What is RAM Random Access Memory

The operating system (OS), application programs, and data that are now in use are kept in RAM (Random Access Memory), which is part of the hardware of a computer device so that the device's CPU can quickly access them. RAM serves as a computer's main memory. Compared to other forms of storage like a hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), or optical drive, it is significantly faster to read from and write to.

Volatile random access memory. This implies that information is kept in RAM while the computer is running, but it is erased when the machine is powered off. When a computer restarts, the operating system, and other data are routinely loaded into RAM from an HDD or SSD.

The purpose of RAM

Because of its volatility, RAM is not a good choice for storing durable data. RAM and a hard drive might be compared to a person's short-term and long-term memories, respectively. Although short-term memory concentrates on current tasks, it can only hold a certain amount of facts in memory at any given moment. Facts kept in the brain's long-term memory can be used to replenish short-term memory when it becomes full.

This is also how computers operate. To replace the outdated data in RAM with the new data, the CPU of the computer must frequently access the hard drive while RAM is full. This process slows the computer's performance.

Unlike a computer's hard disk, which can only store so much information until it is completely full, RAM can never run out of memory. However, the RAM and storage memory can both run out of space.

How does RAM function?

The phrase "random access" is used to describe RAM because any storage location, sometimes referred to as any memory address, may be directly accessed. Random Access Memory was initially used to describe offline memory as opposed to ordinary core memory.

In most cases, the term "offline memory" referred to magnetic tape, from which a particular piece of data could only be accessed by finding the address sequentially, beginning at the tape's beginning. Data may be saved and retrieved directly to and from specified areas thanks to the organization and management of RAM.

Even while these other storage media, including the hard drive and CD-ROM, are accessed both directly and randomly, the word "random access" is not used to describe them.

RAM is conceptually analogous to a collection of boxes, where each box may store either a 0 or a 1. You may get the specific address for each box by numbering up the rows and down the columns. An array is a collection of RAM boxes, and a cell is a single RAM box in an array.

The RAM controller transfers the column and row address down a tiny electrical wire etched into the chip to locate a particular cell. A RAM array includes separate address lines for each row and column. Any real data travels back on a different data line.

RAM is contained in microchips and is physically tiny. Additionally, it has a limited capacity for data storage. A typical laptop computer could include 8 gigabytes of RAM and a 10-terabyte hard drive.

Contrarily, a hard disk stores information on its magnetic surface, which resembles a vinyl record. As an alternative, an SSD stores data on memory chips that are nonvolatile, as opposed to RAM. They don't require continual power, and if the power is switched off, they won't lose data. Memory modules are constructed from a collection of RAM microchips. These fit into slots on a motherboard of a computer. The slots on the motherboard are linked to the processor by a bus, which is a network of electrical pathways.

Users may often install RAM modules up to a specified amount on PCs. A computer with more RAM uses less of the processor's time reading information from the hard disk, which is slower than reading information from RAM. Storage memory access time is measured in milliseconds, whereas RAM access time is measured in nanoseconds.

How much memory do you require?

The amount of RAM used depends on the user's actions. For example, a machine should have at least 16 GB of RAM, while more is preferred for editing videos. Adobe advises a machine should have at least 3GB of RAM to run Photoshop CC on a Mac for picture processing. However, even 8GB of RAM might cause a lag if the user is simultaneously using other apps.

RAM type types

There are two main types of RAM:

• The RAM in a common computing device is made up of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), which, as was already said, requires electricity to preserve recorded data.

Each DRAM cell's charge or lack thereof is stored on an electrical capacitor. To account for leakage from the capacitator, this data must be regularly updated with an electrical charge every few milliseconds. When determining whether it is feasible to read or write the value of a capacitor, a transistor serves as a gate.

• Data storage in static random access memory (SRAM), unlike dynamic random access memory (DRAM), requires constant power.

In SRAM, the transistor functions as a switch with one position representing 1 and the other representing 0, replacing the capacitor that would normally store the charge. For each data bit to be stored in static RAM, many transistors are required, as opposed to dynamic RAM, which only requires one transistor per bit. As a result, compared to an identical quantity of DRAM, SRAM chips are bigger and more costly.

RAM history: RAM vs. SDRAM

Due to the RAM microchips' distinct clock speeds from the computer's CPU, RAM was initially asynchronous. As processors got stronger, RAM couldn't keep up with the processor's requests for data, which created an issue.

With the advent of synchronous dynamic RAM, or SDRAM, clock rates were synchronized at the beginning of the 1990s. Computers might complete tasks more quickly by keeping their memory in sync with processor inputs.

The initial single data rate SDRAM (SDR SDRAM), however, rapidly hit its capacity limit. Double data rate synchronous Random Access Memory (DDR SRAM) was created around the year 2000. At the beginning and the conclusion of each clock cycle, this transferred data twice.

Each of the three generations of DDR SDRAM—DDR2, DDR3, and DDR4—has improved data speed and reduced power consumption. Because data is processed in greater quantities with each loop, each DDR version has proven incompatible with older ones.

