Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Adding More RAM to Speed up Your Computer

If you always experience system freezes and poor response times when using your computer that can mean a lot of things. Factors that can affect your computer when it is running slower than usual is it may be infected with a virus or one of your computer hardware is already defective. Another factor is dust that already accumulated inside your computer but most of the time opening a lot of programs and applications at once can also cause your computer to slow down.

You get what your budget’s worth; this usually applies to low performance systems with budget parts. But you don’t have to worry because there is still a way to deal with slow PC speeds without the need of replacing pricey components like the CPU and graphics card. One of the most cost-effective ways to deal with this kind of problem is to simply add more RAM modules or upgrade your old ones! This will not only help you speed up your computer but also save you more money by not replacing the other components of your computer.

RAM or Random Access Memory is the data cache where files are being stored temporarily to keep open programs running smoothly. You computer can access these stored data at very fast speeds. When you add more RAM to your computer, it can store more data and files which helps it to manage more applications even simultaneously. Thus, making your computer run faster and avoids system freezes and slow response.

What happens when your computer runs out of RAM? Simple, it will utilize a portion of the hard disk drive to store data that it needs to be processes. Usually, this is where speed problems arise because under this set up memory blocks are swapped between the hard drive and RAM. But unlike in RAM your computer doesn’t have high-speed access to data stored in the hard drive. In effect, your system freezes and slows down because it can’t immediately access the files stored in the hard drive to be processed. To some extent, your computer can still manage this kind of set up but you will surely notice the sluggish and unresponsive of your computer when you are under this kind of situation. Another bad effect of long-term swapping is it will eventually overtax your computer and cause it for more future system crashes.

If you want to enjoy faster response times with your computer specially when you often multi task just increase the size of your RAM or upgrade it. Today, for the average computer user a 1GB of RAM is good enough to keep their computer working properly. If you’re one of those who love to switch among multiple windows or programs, at least 2GB of RAM may be needed to avoid any hang ups and downtimes when you use your computer.


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