Computer hardware is improving in capacity, specs, and features, allowing for better performance and faster speeds.
Fortunately, many computers allow users to replace their components with more powerful ones without having to change the entire system.
One of these components is the RAM, one of the first recommended components for an upgrade.
How can your computer benefit from upgrading RAM, and how can it affect your performance?
What Does Upgrading RAM Do?
Upgrading RAM’s first and most important influence is increased speed and performance.
The higher the RAM capacity, the more programs you can store on it.
Every program you open and the operating system are temporarily stored on RAM, and everything you do on your PC stays there until you turn off the PC.
This increased performance affects many aspects and tasks.
Here are some additional benefits of increased RAM.
1. Multitasking
These days, computer users need their devices for more than one task.
For example, if you’re a gamer, you have the game on while a browser and a music streaming app run in the background.
If you use your computer for doing your school homework, you probably have a word document open while watching a YouTube video and reading several PDF files simultaneously.
People who work from home need to manage their messages while video-conferencing and have their project files open.
The more programs you run together, the higher RAM you need because it’s counterproductive to close apps to focus on one.
You need to switch between apps to get the work done constantly.
That’s a direct and the most noticeable impact of increasing RAM capacity.
The processor needs to load these programs and apps on the volatile memory to help it process data faster.
The higher the RAM capacity, the more programs you can load.
2. Avoid Bottlenecks
Bottlenecks occur when a specific hardware component limits another one’s capacity because of its own limitations.
For example, if you have a powerful CPU but small RAM, you can perform tasks as much as your RAM allows, wasting the resources of your CPU.
The same thing can happen with programs.
When you run multiple programs simultaneously, the CPU must determine which one is more important and needs more resources.
It prioritizes the programs and gives resources to the most important ones.
The less critical apps receive fewer resources than they need, leading to slower performance.
Having enough RAM can prevent these bottlenecks, allowing all your intended programs to run smoothly.
3. Faster Startup And Shutdown
When you start your computer, the necessary parts of the operating system are loaded on the RAM.
You have startup programs that must launch as soon as the device boots up, occupying RAM space.
Some of these programs are necessary for your system’s smooth and secure operation and can’t be stopped or delayed.
The startup process will become slower to let these programs fully launch.
Upgrading your RAM will allow these programs and processes to launch quickly and give you a faster startup.
The same thing applies to the device shutdown only in reverse.
Everything loaded on RAM must be unloaded and stored on the permanent memory.
The more RAM space you have, the faster it can unload, leading to a faster shutdown.
4. Avoid Crashes
When you don’t have enough RAM, the CPU can’t handle your computational demands, and the system will crash.
You’ll see “Program not responding” messages, having to restart your computer to empty your RAM and run the programs again.
You’ll need to run fewer programs to prevent these crashes, leading to lower productivity.
The same thing can happen to internet browsing.
If you do a lot of research on the internet or need to open several tabs simultaneously, you’ll need enough RAM.
Some browsers treat each tab as a separate process, so every tab occupies a percentage of RAM.
In addition, you may not find a webpage that doesn’t contain a video and countless ads.
These elements require large RAM space to load and play, occupying your resources quickly.
If you don’t have enough RAM, your browser will crash frequently, and you have to close some tabs to make it run smoothly.
You may think your web pages don’t load because of a slow internet connection, while the main culprit is low RAM.
Upgrading your RAM eliminates this issue, and you won’t experience crashes.
5. Better Gaming Performance
If you use your PC for gaming, you can benefit from higher RAM capacity because games are among applications that require a lot of resources.
If you check your game’s minimum and recommended requirements, you can see that most AAA games require large RAM capacities to run smoothly.
Otherwise, you’ll experience stutters and lags due to the lowered performance of the GUI.
Most of today’s AAA games have high graphical demands and details, with many textures and resource packs.
Your device needs enough RAM to store all these details.
Otherwise, you’ll experience lowered frame rates and FPS.
6. Reduce The Load On The CPU
The main role of RAM is to help the processor work more efficiently.
It sits between the hard drive and the CPU, making data transfer faster since it’s physically close to the CPU.
When you have a high RAM capacity, the CPU can access data faster, reducing the load on the processor.
It can work and finish the processes faster, reducing CPU usage more quickly and emptying them for other tasks.
7. Faster Data Transfer
We transfer files, folders, and data between different devices and within the same device in different ways.
For example, you may copy and paste a file from your external hard drive to your internal SSD.
You may transfer a file from your cloud storage to your physical device.
Other examples of data transfer are downloading and uploading data from and on the internet.
All of these examples require enough RAM to complete fast.
In addition to your internet speed and storage device transfer speed, the amount of RAM also affects your data transfer speed between devices.
