WEBVTT - Does adding RAM make a computer faster?

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. That's m o z Y dot com. Welcome

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<v Speaker 1>to brain Stuff from how Stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, does adding

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<v Speaker 1>RAM to your computer make it faster? Up to a point,

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<v Speaker 1>adding RAM or random access memory will cause your computer

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<v Speaker 1>to feel faster, sometimes a lot faster. RAM is important

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<v Speaker 1>because of an operating system component called the virtual memory manager,

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<v Speaker 1>or the VMM. Here's how it works. When you run

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<v Speaker 1>a program like a word processor or an Internet browser

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<v Speaker 1>on your computer, the microprocessor in your computer pulls a

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<v Speaker 1>file off the hard disk and loads it into RAM.

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<v Speaker 1>In the case of a big program like Microsoft word

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<v Speaker 1>this file is huge and it needs a lot of RAM.

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<v Speaker 1>Then the microprocessor loads in any data files that you

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<v Speaker 1>want to look at as well. So a big application

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<v Speaker 1>could easily take a hundred megabytes of RAM or more,

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<v Speaker 1>and most people normally open several programs at once. Plus

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<v Speaker 1>the operating system itself needs RAM two everything together may

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<v Speaker 1>need more RAM than your machine has. Where does all

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<v Speaker 1>the extra RAM space come from. The extra space is

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<v Speaker 1>created by the virtual Memory manager. The VMM looks at

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<v Speaker 1>the RAM you're using and find sections of it that

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<v Speaker 1>are not currently being used. It puts these sections of

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<v Speaker 1>RAM in a place called the swap file on the

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<v Speaker 1>hard disk. For example, even though I have my email

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<v Speaker 1>program open right now, I haven't looked at email for

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<v Speaker 1>an hour, so the whole thing maybe sitting in a

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<v Speaker 1>swap file on the hard disc. That's called swapping out

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<v Speaker 1>the program. The next time I click on the email program,

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<v Speaker 1>the VMM will swap in all of its bites from

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<v Speaker 1>the hard disk and probably swaps something else out in

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<v Speaker 1>the process. Because the hard disk is slow, the act

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<v Speaker 1>of swapping things in and out causes a noticeable delay,

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes several seconds. If you have a very small amount

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<v Speaker 1>of RAM in your computer, then the VMM is always

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<v Speaker 1>swapping things in and out to get anything done. In

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<v Speaker 1>that case, your computer feels like it's crawling. As you

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<v Speaker 1>add more RAM, you get to a point where you

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<v Speaker 1>only notice the swapping when you need to load a

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<v Speaker 1>new program or change Windows. If you were to put

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<v Speaker 1>four gigabytes of RAM and your computer you would never

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<v Speaker 1>see the VMM swapping anything. That's about as fast as

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<v Speaker 1>things can get. If you then added more RAM, it

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't have any effect. Some applications like Photoshop or a

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<v Speaker 1>film editing package need tons of RAM to do their job.

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<v Speaker 1>If you run them on a machine with two little RAM,

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<v Speaker 1>they swapped constantly and run very slowly. You can get

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<v Speaker 1>a huge speed boost by adding enough RAM to eliminate

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<v Speaker 1>the swapping. Programs like these may run ten to fifty

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<v Speaker 1>times faster once they have enough rams. Do you have

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<v Speaker 1>any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please

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<v Speaker 1>send me an email at podcast at how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>go to how stuff works dot com. Your photos, music

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<v Speaker 1>and documents are irreplaceable. Protect them with Mosey by e

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<v Speaker 1>m C, the most trusted name and cloud backup. Back

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<v Speaker 1>up your files today and save ten percent with promo code.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain stuff at Mosey dot com m o z y

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