What Is Ram?

Question

What is ram and what does it do to my computer, I am looking to get a new computer but i have no idea what anything means when the sites tell me all the specifications. It is so annoying.

Answer 1

Random access memory. The more you have, the faster the computer will function. As a minimum, I would look for at least 80 gig hard drive and 512 of ram, but again, more ram is better.

Answer 2

RAM (Random Access Memory) Is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM is much faster to read from and write to than the other kinds of storage in a computer: the hard disk, floppy disk, and CD-ROM. However, the data in RAM stays there only as long as your computer is running. When you turn the computer off, RAM loses its data. When you turn your computer on again, your operating system and other files are once again loaded into RAM, usually from your hard disk.
RAM can be compared to a person's short-term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. The short-term memory focuses on work at hand, but can only keep so many facts in view at one time. If short-term memory fills up, your brain sometimes is able to refresh it from facts stored in long-term memory. A computer also works this way. If RAM fills up, the processor needs to continually go to the hard disk to overlay old data in RAM with new, slowing down the computer's operation. Unlike the hard disk which can become completely full of data so that it won't accept any more, RAM never runs out of memory. It keeps operating, but much more slowly than you may want it to.

Answer 3

here ya go
ram is Random Access Memory.

Picture it like this:

You have a large filing cabinet in your office. It's got lots of space. It takes you a little time to get that info into/out of the filing cabinet, but you sure can put a lot in there. This would be your hard drive space. If you are getting a new pc you won't find many hard drives below 250 gig.

RAM would be like a small desk or an organizer or a portfolio file. You take info from your big filing cabinet, and keep it in your leather portfolio. You access it much quicker. It's a lot smaller than your harddrive. The more ram, the more stuff you can keep in your 'portfolio'. If you are going with a PC and plan on going to vista, I wouldn't get a PC with less than two gig of ram.

Answer 4

Random Access Memory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM

Answer 5

RAM (random access memory) is the physical memory that your computer reports as having on the motherboard. The generally accepted lowest amount these days is 1 GB (gigabyte) of RAM. If you're looking to upgrade to more RAM for your computer, check the manufacturer's website for the correct type.

Answer 6

Random Access Memory

Answer 7

Random Access Memory

Answer 8

Honestly if you dont know what RAM means you should NOT be concerned with it. The more RAM the more hign intensity programs you can keep running at the same time. You probably have no high intensity programs, so no worries :). If your potential purchase has 1Gb of RAM or more you will be alright I promise, which should be all desktops on the market. If your buying a laptop some still have 512.

The Baron.

Answer 9

It is how fast your computer can process multiple information at the same time . If you open many programs at the same time, or use programs that use a lot of memory, you will have different speed on your computer depending on your ram. Nowadays large ram is great because most programs are quite heavy on images and add ons, which use lots of processing memory.

Here is a site giving you ideas of different sizes. They come in a set of 2. Don't buy anything smaller than 512MB

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/SDRAM/list.html

Answer 10

Random Access Memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a type of data storage used in computers. It takes the form of integrated circuits that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order — that is, at random and without the physical movement of the storage medium or a physical reading head.