What is RAM (Random Access Memory)?

Hello friends and welcome again to your own tech guide: Techanalysia. I know everyone is aware of what is RAM, but not everyone has a deep understanding of RAM. Oh, I have liked 1Gb of RAM in my old computer but my laptop has 8Gb of RAM. So why is it better to have more RAM? Well, with more RAM your computers and smartphones can do more things and run more programs at the same time... well we all know that. So that's where I'll try to help a little bit. 

Let's get started.

WHAT IS RAM? DEFINITION OF RAM 

What is a RAM? RAM as we all know stands for Random Access Memory. It's one of the two basic memories that an electronics computing device can have. Random Access Memory (RAM) may be a hardware device that permits information to be stored and retrieved on a computer. RAM may be a volatile memory and requires power to stay the info accessible. If the pc is turned off, all data contained in RAM is lost. It is the main memory in an electronic device such as computer/laptop/smartphone and even in printer also, and is much faster memory than your secondary memory such as hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SDD), an optical drive(kind of obsolete nowadays).

RAM is volatile in nature, which means the data in the ram is retained in it as long as your device is on, but lost when the device is turned off. And again when you restart your device, the OS files and other files are loaded into ram first, and then the CPU can access them accordingly very fast to operate.

When your processor computes data it's faster to retrieve data required for processing from your ram instead of loading it from permanent storage which takes time. Also, it's less taxing on the battery of your phone when your CPU retrieves data from ram instead of from storage.

WHAT IS RAM USED FOR? WHY IS RAM SO IMPORTANT?

RAM plays a very pivotal role in the smooth functioning of your computer/laptop and smartphones. Whenever you install any app on your phones related to graphics, games, video editing, music any kind of app they are all saved in your secondary memory i.e. your HDD/SDD. And when you open these apps, they are first loaded in the RAM and then executed. These apps stayed in the ram after some time when you are not using some apps they have been placed in the background. And next time when you try to open those apps, they'll be accessible for fast retrieval from the ram, instead of getting them from your much slower hard drive, thus makes your phone slow. When you continue using some apps your most frequently used apps are placed in the ram again for faster access if you have enough ram to hold them all. 

You can compare RAM to an individual's STM and a tough disk to LTM. Short-term memory focuses on the work on hand, but can only keep numerous facts insight on just one occasion. If STM fills up, your brain is usually ready to refresh it from facts stored in LTM. An electronic computing device works the same way. If RAM fills up, the processor must continually attend to the hard disk to overlay old data in RAM with new, slowing the computer's operation. Unlike a tough disk, which may become completely filled with data and unable to simply accept any longer, RAM never runs out of memory, but the mixture of RAM and storage memory are often completely spent.

Let's take an example, assume you are in your college library, your college library is the internal storage, the book in the library are apps. Whenever you need a book to read, you simply go to the stock and grab the book you wanted, and placed it on a reading desk. The desk is your RAM, where you put all the books you need and can access them very easily. The larger the desk the more books you can put on it. The same goes with the RAM, the more you have in your device, the more task you can perform easily and fast. 

TYPES OF RAM

Two types of RAMs are quite popular and used inside computers and smartphones:

1. SRAM (Static RAM)

2. DRAM (Dynamic RAM)

SRAM (Static RAM): 

1.In this memory, the bits are stored in the bistable latching circuit (Flip-Flop or two crossed coupled inverters.) 

2. SRAM doesn't require periodic refresh cycles. 

3. it's used as cache memory inside the pc. 

4. It is the fastest among all the memory. 

5. Typical SRAM cell consists of 6 transistors. 

6. Cost per bit is more for SRAM. (Costlier than DRAM)

DRAM (Dynamic RAM): 

1.DRAM is employed as a main memory inside the computers. 

2. it's fast compared to the first storage memory like HDDs but it is slower compared to the SRAM. 

3. Typical DRAM cell (1 bit DRAM) consists of 1 transistor and one capacitor. 

4. The bits inside the memory are stored within the sort of charge across the capacitor. 

5. Because capacitors have always some amount of leakage current so it needs regular fresh cycles for this memory to refresh the bits. (In Milliseconds)  

And between these two rams, DRAM is widely used in almost every electronic device and further classified into two parts:

Asynchronous DRAM: In this type of RAM, the RAM is not synchronized with the CPU Clock.

Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM): During this sort of RAM, the RAM is synchronized with the CPU clock. It is also known as the Single Data Rate SDRAM, as data is being transferred on the rising edge of every clock pulse. 

Now, this SDRAM is again classified into several types of RAMs in the terms of applications in which they are used. According to the usage and application this SDRAM is termed as DDR SDRAM which is:

WHAT IS DDR RAM?

DDR SDRAM (Double rate SDRAM): During this sort of RAM, the info is transferred twice during each clock cycle, with rising and falling edges.

Different Generations of DDR RAMs are DDR1/DDR2/DDR3/DDR4. In each generation of DDR RAM, the speed of the RAM was increased and power consumption has been reduced.

Mobile DDR / Low Power DDR (MDDR/LPDDR) this type of RAM is used inside smartphones, which is optimized for low power consumption.

Graphics DDR (GDDR): this sort of RAM is employed in graphics cards for multimedia applications that required very high bandwidth.

CONCLUSION

So that's it for today friends. I hope now you got a better idea about what is ram? and what is the use of ram? & also types of ram. If you liked it then let me know in the comment section below and also share it with your friends.