Tech:Building your own PC/Memory

TSR Wiki > Life > Computing and Technology > Building your own PC > Memory

Upgrading your system’s RAM is one of the easiest and cheapest hardware modifications you can do to speed up your computer. In this short guide, my aim is to inform you of the attributes of RAM and what to look for when buying.

RAM is pretty easy to understand. Your motherboard will determine what RAM your system will use. For laptops/notebooks you have DDR2 or DDR3, and similarly for desktop PCs you have DDR2 or DDR3 RAM. The main point of difference here is that laptop memory is smaller and is referred to as SODIMM, whereas desktop memory goes by the name of DIMM. They are not interchangeable. You can not fit DDR2 RAM onto a DDR3 motherboard, and you also can not fit DDR3 RAM onto a DDR2 motherboard. Also remember if you are using an old motherboard with the original DDR RAM, you can't fit DDR2 or DDR3 to it. A new motherboard will be needed.

DDR2 is currently the most popular RAM, and for good reason too. It offers astonishing performance without the hefty price tag. However those who need even more bandwidth may benefit from switching to DDR3. For the future DDR3 is the way to go, but I can’t personally justify spending so much at the moment for minimal benefit.

Never hold the RAM modules from the gold connectivity part. You could damage it.

How much do I need?

The amount of RAM your system needs depends on a few factors. What operating system you will be running, the number of programs you want to run simultaneously, and how intensive the programs are which you want to run.

For example, Microsoft recommends 128MB RAM for Windows XP and 1GB RAM for Vista. In theory you will be better of having 2GB RAM for Vista and at least 512MB for Windows XP. If all you are doing is watching videos, listening to music or posting on TSR this would be sufficient, but more serious gamers, CAD designers, or video editors would need a lot more. It’s not uncommon to have 4GB, however if you want any more, make sure you are running a 64 bit Operating System or the additional memory will not be utilized. Motherboards running Intel Core i7 have the ability to fit 6 DIMMs, for a total of 12GB at the time of writing, and probably a lot more in the coming months.

Speed

When purchasing RAM, speed is an important aspect to consider. DDR2 RAM comes as standard in speeds of 533Mhz, 667Mhz, 800Mhz or 1066Mhz, and also 1150Mhz overclocked. DDR3 is manufactured standard in 800Mhz, 1066Mhz, 1333Mhz, 1600Mhz and also 1800Mhz or 2000Mhz overclocked. While the higher numbers perform faster, don’t be tempted to give your motherboard more than it can handle, otherwise its performance will be throttled or possibly not recognised at all. If you want to upgrade and are unsure of what speed your current system has, use a program like CPU-Z to check.

Latency

The RAM modules latency figure indicates how fast it can clear itself and take on more data. The lower the latency, the better. You may ask now, what is more important. Speed or latency. The answer here is that it depends what you are using the system for. Gamers and designers would benefit more from the higher bandwidth (speed) whereas the average user will prefer lower latency for a more responsive system. I could go into detail but that would defeat the point of this being a basic guide.

Other Considerations

Be sure to purchase RAM manufactured by a reputable brand, for reliability reasons. In my experience these include, but are not limited to, Geil, Crucial, Kingston and Corsair. Usually these come with a lifetime warranty. Also if you only want 4gb for example it is wiser to buy 2*2GB modules, rather than 4*1GB modules. This makes it easier to upgrade later on.