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UNDERSTANDING COMPUTER MEMORY
by Vern Ziglar
http://www.flapcomputer.com
With computers, most people know they have memory systems
but few people have a real understanding of the various
types of memories computers have. Interestingly, different
types of computer equipment uses different memory.
For example, some of the memory types that you would
typically find with a computer as well as other peripheral
devices would include the following:
* BIOS
* Cache
* Dynamic RAM
* Flash Memory
* Memory Sticks
* RAM
* ROM
*Static RAM
* Video Memory
* Virtual Memory
Generally speaking, memory identifies your data and
quickly stores it. For instance, if your computer had to
find each small piece of information by going to the hard
drive as you worked, your system would quickly become
sluggish. If you use memory instead for storage, then the
CPU component of your computer could access the data much
more quickly. The various types of memory have different
functions within a computer. In most cases data is stored
in memory temporarily to let you work faster.
For your computer to work, all of the various components
must work together. This would include the CPU, operating
system, hard drive, and of course, the memory, which is
by far the most important. Think of it this way. As long
as your computer is turned on, the CPU is using memory.
When you shut down your computer and then restart it,
your data is loaded from the ROM, or read-only memory.
The next thing it does is to run a power-on-self-test,
or POST to make sure that everything is working as it
should. The POST includes a memory controller. It does a
fast read/write check of all memory addresses. This test
ensures that the memory chips don~t have any errors.
After that the data is both written and read as a bit.
The next step is for the basic input/output system
(referred to as the BIOS) to be loaded from ROM. BIOS
gives the computer the basic information about what storage
devices are available, how the items are booted and in what
sequence, what devices are considered to have plug and play
capability, computer security, and so on. Then, it~s time
for the operating system (sometimes called the OS) to be
loaded from the hard drive into the RAM. The operating
system is crucial for the computer to function. It~s
always on, occupying a part of RAM whenever the computer is
turned on. When the OS is loaded into RAM, the computer
has immediate access to instruction sets, and the computer
operates with greater performance and functionality.
Every time you open a computer application, like Microsoft
Word, the instructions for running the program are loaded
into RAM. Most often, the most critical program
instructions are loaded into RAM immediately, and any
additional instructions are loaded as needed only. Once you
have the application open, any files that you subsequently
open will also load into RAM. When you are finished with
a file, always save and close the file. The file is then
written to the drive that you specify for storage, and the
information is purged out of RAM. The purpose of the
purging is to keep the RAM memory from overload, which
could slow the performance of the computer system down
considerably.
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