The Virtues of RAM

So, why would you want more RAM, or different RAM anyway? Well, as we upgrade the different components in our systems, RAM has to be upgraded as well. The traditional thinking, back in the days of the 386 and beyond, was that upgrading your system consisted mainly of a motherboard and CPU upgrade. The other components were left alone, to some degree. However, the advances in technology have made things drastically different! Now RAM technology is necessarily advancing. After all, what use is a 600 MHz CPU with a 200 MHz bus if RAM is only running at 66 MHz?

Nowadays, we've come to learn that RAM is an incredibly integral part of the computer. With incorrect RAM, you'll get strange crashes, errors, or may just be running slower than optimal. Some reports show that an insufficient amount of memory can cause a CPU to run much lower than its optimal performance (up to 50% slower!). Pinching pennies on RAM when you spend your bucks on the CPU and motherboard can be a terrible mistake. At the same time however, spending a grip on the latest CAS 2 might be unnecessary depending on your needs.

Herein lies the problem

I have a friend who troubleshoots and repairs computers as a career, and he tells me that a great number of the units he gets in when people say "I have a bad motherboard" is in fact due to bad, or incorrect, RAM! Additionally, many people think that buying any name brand RAM is good, and that it will last. Reputable, name-brand memory is a great investment, but you must also buy the correct type of RAM. The most reliable RAM chips won't work in your system if you don't buy the right kind.

anyway, at the pace that software and games are moving, additional RAM may be needed just to meet the minimum requirements. In general, memory is considered to be a major bottleneck in a system's performance, or the inhibitor to optimal performance. Memory, especially Level 2 cache (which we describe in the next section) , is the main reason why overclocking is not always successful to our often dreamed of 500+ MHz. Even on successfully overclocked systems, system memory plays a great part in keeping things stable and running well.

Balance your life

Having the right kind of RAM and a sufficient quantity of RAM can really take the strain off of your system for processing! Adding better quality/more memory is often the step that allows a system to run more optimally.

With system memory prices so low, it's becoming increasingly easy for programmers to increase minimum or recommended system specs for their software. For this and many other reasons, it's always to your advantage to have a surplus of memory. We're not kidding when we say "You can never have enough!"