (see top image). These modules can be plugged into slots on the computer’s motherboard. In terms of bytes, RAM is very small compared to a hard disk. A typical low-end system will have 2 GB of RAM installed, while the hard drive space can be 160 GB or more. 4GB RAM and more than 400GB hard drive is usually the average these days. Normally, you can keep adding RAM modules up to a certain limit specified by your motherboard.
Why does more make the computer (or any utility) faster?
The extra RAM speeds up your computer because the processor doesn’t need to read data from the hard drive as often. Retrieving information from RAM takes a few nanoseconds; for hard disk it is milliseconds. Every byte of software you open consumes memory. In addition, the operating system running the entire program also needs to be shared.
The amount of RAM limits the number of programs or operations you can perform simultaneously. For example, if your RAM is low, you will not be able to open Photoshop and browser at the same time because the software and the work you are doing on them will take up all the available memory on RAM. More RAM means more room for your programs to do their jobs.
RAM operation is also associated with something called Virtual Memory. It’s beyond the scope of this RAM basics article, so assuming more RAM makes your computer run faster because it doesn’t have to rely so much on virtual memory.
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Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
