RAM And Upgrading It

Hello,

In this topic I will be giving you an explanation on RAM and will be showing you how to upgrade RAM on desktops and laptops.

PLEASE NOTE THE PICTURES AREN'T MINE.

Index

Part I : Explanation on RAM
Part II : Upgrading RAM on Desktops
Part III : Upgrading RAM on laptops



Part I : Explanation on RAM(Random-access memory)


The web definition for RAM is,

RAM is the most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible.

So basically what RAM does is run your programs and your OS. Here's a few common questions people may ask.

If I upgrade my PC's RAM will it run faster?


It will run faster to a certain degree. For example say all your process(programs etc) use 512MB of RAM and you have 2GB then upgrading to 4GB won't make a difference to your computer speed because you're not even using the additional RAM. However if you only had 768MB of RAM then upgrading would be recommended because you're basically near the max number of programs you can run and if you open anymore at the same time then it may crash.


How can I find out how much RAM is being used?


Simply by opening task manager(Ctrl + Alt + Delete) then go to the performance tab and under "Physical Memory" you will see

• Total - Tells you the total RAM installed on your computer.
• Available - Tells you the total amount of available RAM.
• System Cache - Tells you how much RAM is being used as a disk cache.

The below image may change depending on your OS,



So in this image, the Total amount RAM installed in the computer is 3135328K(3GB) and the total amount of available RAM is 2061748(2GB), don't worry to much about System Cache for now. SO as you can see this means only 1GB of RAM is being used so if that is what it is at everyday then they don't need to upgrade.



How can I find out how much RAM is being used by one program?



So is your RAM usage a lot higher when you open one program? Maybe it's one program using a lot of RAM. To find out how much ram is being used by one program open task manager(Ctrl + Alt + Delete) then go to the processes tab and under "Mem Usage" it tells you how much RAM the program is using, for example we will use the image below(it may look different depending on your OS)



So here we scroll down the list until we see a big number under "Mem Usage" so firefox.exe is the first one I see that is using a fair bit(139532K(139MB)), this is common for browsers to be using a lot of RAM and will use even more depending on how many tabs are open. Best thing to do is to compare the Mem Usage to other processes(programs) listed and see if there's a huge difference. If you don't recognize the process(program) then Google it and it may be a virus or something unwanted or not essential and then you can remove it.


I have 6GB RAM in my computer but Task Manager/My Computer only shows 3/4GB


This is because you are running a 32Bit OS and it is designed to only read 3/4GB of RAM. The simple solution is to upgrade to a 64Bit OS and they can handle 1GB-16EB of RAM whereas 32Bit is only designed to handle 1-3/4GB of RAM.



Part II : Upgrading RAM on Desktops


Ok so first things first, you need to find out what type of RAM you need and what is the max your computer can handle. To do this we use a simple program called "Crucial Scanner" you can find it here - http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/

Download it and run it and then it will open a page up in your web browser and once it's finished it will show you some information like this,



This tells you what the Max amount of RAM your computer can handle is. In this case it is 4096MB(4GB), It also tells you how much you currently have installed which in this case is 4GB, it also tells you the Total Available Memory Slots which in this case is 2 and the Total Memory Slots in your computer which in this case is 2. Now to the left you can see what RAM is currently installed and it's name etc in this case the RAM is DDR PC2-6400 and currently 2 2GB RAM sticks are installed. So you need to write down all the information I talked about in this paragraph the go to a computer store and tell them this information and they will be able to tell you what ram to get straight away.

Now lets move onto installing the RAM on Desktops, First step is to unplug your computer from the power.



Then take of the back now look for something similar to this,



They may not be blue and there may be more than 4 and they will most likely already have a RAM stick in them. If they do already have a RAM stick in them just simply pop the white clips on the side and pull out the RAM, then put in your new RAM and click down the white clips





Once the RAM has been inserted put the RAM you just took out of your Desktop and put it in a safe place(RAM can come in quite handy) then put the case back on and power up, that's it all done simple right?


Part III : Upgrading RAM on laptops


Ok so first things first, you need to find out what type of RAM you need and what is the max your computer can handle. To do this we use a simple program called "Crucial Scanner" you can find it here - http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/

Download it and run it and then it will open a page up in your web browser and once it's finished it will show you some information like this,



This tells you what the Max amount of RAM your computer can handle is. In this case it is 4096MB(4GB), It also tells you how much you currently have installed which in this case is 4GB, it also tells you the Total Available Memory Slots which in this case is 2 and the Total Memory Slots in your computer which in this case is 2. Now to the left you can see what RAM is currently installed and it's name etc in this case the RAM is DDR PC2-6400 and currently 2 2GB RAM sticks are installed. So you need to write down all the information I talked about in this paragraph the go to a computer store and tell them this information and they will be able to tell you what ram to get straight away.

