Hardware ZDNet. AMD vs. Intel is a storyline dating back decades, but there are signs that the two rivals are becoming closer frenemies and even collaborating. Theres a good reason for that Nvidia is a threat to both companies. Intel and AMD have teamed up on a custom GPU for next gen mobile chips. Nvidia happens to be AMDs biggest GPU rival on PCs. AMD also wants its GPUs in the data center too. Nvidia is the GPU leader in the data center and threatens Intel on artificial intelligence and high performance computing. Intel wants to be the processor of data however it is used and sees Nvidia as fierce competition. Add it up and AMD and Intel may even need each other. The caveat Intel and AMD wont be all warm and fuzzy over time. Intel poached Raja M. Koduri, chief architect of the Radeon Technologies Group and oversaw the development of the advanced Vega GPUs. November 1. 0, 2. Dan Patterson in Data Centers. Understanding, Identifying and Upgrading the RAM in your PCIntroduction. This tutorial is intended to explain what RAM is and give some background on different memory technologies in order to help you identify the RAM in your PC. It will also discuss RAM speed and timing parameters to help you understand the specifications often quoted on vendors websites. Its final aim is to assist you in upgrading your system by suggesting some tools and strategies to help you choose new RAM. Download the free trial version below to get started. Doubleclick the downloaded file to install the software. Its almost certainly not aliens, but once again, Tabbys Star is acting hella weird. The star that first became our planetary obsession back in the fall of 2015. Get everything you need for Computers at the best price possible. Find the latest promo codes, coupons, sales and shipping offers. Thank us later Windows XP Home Pro SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7, Windows 8, Pentium IV 2. 4GHz processor or faster, 512MB RAM 1GB RAM for Windows Vista. It is written from the standpoint of a desktop PC owner but most of the concepts apply to laptops and notebooks as well. Like all PC components, RAM has gone through a number of evolutionary changes and some revolutionary changes and only the RAM designed for your computer will work in your computer. There are literally hundreds of different RAM products on the market today so it is important to know the correct type for your system. I am attempting to write this for the non technical user but the further I get the more I descend into techno babble so you may need to learn a few terms along the way. Ill assume familiarity with common terms like Megabytes and Gigabytes etc. Finally I should say Im not a memory expert, some of the information here I came across in the process of writing this tutorial, but I hope you will get as much out of this exploration of RAM as I have. Warning This tutorial may contain more than you ever wanted to know about PC memoryWe recommend the following programs to assist in testing your memory. What is RAM The term RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory, this is the memory that your computer uses to run its operating system and any applications that you start. The name means that the computer can access information held anywhere i. RAM by addressing that part of the RAM directly. In other words if there is some information stored in the 1. The alternative would be called sequential access, an example of which would be accessing information stored on a hard drive the drive can only read the information which is currently passing underneath the readwrite heads, so if an application wants information in say sector 1. The drive electronics then separates out the information from sector 1. So RAM is the quickest way of organising information for retrieval. Why not have everything on your computer stored on RAM The answer is cost and volatility RAM costs far more per GB than a hard drive and most RAM requires power to maintain the information stored in it Its memory is volatile. If you had a RAM only computer you would have to reload the operating system and all your applications and data every time you switched off or there was a power cut. There are appropriate uses for this type of computer e. RAM and Drive storage. Your computer needs different amounts of RAM for different tasks and the more applications you open the more RAM is required. You might think that sooner or later you will run out of RAM and then whatWell the operating system is designed to cope with that situation by paging blocks of RAM to the Hard Drive. What that means is if the system is running out of RAM it takes the contents of a chunk of RAM usually the least used part and writes it to a reserved area of the Hard Drive, called the Page File or Swap Space. The chunk of RAM is then declared free for use. By using the swap space in this way the system normally never runs out of RAM. But as we have already discussed accessing information on the Hard Drive is inherently slower than accessing it from RAM so the result is the computer slows down. No one likes a slow computer so what do you do about it Obviously you want to add more RAM but to do this you need to match the additional RAM with what is already in your PC and you need to be sure your motherboard will support the kind of RAM you intend to use. Different Types of Memory and some Terminology. In the beginning RAM came in the form of semiconductor chips which were individually plugged, or soldered, into the motherboard. That made up the original 6. KB of system memory that DOS hung onto for so long. Now memory comes in clip in modules, usually called memory sticks not to be confused with USB Flash drives which sometimes go by that name. Memory sticks or modules have changed format over the years as their capacity has increased. Here is a list of the main types, in rough order of increasing complexity, along with other terms used to describe them A 3. SIP module. A 3. 0pin SIMM module. A DIMM module A DDR module with heatspreaders DDR2 module with large heatspreaders ins Originally the name for the legs on a memory module, similar to the legs or lead on an electronic chip. The terminology has carried over to describe the number of contacts on memory modules even when they are not pins. Bus A group of electrical conductors linking different parts of the computer. Just as a bus in real life is a means of transporting large numbers of people from one location to another, so a bus in a computer is a means of transporting large numbers of signals or data from one integrated circuit to another. For example the front side bus FSB transports data between the CPU and the Memory Controller and to other destinations. Buses may contain subgroups that are also buses, for example the Memory Bus which links the Memory Controller and the RAM contains an address bus, a data bus and a command bus. SIP Single Inline Package an obsolete type of memory module with a single row of actual pins along one side. SIMM Single Inline Memory Module an obsolete type of memory stick with power and data contacts on one side of the board. DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory a generic term describing RAM in which the data needs to be refreshed continually. Very widely used in mass production PCs. SRAM Static Random Access Memory a generic term describing RAM in which the data is retained without the need to refresh. Faster, larger and more expensive than DRAM. Cache Memory Cache is a term used to describe a number of different functions in the computer. Cache memory is a separate store of SRAM used by the CPU to store the most frequently used information. The cache can be accessed more quickly than normal RAM so by storing frequently used functionsdata there an overall speed increase can be obtained. There are different levels of cache depending on how close they are to the CPU, Level 1 cache is actually part of the CPU chip itself, Level 2 and Level 3 are external to the CPU usually on the motherboard. FP Fast Page RAM A type of DRAM, introduced in 1. EDO Extended Data Output RAM a type of DRAM which uses assumptions about the next memory access to pre read data. Introduced in 1. 99. Fast Page. Sometimes known as Hyper Page Mode HPM. DIMM Dual Inline Memory Module a memory stick with power and data contacts on both sides of the board. Parity Parity is part of an error checking process that can be used to verify the integrity of data stored in RAM. The data is stored, as is always the case in computers, in binary a sequence of eight ones and zeroes which make up the byte of data. The Parity of that data byte is found by determining whether there are an odd number or even number of ones in the data. The parity of each data byte can then be stored by adding an additional bit of data, which can be either a one or a zero. This extra bit of data is called the Parity Bit.