What is RAM and why is it important when working with software?
Question by mommy2be #1: What is RAM and why is it important when working with software?
How do you determine the minimum amount of RAM required to run a program? How can you upgrade your computer if it doesn’t have enough RAM?
Best answer:
Answer by Marvin
RAM is imprtant because that is where data is held whilst it is being worked on by the processor. No RAM – no programs.
For Windows XP for very basic use 500Mb is enough. For running more than one program at a time or doing more complex tasks 1Gb is normally fine.
For Windows Vista 2Gb is the minimum you should have. More is better.
You can upgrade RAM by adding new larger RAM chips. Very simple to do.
Find out how much you currently have and check your upgrade options by using the online memory scanner at www.crucial.com
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Everything that you run on your computer resides in the RAM, there is a Virtual Memory Paging system that takes data out of your secondary memory, your hard drive and loads it into RAM when it is needed, however that is probably more than you wanted to know. So RAM is very important. So the more RAM that you have in you system the more efficient your machine will be because it is not constantly swapping your programs in and out of Main Memory.
To determine how much RAM is required to run a program you basically look at the box and see its minimum requirements, and if it is not in a box, like a download over the internet, there should be specs. somewhere on the web page that states the min req.
If you want to upgrade your RAM you can fairly easily install new RAM chips into an open DIMM slot, however you must make sure that you get the right kind, i.e. DDR, DDR2, ect. and the right speed. If you are a novice at computers than just take it to a computer shop and have them do it for you.
Simply put, the more RAM, the better your computer runs when you are working with a lot of programs