RAM Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Would moving the Page File to a RAM Disk make a PC run faster?

Posted on June 1, 2022

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Ethan: I was reading an article last night that discussed using part of a computer’s unused RAM as a RAM Disk, and it got me to thinking.

I have a pretty old desktop computer that’s running Windows 7. It has 2GB of RAM and a 200GB hard drive.

This machine runs really slow, coming almost to a crawl at times. After doing some research I’ve determined that it’s likely sluggish because it’s doing a ton of swapping back and forth with the page file.

Do you think moving the Windows Page File to a RAM Disk would help speed it up? [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I find out how much RAM is in my Mac?

Posted on May 21, 2022

Question from Randy: I have a two year old Mac desktop computer that runs great, but I heard Macs run a LOT faster if they have at least 16GB of RAM installed.

I’d love to upgrade mine to 16GB if it currently has less than that in it.

The thing is I have no idea how much RAM is in it right now. How can I find out? [Read more…]

How to quickly get your PC’s RAM amount, type and speed

Posted on March 14, 2022

If you have a Windows PC there are several excellent third-party tools you can use to collect all kinds of useful information about your computer’s hardware components and configuration.

I have actually written about a few of my favorites in the past, including the fantastic duo of HWiNFO and Speccy.

But if all you need to do is determine the amount, type and speed of your system’s installed RAM, you don’t need to install anything at all. [Read more…]

Q&A: Is my computer’s RAM really running at half-speed?

Posted on February 28, 2022

Question from Jimmy: A few years ago I paid a computer tech to build a gaming PC for me.

This machine has a Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3-CF motherboard and 8GB of Patriot Viper DDR4-3000 RAM in it.

That means the RAM should be operating at 3000 MHz, right?

After reading your post about Speccy I decided to install it and run it just to see all the specs of my system at a glance.

Speccy is reporting the DRAM speed to be 1496 MHz instead of 3000.

Is my RAM actually operating at that speed or is Speccy just reporting it wrong? [Read more…]

Q&A: How much RAM can I install in my computer?

Posted on January 20, 2022

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Adrien: I have a three year old custom-built desktop computer that’s in need of some upgrades.

I plan to replace the motherboard in a year or so but right now I can only afford to add an SSD and (hopefully) max out the RAM.

I know which SSD I need to buy but I’m not sure how much RAM I can add.

Can you tell me how much RAM can be installed on a 3 year old Gigabyte motherboard? [Read more…]