Now lets move onto installing the RAM on laptops.


First step is to find the place where the RAM is stored.(Access Panel)



Next you need to unscrew and remove the access panel then once it's removed you should see something like this,



If you had RAM already installed then you need to remove it by popping it out and then putting it in a safe place(RAM comes in quite handy). Now you have to put in your new RAM so align like the RAM you just took out was as shown in the picture below,



Next secure it by pushing down on it as show in the image below,



Now put the access panel back on and screw it in and you're done yet again it's easy as pie to do.


Credits to About.com for the images

Enjoy!

 

OMG a bit of moisturizer wouldn't go a miss? LOL I joke

On Topic: Great guide, good use of pictures and good format. This guide will come in handy when I need to upgrade my RAM for a certain game

 

A detailed guide with many pictures love it! im sure some people on here will find this useful.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I loved your guide. I can honestly say, to me, that was the most useful guide i have ever read on sythe. No offense to the others, this is just the only one that ever applied to my needs lol. I have a shitty computer at the moment that was given to me and i have been thinking upgrading the ram for awhile but wasn't sure how to go about it and never bothered to look into. I am getting a new computer in a few months but after reading your guide and seeing the price is fairly reasonable for ram i think i will upgrade. Thank you.

The only thing i would recommend is that you jazz it up a bit, make it more attractive to read. Bigger fonts, colors underlining etc.

 

Nice guide, isn't too long that you get bored of reading, explains fairly well.
Ram is like the easiest thing to upgrade in your computer. Don't be afraid of doing it guys, just make sure you get the right type of ram.

 

Nice simple guide!

I'm experienced about hardware stuff so if you need help about hardware feel free to pm me, I'll be glad to be helpful

 

Thanks for the positive feedback and I will try to jazz it up along with other guides I am going to create.

Thanks, and yes it is very simple as long as you get the correct RAM.

Thanks, I'm sure not many will have problems with installing RAM but you should try help people in the Help, Requests & Tech Support section.

 

Not a bad job writing this guide, I'd say. I'll give it a C+ rating because it has most of what is necessary, but it is lacking somewhat in style, content, and grammar.

Content: Overall, you have covered most of what people need to know about computer RAM; however, the guide is missing a little bit for it to be a fully comprehensive guide. For example, you never really explained what the cache is on the RAM. You also never outlined the distinction of DDR/DDR2/DDR3 RAMs and their clock speeds. The content is good, but it's missing the finer points about RAM chips that would bring it up into the "great" level. (Also, RAM does not "run" programs - it stores repeated processes of code that would otherwise clog up the CPU.)

Style & Format: The format is very well lined out. You have an introduction--major points for that! The style of your format is good, but as already stated, it can be improved a little bit. I suggest making title text bigger and bolder than your body text (for my guides, I usually use size 5 for a title and size 3 for the body). Also, I tend to avoid using more than two or three "returns" between paragraph sections. Having a ton of blank space between two paragraphs within a section is somewhat awkward. Aside from that, it's quite a well lined-out guide.

Grammar Your grammar is where you lose the most points, in my opinion. For instance, you missed periods at the end of several sentences. You also sometimes fail to capitalize RAM, and you do capitalize some other words that are not proper nouns (for example - "This tells you what the Max amount of RAM your computer can handle is.") There are some more advanced grammatical mistakes as well, such as comma splice and run-on sentence, as well, but those are much less intrusive than the aforementioned ones. Get the capitalizations, periods, and sentence structures in order, and it will make the guide extremely more pleasant to read.


Like I said before, it was a very good guide. Thanks for the pleasant read, and I'm looking forward to a second draft. ^_^

 

Just pointing it out, a 64bit OS has the ability to read up to 16 exabytes.

 

First of all thank you for taking the time to write this. I didn't really want to go too deep into the subject and bore people, this is just a quick explanation on RAM and how to upgrade it. I will work on my grammar and format, I just have habits with the capitals I need to get rid of.

Thanks once again.

Never knew that but now I do, Thanks I added it in.

 

This guide was very descriptive, I will be using it in the future.

9/10

 

great guide, thanks my mate

 

very interesting guide, looking into it was more than appealing !