Even if you’ve connected two computers through WAN or LAN, you can benefit from enough RAM space indicated by faster data-sharing speed.
You can also see the increase in the speed of data transfer in connected devices like printers.
When you have large files to print, high RAM capacity lets you get the job done faster because it buffers data more efficiently.
8. Lower Usage Of Virtual Memory
Computers have alternative ways to make up for low RAM space to prevent crashes and lags as much as possible.
One of these solutions is virtual memory, which is a part of the hard drive allocated to temporary storage.
As you know, the hard drive is only for storing your files and folders permanently, which is different from the RAM’s function to store data temporarily.
However, when your RAM space is low, the device allocates parts of the hard drive to temporary storage to avoid performance drops.
However, due to its mechanical technology, the hard drive is much slower than the RAM.
In addition, if your hard drive is almost full, it can’t allocate its space to temporary memory.
However, if you have enough RAM, the system doesn’t need to use virtual memory, allocating enough resources to your permanent data.
What To Consider When Upgrading RAM
If your computer is slow, the first thing that you can do is upgrade your RAM.
It’s cheap, straightforward, and delivers immediate results.
However, you may want to consider some important factors before upgrading your RAM.
Otherwise, it won’t work.
1. Do You Need More RAM?
Although upgrading RAM can improve your performance significantly, it may not always be the case.
Your slow performance may be due to problems in other areas.
You may be experiencing bottlenecks by other components like the CPU or GPU.
You can ensure you can benefit from a RAM upgrade by checking your RAM usage.
Press Alt + Shift + ESC to open Task Manager and go to the Performance tab.
Click Memory to see your RAM usage.
Now, open the programs you normally do and keep track of your RAM usage, paying attention to the “In use” and “Available” parameters.
You can also see the percentage of RAM usage in the Processes tab under the Memory column.
You don’t need a RAM upgrade if you have enough available memory and should increase your performance elsewhere.
2. Consider Your Requirements
Adding more RAM than you need may not damage your PC, but it can be overkill.
You could invest the money into upgrading another component to improve the overall performance of your device.
It’s better to consider your requirements and the tasks you perform on your PC.
If you have 4 GB of RAM, you may want to upgrade it anyway because it’s not enough for most of today’s applications and gaming.
It’s only enough for light word processing and browsing.
If you want smooth performance, upgrade it to 8 GB.
Playing AAA games and video editing requires 18 GB of RAM, allowing you to perform your tasks lag-free.
However, 32 GB would be overkill for most tasks unless you run a highly-demanding application.
3. Compatibility
You should also ensure that your motherboard supports the RAM upgrade.
You can’t just add any number of RAM sticks because motherboards have different specs, especially if they’re old.
In addition, the hardware of your computer should support a RAM upgrade.
For example, if you have a laptop, there’s a high chance that the RAM sticks are soldered onto the motherboard.
In such cases, you can’t add more RAM sticks.
Consult the system specs and see how much RAM you can add.
Check the slots available on your motherboard and see how many sticks you can add.
For example, if you have two 2GB sticks and only two slots, you should consider the highest capacity supported by your computer and get the new modules accordingly.
4. RAM Generation
Your computer supports a certain RAM generation indicated by DDR versions.
These DDR versions determine the speed of data transfer, with each version being faster than the previous one.
If you have an older computer, chances are high that it supports DDR2 or DDR3.
Modern computers support DDR4 and DDR5.
They’re compatible with other components of your computer to prevent bottlenecks.
It’s vital to consult your device specs sheet to make sure you get the right RAM for your PC.
Otherwise, it won’t work.
5. Single-Channel Vs. Dual-Channel
The type of RAM you choose for your computer also depends on your preferred channel configuration.
Single-channel RAM uses one stick of RAM in one slot, while dual-channel puts two RAM sticks in two slots.
You can use an 8GB RAM stick instead of two 4GB modules, but the second configuration is faster.
Dual channels increase the memory bandwidth, leading to faster data transfer.
In such configurations, the CPU can simultaneously access data from both sticks, making things more efficient.
If you choose the double-channel configuration, you should ensure your motherboard supports it by checking the slots.
Then, get the right RAM capacity for each slot so that you don’t exceed the maximum capacity supported by the motherboard.
It’s also better to get the modules from the same manufacturer to avoid mismatches or incompatibilities.
6. Other Factors
The factors mentioned above are the most important for choosing the best RAM for your PC.
You’ll find other specs like timing and frequency when checking out the RAMs in the market.
In addition, your operating system may limit the amount of RAM you can have.
If the whole idea seems confusing, you can use online tools to help you find the best match for your system specs.
For example, Crucial memory finder helps you find a compatible RAM for your device after you enter your device’s specs.
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