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Today's Electronic Devices Have Memory Dependency

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DDR, DDR-2 and Other Computer Memory Acronyms

Any computer that you bought around the year 2000 or later uses a type of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) known as double data rate, referred to as DDR. It refers to memory in which two data items are transmitted with each clock signal. It replaced single data rate SDRAM. (Synchronous DRAM.) DDR memory is also synchronous, and you will sometimes see DDR memory referred to as DDR SDRAM.

DDR also replaced RDRAM (Rambus DRAM), so called because Rambus Corp. developed the standard. Rambus memory offered memory bandwidth substantially greater than SDRAM. However, RDRAM was always more expensive than SDRAM, and the lower cost and equivalent throughput of DDR eventually canceled out any performance advantages offered by RDRAM.

In 2003, a new generation of DDR memory, DDR-2, appeared along with new Intel Pentium 4 processors. Because AMD Athlon 64 CPUs had integrated memory controllers, DDR2 support didn't appear in AMD processors until the launch of a new motherboard lineup in 2006 that used the AM2 socket.

DDR-2 differs from DDR in that the front side bus carrying the data runs twice as fast as the actual memory clocking speed. To whit, older DDR memory that is clocked at 200 MHz runs the I/O front bus at 200 MHz and can transfer data at 3.2 GBps. This is because the clock speed determines the speed of the I/O bus- that's why it's called synchronous DRAM.

At the same time, DDR-2 memory running at the same 200 MHz runs the I/O front bus at 400 MHz. Each I/O bus clock cycle still carries two pieces of data, but the increased bus clock effectively doubles the maximum throughput of the system to 6.4 GBps.

The various flavors of DDR-2 are confusing because the standards group for the semiconductor industry, JEDEC, has issued variants of the specifications. For example, some high-performance memory is rated to run at specs beyond the official JEDEC rating.

To hit those higher specs, computer users have to go into the BIOS to increase voltage beyond the standard 1.8 volts. When you increase the voltage you increase the throughput. We've seen people buy DDR-2 memory that manufacturers say can run at up to 1066 MHz and be surprised that it runs only at 667 Mhz speeds because memory is shipped at officially rated speeds.

At our shop, we've seen DDR-2 max out at 800 Mhz speeds at the rated 1.8 volts, yet there is an effort to create a JEDEC standard for DDR-2-1066. Some major RAM manufacturers recently announced that they are manufacturing DDR-2-1066 chips that can run at 1.8 volts.

Because not all motherboards can support higher clock speeds, the memory manufacturers need to be sure that even higher-end memory will run at standard voltages and speeds, because they don't know in what motherboard the memory modules will end up. Many motherboards are not made to be “overclocked” to higher clock rates or voltages. All this means that you need to be careful with what type of memory upgrade you buy for your machine, and if there is any confusion at all to check with an expert in the industry.

About Author:
Jerry Costas is a writer for www.UpgradeComputerMemory.com and has over 20 years of experience in the computer memory industry. UpgradeComputerMemory.com is a leading provider of Computer Memory.

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Troubleshooting Computer Freeze (Lockup) Problems

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Four Signs Your Computer Needs More Memory

By: Grant Eckert

Most computer users have had it happen to them. Their screens start to pop up with weird notifications and the state of the art system they thought they had is running at a snail's pace. The chances are very good that the only thing wrong with the computer is a shortage of memory. Before you run out and buy a bunch of memory for your system, you want to be sure that is truly the problem. There are four tell tale signs that your computer needs more memory to operate at its highest potential.

The first thing to look for is sub par or poor performance from your PC. A classic sign is when you try to open a program and it either doesn’t respond or seems to take forever to open. Memory problems can crop up quickly and the system may gradually start to act strangely or the situation may pop up all at once. Either way, a lack of memory is simple to correct and are less expensive than calling in professionals that will only tell you need more memory.

The second sign that your computer is forgetting things are the notifications that are beginning to pop up on your screen. They typically say things like low memory or out of memory. In this case, the problem is pretty obvious. The system needs more memory.

Another signal of memory issues is display problems. You pull up a page and it either only partially loads or refusing to load at all. This can happen online or in a saved document or file you are trying to work in. The problem may manifest as a blank space where the data should be or by simply not showing anything on screen at all.

In unusual cases, the PC may not operate at all. In other words, when you open anything, the system will not respond. You are left looking at your home page instead of seeing any operation progress. Once again, correcting a memory problem in your computer is easy to do and takes very little time.

When you bought your computer the chances are good that you were told it had everything you would ever need in terms of disk space, memory, and all of the possible bells and whistles. Naturally the salesperson wasn't going to tell you that memory is one of those things that simply run out. To help you understand exactly why your system is refusing to cooperate, you have to understand about the different types of memory and what your computer does with them.

Both types of memory are important to maintaining the computer in proper working condition. RAM or random access memory is the memory your computer uses first. Its operation is to run any program you call up. When RAM memory is low, the computer automatically files the information in the system's virtual memory. When the information is moved to the virtual memory, it frees up space in the RAM memory to properly run the program itself.

A low memory problem results when the computer runs out of random access memory and has to rely on virtual memory. There are programs available that take up a lot of space and can quickly deplete your computer's memory space. This type of problem can also be the result of having a program installed on your computer that you no longer need, but it hasn't freed up the memory space. You may read or hear this referred to as memory overuse or as a memory leak.

Fortunately it is a simple process to install additional memory and/or clear out unnecessary, unused programs. Both methods will help restore your computer back to its original operating speed and efficiency.

About Author: Grant Eckert is a writer for UpgradeComputerMemory.com. UpgradeComputerMemory.com is a leading provider of Ram Memory | Upgrade Memory | Computer Memory

Article Source: http://www.eArticlesOnline.com

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