Shoutbox

i was just wondering about RAM memory

what exactly does it do?
what info. does it store?
and
is it possable to clear it when your pc has been running for a while?

hello therem

RAM is (Random Access Memory)

It's main roles, is to store the running programs,

so when you click on a specific program , it's actually copied to the RAM by the OS, and over there i will be stores in a memory cell with a hexadecimal address and files name, all these will be found in a FAT( file allocation table) why this table ? because the information are sotred in a random way, not sequential. each memory cell contains 8 flip-flops  (8 bits)

ok now!!! we u wanna excecute this files, the info will be transfered from the RAM to the CPU, through the BUS.
there the machine cycle will start,
actually in the CPU there are things called Registers

2 types of registers are found

1- General perpose
2- Special perpose
     a- Instruction Register
     b- Program counter register
these registers will store the instructions and data being excecuted
i'm not gonna involve too much here but u can ask if u really need to know, coz it's something so long
anyway , the Program counter, will store the Hex address(the one for the RAM) of the next instruction.

anyway, in general RAM is the place all running programs are placed, when it's full the pc will use a virtual memory from the hard disk. ( not so efficient because HD is slower than the RAM)

so as much a u have bigger RAMs as much as ur pc will be faster and u can run more and bigger programs

but ram is temprorary and volatile  so when the electricity is off everything on ram will be deleted

there are 2 types

SIMM and DIMM

SIMM : one side chips
DIMM : double side chips

with different interface, such as SDRam , DDRam, SRAM EDDRam etc..


so many regards

thanks so it would be best not to remove and info. from my RAM? as say i leave my PC on for 1 week constant, i would have info in my RAM that was from the first day and i no longer need it.
i want to remove information from my RAM from earlier that day or other days. it is possable?

heloo

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
but ram is temprorary and volatile  so when the electricity is off everything on ram will be deleted

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nothing will stay on ram if u turn off ur pc

closing a program and endin it from the task manager will only remove them from ram, even that will keep some tracks on the ram.


i have updated somethings in my previous post, make sure u look at them

quote:

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Originally posted by DJKAL
is it possable to clear it when your pc has been running for a while?

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Yes. Programs such as Tweak XP offer this function (to "optimise RAM"). I'm not sure how effective this is (zaher1988, have you got any idea?). I'm sure there are smaller, dedicated programs for this (Tweak XP has many features, but I remember that this is one). But now you know that it is possible . Maybe try Google?

EDIT: I agree that RAM cleaners are useless... I never use it, my 512 in my laptop is always full. Come to think of it, time for an upgrade.

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988

closing a program and endin it from the task manager will only remove them from ram, even that will keep some tracks on the ram.

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afaik, when you end a process everything it stored in the memory is removed.

If you leave your computer on for a long amount of time you will notice that the amount of memory beeing used doesnt constantly increase, this is because almost all professional programs have good memory control so that they dont have whats known as a "memory leak", where a program allocates some memory space but fails to free it when it has finished using it.

Also completly clearing your memory will allmost definatly crash your computer because any running program will suddenly forget anything that it has stored in memory.

In short, if you are really woried about it, just install an application that can monitor how much memory is beeing used, then leave your computer on and just check to see if your available RAM isnt decreasing constantly.

There is no need to use tools to clear your RAM. I keep my pc on for about 2 months continously somtimes, and i do alot of memory consuming things on it. I never use such RAM tools and the only reason i need to reboot is because new installed software wants me too.

Like madman said:

quote:

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Originally posted by Madman
when you end a process everything it stored in the memory is removed.

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RAM cleaners like the one in TweakXP will give you more free memory, but there are downsides to that too. Most of the memory cleaners will fill up your entire RAM before they clean it, slowing your pc down for a few seconds.

And remember that free ram in unused ram, and unused ram is useless ram. Looks at unix systems, ram is almost always used to the max on such systems, nothing bas with that.


If you do want to give it a try, i'll suggest FreeRAM XP Pro. This is a simple to use, but good memory cleaner and it's free .

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
It's main roles, is to store the running programs,

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It main purpose is to store data. This could be the executable code of a running program, but isn't neccesairly so. In fact, in most cases it is not.

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
so when you click on a specific program , it's actually copied to the RAM by the OS

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No, in almost all cases only the actual executable code of a program is copied.

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
and over there i will be stores in a memory cell with a hexadecimal address (...)

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It will be stored in a specific memory cell. The address of this location is not hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is only a representation of the number of the address. It can be represented as anything, decimal, octal, bananas, etc.

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
(...) and files name, all these will be found in a FAT( file allocation table) why this table ? because the information are sotred in a random way, not sequential.

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The File Allocation Table has got nothing to do with all this. Do not confuse RAM memory with hard disk space.

Off topic: information is not stored randomly at all. There is a very strict system behind the storing of data on a hard disk, and that is in most cases sequential (unless some parts of the physical places on the hard disk are already in use. But in that case, the next free place will be used).

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
each memory cell contains 8 flip-flops  (8 bits)

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Only 8bit memory contains only 8 flip-flops circuits per cell. 32bit memory contains 32 flip-flops to store 32 bits per cell, etc...

quote:

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Originally posted by zaher1988
there are 2 types

SIMM and DIMM

SIMM : one side chips
DIMM : double side chips

with different interface, such as SDRam , DDRam, SRAM EDDRam etc..

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Most RAM is in DIMMs now. SIMMs are really old. Both single and double sided DIMMs are available, and the chips may be on both or only one sides, but the connectors for the DIMM will be on only one side in single sided DIMMs, and on both on double sided DIMMs.

RAM is random access memory and is already explained in this thread
EDO RAM is extended dats out RAM, now obsolete
SD RAM is synchronous DIMM RAM
DDR SD RAM is double data rate synchronous DIMM RAM
DDR2 SD RAM is quadruple (double double) data rate synchronous DIMM RAM

DDR SD RAM is often referred to as DDR RAM.

I don't know what DIMM and SIMM stand for.

quote:

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Originally posted by rav0
I don't know what DIMM and SIMM stand for.

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oooo! Pick me, i'm open!

SIMM: Single Inline Memory Module
DIMM: Dual Inline Memory Module