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Home arrow What is Ram and What Does It Do?
What is RAM and What Does It Do? PDF Print E-mail
Computers have been evolving at such a rapid pace over the years that the terms and language of computer components themselves have become more cryptic than ever.  One of the most common terms that you will come  across when buying a computer is RAM.

RAM stands for Random Access Memory.  Ok, that's all fine and dandy, but what is it used for and what is it exactly.  To illustrate this lets imagine you are back in school(I know, hard to remember for some of us isn't it?).  You are sitting at your desk and the teacher picks up her math book and writes out a question on the black board.  She then tells you to come up and solve the question.  Well the black board is almost exactly what RAM is.  It's the computers black  board.  When the computer needs to solve something it takes out information from the hard drive(math book) writes it on the black board(RAM), then the processor takes over and solves the problem.  After which the information can  either be wiped from the black board(RAM) or left there for further use. At the end of the day though, the black board  must be cleaned, so too with the computer, when you shut off your computer, the RAM is wiped clean.

To sum up the last paragraph, RAM is basically a temporary location that allows information to be processed at a fast rate.  RAM is faster than your hard drive.  Your hard drive is like the library of the school, all information is in there,  and when a program is run, the information is taken from the hard drive, and put into the RAM to be processed faster.

There are many forms of RAM.  The type of RAM used in your computer is dependent on what kind of computer you  have. If you wish to read further into what each type of RAM is, try going to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM

Most new computers use a form of RAM called DDR(double data rate). Speeds of RAM are always increasing and in  each type of RAM there is also a speed classification.  To check the type of RAM you will need for your computer and  prices for it, http://www.memory.com is a great site.
 
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