RAM « Tiplet

April 30, 2009

How Much RAM Memory Do I Really Need And What Kind?

by David Hakala

When you buy a new computer the sales person will undoubtedly try to upsell you a RAM upgrade. It may seem that a whole gigabyte or two or RAM is plenty, but you could be in for surprises. Modern software is complex and uses lots of RAM. Software developers pitch their wares’ minimum RAM requirements to make them look lean and efficient, but in truth the software often needs much more RAM to run optimally. Having plenty of RAM means that software is not swapped out to disk as often, saving wear and tear on your hard drives. More RAM is usually a good investment. But how much RAM do you really need, and what kind of RAM should you buy?
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March 24, 2009

How Can We Recognize DDR1 and DDR2 RAM?

Filed under: computer hardware,computer memory,Macintosh,Windows — Tags: add RAM, computer memory, DDR1, DDR2, RAM, RAM modules — admin @ 5:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Q: How can we recognize DDR1 and DDR2 RAM? — Alim

The two types of RAM modules are similar in their appearance, but don’t get them mixed up because they are most definitely not interchangeable. If you accidentally purchase the wrong kind of RAM, it won’t even fit into your computer – and you’ll be heading back to the store.
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March 2, 2009

How Do I Add More RAM to My Computer?

Filed under: computer hardware,computer memory — Tags: adding RAM, computer memory, DIMM, RAM, SIMM — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. Your computer uses this virtual memory to do computations and calculations while the computer is on. Nothing is ever permanently stored in this memory, yet it is a big factor in the performance quality of your system. Most computer come with at least 1GB of RAM and extra space so you can add more. On older computers with less than 1GB and/or no extra space, you can even take out the existing RAM and replace it with a higher-capacity “stick” of memory.
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January 16, 2009

Your System Is Low On Virtual Memory

Filed under: computer memory,Windows — Tags: memory, RAM, virtual memory, Windows — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

When you start a large program, such as Microsoft Office components including Word, Excel, or Outlook, you may experience very slow startup of the program, a thrashing sound from your hard drive; and the following message:

Your system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows runs properly, increase the size of your virtual memory paging file. For more information, see Help.

After you click “OK”, you may see this further information:

Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.

We don’t want to see Help for more information; we want our program to load faster and our hard drive to stop tearing itself apart. So let’s quickly summarize what Help would tell us and get on with the fix.
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