SDRAM GDDR3

Graphics and video cards employ graphics double data rate (GDDR) SDRAM. The technique permits data to be transported at different moments throughout a CPU clock cycle, just as DDR SDRAM. It runs at greater voltages and with laxer timing than DDR SDRAM.

Tight access times aren't as important for parallel operations like 2D and 3D video rendering, thus GDDR can provide the greater rates and memory bandwidth required for GPU performance.

Similar to DDR, GDDR has advanced through several phases, each of which has enhanced performance while requiring less power. GDDR6 is the newest generation of graphics memory.

Virtual memory vs. RAM

A computer may experience memory issues, particularly when executing several apps at once. Operating systems can add virtual memory to make up for a lack of physical memory.

Data is temporarily moved from RAM to disk storage using virtual memory, and virtual address space is expanded utilizing active RAM memory and idle HDD memory to create contiguous addresses that may carry a program and its data. Larger applications or many programs running at once can be loaded onto a machine using virtual memory, enabling each to function as though it had limitless capacity without the need for more RAM.

RAM can only support half as many addresses as virtual memory. Initially stored at virtual locations, a program's data and instructions are later converted to physical memory addresses during execution.

Virtual memory has a drawback in that it can make computers slower since data must be translated between virtual and actual memory. Programs run straight from RAM while using just physical memory.

Flash memory versus RAM

RAM and flash memory are both made of solid-state semiconductors. However, because of variations in their design, performance requirements, and price, they serve distinct functions in computer systems. Storage memory is made of flash memory. When data is retrieved from storage, computations are made in RAM, which is employed as active memory.

Data must be erased from NAND flash memory in whole blocks, which is a key distinction between flash memory and RAM. It is therefore slower than RAM, where data may be deleted one bit at a time.

NAND flash memory, however, is nonvolatile and less costly than RAM. In contrast to RAM, it can store data even when the power is off. Flash is frequently employed as storage memory in SSDs despite its slower speed, nonvolatility, and lower price.

ROM versus RAM

Computer memory that can only be read from, not written to, is known as read-only memory, or ROM. When a computer is turned on, boot-up software from the ROM is employed. It typically cannot be modified or reprogrammed.

Since the data in ROM is nonvolatile, it is not lost when the power is cut off to the computer. As a result, read-only memory is employed to store persistent data. On the other hand, Random Access Memory can only store information momentarily. ROM normally contains a few megabytes of storage, but RAM frequently has several gigabytes.

Patterns and upcoming directions

Nonvolatile storage known as resistive random access memory (RRAM or ReRAM) can change the resistance of the solid dielectric substance that it is made of. Devices that use ReRAM have memristors whose resistance changes depending on the applied voltage.

Oxygen vacancies, which are structural flaws in an oxide layer, are produced by ReRAM. In a binary system, these vacancies represent two values, like the electrons and holes in a semiconductor.

Compared to other nonvolatile storage technologies like NAND flash, ReRAM has a faster switching rate. Additionally, it promises to use less power than NAND flash and have a high storage density. ReRAM is an excellent memory choice for sensors used in industrial, automotive, and internet of things applications because of this.

To develop ReRAM technology and put chips into production, vendors have labored for years. They are now being shipped by a few sellers.

In the future, 3D XPoint technology, like Intel's Optane, may bridge the space between dynamic RAM and NAND flash memory. Selectors and memory cells exist at the junction of perpendicular wires in the cross-point design of 3D XPoint, which lacks transistors. Although 3D XPoint is a nonvolatile memory, it is slower than DRAM.

In terms of speed and cost, 3D XPoint technology falls between slower, less expensive NAND flash and faster, more expensive DRAM. The line between RAM and storage may become less apparent as technology advances.

The RAM market and 5G

The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association released the JESD209-5, Low Power Double Data Rate 5 in February 2022. (LPDDR5). Eventually, LPDDR5 will have an I/O rate of 6400 MT/s, which is a 50% increase above LPDDR4's first release. For many applications, this will dramatically increase memory speed and efficiency. Mobile computing tools like smartphones, tablets, and ultra-thin laptops fall under this category.

LPDDR5 was released in 2014 with a data rate of 6400 MT/s as opposed to LPDDR4's 3200 MT/s.

Samsung Electronics started mass manufacturing the first 12-gigabit LPDDR5 mobile DRAM in July 2022. It has been tuned, claims Samsung, to enable 5G and AI features in the next devices.

Price of RAM

DRAM pricing was still low compared to prior levels during the summer of 2022 but still unstable. The volatility was influenced by several factors, including:

• tensions in the supply market between Japan and South Korea, which is home to the two biggest manufacturers of memory chips in the world, Samsung and SK Hynix.
• the launch of the LPDDR5 mobile chip, the following-generation chip
• the expanded use of 5G technologies
• a projected rise in demand for consumer electronics (CE) used in the Internet of Things (IoT), including cars and wearable tech