How to Speed Up Memory

Familiarity with Different Memory Types Can Help When Attempting to Speed Up Memory

One way to get a faster computer is to speed up memory. You can improve
PC speed by adding memory. It’s cheap and fairly easy to install.
Random Access Memory (RAM) is considered the most important part of PC
memory. Speed up the RAM and you’ll wind up with a faster computer.

Speed Up Memory But Know the Different Memory Types First

When applications are activated on a PC, each of them uses some of the
system’s RAM. Having multiple programs running in the computer
simultaneously eats up system memory. Each of these programs requires
memory to keep running. With so many programs open, PC functioning
slows down, sometimes to the point where it crashes or freezes up.

The good news is you can speed up memory by installing additional RAM.
But before moving on to memory installation, it would help to learn
about the types of memory available. RAM comes in many different kinds
as well as configurations. It runs at a variety of speeds too.
Familiarizing yourself with them will be useful. Listed below are the
different RAM types:

• Dual Inline Packages or DIPs – Older PCs use this type of memory. The
  DIPs are directly plugged into their own sockets on the PC’s
  motherboard. They come in twos or sets of eight.
• Single Inline Memory Modules (SIMMs) – These are plugged into
  matching, long sockets on the motherboard. They have more capacity than
  the DIPs. Motherboards typically have several banks of SIMM sockets.
  SIMMs come in 30- and 72-pin formats. The 30-pins often have less
  capacity than the 72-pins.
• SDRAM, Rambus and DIMMs – Dual Inline Memory Modules resemble SIMMs
  in appearance, but are available in 168-pin formats. They’re generally
  higher-performance, faster memory than SIMMs and are utilized in
  Pentium computers. These have capacities ranging from 64MB upwards.
  Newer memory-types Rambus (or RIMMs) and synchronous DRAM (or SDRAM)
  run faster and have capacities of 64MB and up.
• ECC vs. Non-ECC – DIMMs or SIMMs usually have nine memory chips on them.
  Eight are used for the system memory itself while the ninth is referred
  to as the parity chip. It’s used for checking errors, ensuring that
  other chips aren’t causing errors. Some PCs require parity chips while
  others don’t. In newer memory-types, it’s no longer termed parity or
  non-parity. Instead, it’s error correcting code (ECC) or non-ECC.

Before you attempt to speed up memory, note that memory is available in
different speeds. Naturally, the faster the memory, the faster computer
systems will operate. You measure memory speed in nanoseconds. Lower
nanosecond ratings mean faster computer speed. The easiest way to
improve PC speed is to speed up memory – and that can be done
by adding more RAM.

See to it that the memory you purchase matches the type of memory that
your PC is able to accept. Never go for slow RAMs. Sure you might save
a buck or two, but it will likely slow your PC system down.

If the computer you own requires proprietary PC memory, you’ll have to
obtain special memory for the machine that’s usually available from the
PC’s manufacturers. Lastly, when plugging the RAM modules in, check
that they fit snuggly into the sockets or else they will not work
– and it will not speed up memory.