PC RAM
Minimum Price Range: $30-$50
PC RAM (Random Acces Memory - also called pc memory) plays a large part in the overall performance and speed of your PC. The operating system that is running on your computer is installed on your hard drive, but there are several components that the OS runs that needs to have constant and real-time access to the CPU. Instead of keeping the data for these components stored on the hard drive, the OS stores the data in the system memory (RAM). Data stored in RAM can be accessed MUCH faster than data stored on a hard drive, and therefore, the more RAM your system has, the more room there is for the system to store more data that it's running, including any applications that are opened by a user on the system.
Selecting RAM for your system
When selecting RAM for your system, you'll need to know what type of RAM you'll need, as well as the total RAM capacity that your system board will support. Some well-known memory manufacturers are Kingston, OCZ, Corsair, and Crucial to name a few. Another major thing to consider if you're planning on buying over 3GB of RAM, is a little-known fact about operating systems and their inherent ability to utilize RAM capacity over 3GB. The fact is, if you're using Windows, 32-bit XP and 32-bit Vista BOTH can not utilize more than around 3.2GB of RAM, regardless of how much RAM your hardware supports. The only way to utilize more than 3.2 GB of RAM is to run a 64-bit OS, be it XP or Vista. If you're only running a 32-bit OS, and have no plans to upgrade to 64-bit, save your money and limit your RAM purchases to 3GB.
