I believe RAM is one of the most talked-about topics in the whole computer-building community. There are a lot of questions on forums, Quora, Reddit, and many other platforms about Random Access Memory. I keep reading these weird questions and, more interestingly, weird answers to these questions. There is always a lot of bad advice, which sometimes results in losses to the buyers.
So, I have created a list of 6 lies that people tell about RAM. I believe you will relate to these. Also, if you are a hardware enthusiast or want to upgrade your computer’s RAM, this article may be of help to you.
RAM is your computer’s temporary memory that works together with the CPU. Most of its handling is done by the CPU and the OS. You generally don’t have access to it unless you are creating a RAM disk or something of that sort. Another thing is that it doesn’t have any processing power like your CPU or GPU. So, having more RAM doesn’t mean more performance. It is just a space for the CPU to store its data which in turn helps with performance if the RAM has high speed and low latency. But, other than that, RAM has nothing to do with the performance. Let’s debunk the common myths about the RAM.
Lie 1: More RAM = Higher Performance
People often say installing more RAM will boost your system performance. But this isn’t 100% true. Yes, increasing RAM can increase performance only if the low RAM space hampers your system’s performance. If your desired software runs perfectly with 16GB RAM, increasing it to 32GB would not make any difference in performance.
The truth is adding more RAM after a point when your system has enough of it as per the OS and software requirement is a waste of money. Instead, you can go for faster RAM with higher clock speed and lower latency if your system supports it. Adding more size to RAM doesn’t magically increase the performance.
A low RAM can be an issue in performance if your software doesn’t have enough of it. In this case, the overflow data from RAM goes to your storage drive which reduces the performance. If in case, the data isn’t overflowing, you don’t have to increase the RAM space.
Lie 2: You can convert your Pen Drive to RAM
People say that they will use the Window’s Readyboost and use their pen drive as an actual RAM in their computers. But, they don’t take a second to think that the storage medium in both these drives is different. The working principles of the RAM and the permanent storage drives are different. The pen drives use flash memory for data storage while DRAM is based on the capacitor-based memory.
Readyboost is the feature used with disk-based storage (generally Hard Drives) as a cache memory. More specifically, ReadyBoost allows the pen drives to become a storage medium for the hard drive’s paging files.
Why it’s a lie?
RAM is volatile and extremely fast. It is designed for rapid data movement and very low latency to serve the CPU. Flash drives use the NAND-based memory which can’t stand near to the RAM because of its low throughput and very high latency. Flash drive’s main purpose is to store data for a long time without the need for power. It can never become a substitute for the RAM. Also, there is the USB interface limitation.
Lie 3: Emptying RAM will speed up your PC
It is often called that “Unused RAM is a Wasted RAM“. Modern operating systems are designed to handle the RAM efficiently and make the most out of it through various methods. Yes, the empty RAM space can be utilized by the operating for caching. But, there is very little user control over the RAM. Have you ever stored your desired things on the RAM manually instead of your SSD or hard drive? No. Because RAM is designed to be used mainly by the CPU. It comes after the register and cache memory which is built inside the CPU itself. RAM offers comparatively lower performance than registers and cache but higher storage space.
People generally use cleaning software that closes the running programs to clear up the RAM.
But, the OS generally fills up the RAM again with the cache data and all the required files which you may have cleaned previously. Also, these cleaning programs consume a lot of RAM and CPU resources adding more to the RAM usage
Lie 4: More RAM fixes all lag
Lags generally come from the bottlenecks in your main components like CPU and GPU. If your games are lagging, it is probably because of a weak graphics card. If any software is lagging, it could be the CPU as well. So, it is important to check if the RAM is enough for your software or game. But, adding more size to the RAM would not help you with the lags. However, the slow RAM can result in lags which can be fixed with a faster RAM.
Also, lags and slow booting can be caused by a slow storage drive like a hard drive or an SSD. It is good to upgrade your primary drive to the fastest supported SSD by your computer to eliminate any storage bottlenecks.
Lie 5: RAM speed is the most critical factor
RAM speed isn’t the most critical factor in deciding your computer’s performance. Nor, the RAM space. Beyond a certain point, generally after DDR4-3200 MHz, the performance benefits in the daily tasks are negligible. However, memory-intensive tasks like video editing or gaming can benefit with much faster RAMs.
RAM speed isn’t just about its frequency, latency is one of the most important factors deciding your RAM’s performance. Latency decides how fast the data is accessed by the memory controller from the RAM. Also, there are CPU bottlenecks for RAM as well. CPU’s memory controller would decide how much performance benefits the CPU will get from the RAM. If the CPU can’t fully utilize your high-speed RAM, there will be no performance benefits.
Lie 6: All RAMs are compatible with any system
We all know that the PC RAM modules and desktop RAM modules are different in size. But, that is not all. Different RAM generations aren’t compatible with other generations physically, let alone the software compatibility.
RAM comes in various generations like DDR3, DDR4, and DDR5, and each generation is incompatible with the others. For example, a DDR4 RAM module will not work on a DDR3 motherboard, and they physically have different pin configurations to prevent incorrect insertion. Also, the motherboards are designed to support only specific types of RAM like DDR4 and DDR5. You can’t use DDR5 RAM in a DDR6 motherboard.
Desktop systems typically use DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) sticks, while laptops use SO-DIMM (Small Outline DIMM) sticks. These two DIMMs come in different sizes and can’t be used interchangeably.
Each motherboard and CPU has a maximum RAM speed that it can support. Going for the RAM higher than those limits will result in bottlenecks. Not only the speed, every system has the maximum capacity of supported RAM capacity. There are many other criteria for deciding RAM compatibility, like voltage/timing, ECC/Non-ECC, and Dual/Single-Channel support.
It is good to do your research before you buy your RAM for an upgrade. Think wisely and don’t believe everything that you hear on the internet.
I hope this helps!