Console Bliss

What is DDR SDRAM and what does it do?  Let’s first go over exactly what ddr ram is and how it works inside of your computer system.  Double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory or (DDR SDRAM) is type of memory that is used in computers as it accomplishes tasks in twice the time as the older SDRAM.  So a good way to think about DDR SDRAM is that it is double the speed of regular SDRAM.  There are two types of DDR SDRAM as there is the DDR2 SDRAM and the regular DDR SDRAM.

Your computer, depending on when it was built, may run on DDR SDRAM, but there are different speeds that work with different motherboards.  Here is a break down of the different speeds of DDR SDRAM. 

This chart above will help you tremendously as you are looking to add more RAM or find the type of ram your computer takes.  Most of the time the motherboard will tell you the Module name like PC-2700.  This will help you to know that your machine supports DRR-333 ram which has a speed of 2700 Mega Bytes per second.

The DDR SDRAM chips can hold up to 1 gigabyte of ram.  Most motherboards have 2 or 3 DDR SDRAM slots which means that you could potentially have up to 3 GB of RAM in your PC or laptop.  RAM is very important to your machine as it is used to store temporary information.  Most of us don’t realize how much temporary information has to be put somewhere when an operating system is running.  For example, if you have Adobe Photoshop running the operating system has all the files running for the software.  If you pull up an image and start editing it, the computer really does not need to run the Adobe Photoshop files until you tell photoshop to do something.  The computer then would store these program files on your RAM.  The larger the capacity, the more your computer can temporarily hold which will make your computer seem much faster.  Machines that have fast RAM will seem lightning fast when you minimize or switch from program to program.

pc3200 DDR SDRAM sure has come down in price.  You can get a 1 GB stick of this for only $30 now.  A couple years ago this same size of DDR RAM stick would have cost $200 dollars.   Most DDR SDRAM is going from $30-$40 dollars on the market right now and are continuing to go down in price. 

If you are a video game player and love having fast smooth games, than upgrading the SDRAM on your computer is a must.  Having more RAM will improve your game play and make your games much more enjoyable and fun.  The last thing you want is your games to lag and freeze, especially when you are playing games on line that effect your rankings and scores. 

Many times a person just needs to buy some additional RAM instead of buying a whole new computer.  By getting a little extra RAM, it can sometimes make a computer that seemed slow, seem like a computer that is brand new and fast.