Does the brand of RAM make any difference?
Edge RAM? I've never heard of them, and I know a TON of computer RAM companies. And yes, it's going to be much more expensive at HP, simply because "we don't recommend that you use 3rd party RAM; we certify that the RAM we recommend to you from our store will work with your laptop." If you know what RAM your laptop will use, say DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz RAM, you can find a 2GB module for about $20 from newegg.com from a much better known company such as Kingston, Crucial, or Corsair. If you are unsure what RAM you need, contact HP and ask, write down the specifications they give you, and then go to Newegg.com and look up what they have. I know RAM for my laptop is $49 for a 1GB module from HP, whereas a 4GB set (two 2GB modules) is less than $40 from Newegg. Honestly, I wouldn't buy anything computer-related from Walmart. They're really expensive, and tend to carry lesser-known brands that aren't as good. Even Best Buy and similar sites are cheaper than Walmart on most every computer part it seems, and I feel that they are often woefully overpriced when you compare their products with the prices on Newegg.com If you are still confused or wondering, feel free to contact me. :)
OMG, does my computer have 4 RAM slots, or 2?
I'm searching everywhere, and I can't find how many it has... I went to crucial.com and tried to find my system in the pull down menus but I didn't see it... And I don't want to download the "system scanner" It's brand new, just got this computer like an hour ago... It's this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?... Does it have 4 RAM slots, or just 2? Thanks!
How much of a difference will 8GB of RAM make?
Very little difference. In day to day tasks, the amount of RAM you have only determines the number of programs you can run simultaneously. In other words, if your program utilize 2GB of RAM , you only need 2GB of RAM. Having 6GB of RAM is a waste of 4GB as you’re not using it. At the same time, if you need 6GB of RAM but only have 4GB installed, you’ll have a very sluggish experience and likely many programs will not run and you’ll get insufficient RAM errors and warnings.All that being said, the average amount of RAM a normal (non-power and non-gamer) user utilizes is about 3.5GB of RAM. So 4GB is often recommended at a base level, and 6 - 8GB is recommended with the mindset of the future. Gamers will typically want 8–12GB of RAM on average, and power users vary depending on their applications.Next up, more RAM does not mean more speed. So get that out of your head right now. As previously stated, having extra RAM is a waste as you’re not utilizing it. If you need more speed, you’d upgrade your processor or replace your hard drive with a drive that has a faster read/write speed. Alongside that, you should try cleaning out your drive of old files and programs you no longer use, clean out temporary files as well. Try defragmenting the drive assuming it’s a mechanical drive. You may also want to run virus scans as malware can severely slow down your computer. Also consider limiting the number or programs you’re currently running at start-up and while you’re using your computer.Again I will say that if you have enough RAM to run your programs, more RAM will not equate to a faster performance.More insight on RAM here: Buster Smith's answer to How is performance different between 2GB and 4GB of RAM?
Is there any real difference between 4GB and 6GB RAM for the Redmi Note 5 Pro, or can I just go for the Rs. 3,000 cheaper 4GB RAM variant?
You should go with 4Gb ram variant. And I don't think it is necessary to buy 6Gb variant by spending 3000/- extra.If the price difference would be some where near 1000–1500/- any one would have suggest you to go with 6Gb variant. Or if they would have provided 126Gb of storage within extra 3000/-. That would be a real deal.And as per daily usage is concerned 4Gb is enough. Majority of the smartphone runs on 4Gb of ram even Samsung S8 has 4Gb RAM. So, don't spend extra on just RAM.Hope this helps…
On motherboards with 4 RAM slots can you run 2-GB and 2-4GB, or do they all have to be same size?
You may mix any capacity RAM modules that you like. There is no requirement for matched pairs except — if the board supports dual-channel and you want all the RAM to be accessed by that method, use pairs of the same capacity (see Joe's remarks). For example, installing a 2 GB modules in both channels gives 4 GB of dual-channel RAM; installing a 2 GB and a 4 GB in each channel gives 12 GB of dual channel RAM. Modern memory controllers have much more flexibility than the first generation. If you were to install a 4 GB module in one channel and a 2 GB in the other, half of the 4 GB would be accessed in tandem with the 2 GB (for 4 GB of dual-channel), while the excess 2 GB of the 4 GB module would be accessed in single-channel mode. When RAM timing differs, the controller uses the lower values returned by the SPD mechanism. Don't worry about dual-channel. Its performance is nearly identical to single-channel RAM access (which is often actually faster).
RAM 4 slots do all the slots have to use the same RAM?
hey, The two diff. color are bcos its 2 diff. channels channel A and channel B. It is suggested to use similar or pair in each channel. Some computer have motherboards that support only 1 kind of memory for eg PC6400 or DDR2 800mhz some support DDR2 533mhz to 800mhz. So depending on that you can use two pairs. The reson behind this is the Chipset used by the mobo. Consider that your mobo supports 533 to 800mhz. Than you can use a pair of 800mhz on orange ones and a pair of 667mhz on purple ones. If you tell me the model of computer or the mobo name I can give you more information. Thanks.
Which would be better to use, two 4GB RAM or one 8GB RAM?
You should go with 2x4GB sticks in most cases instead of a single 8GB stick, as you will be able to take advantage of both memory channels to get the full bandwidth of your RAM. If it's for a general purpose pc, you are fine with one 8GB stick,and you may run into less compatibility issues of you buy off brand RAM. Having two 4GB stick is still preferable over one 8GB as down the road if one stick were to fail (very rare) you would still be able to use your computer in the meantime until you can replace a dead stick. Again, very rare outside of overclocking, but RAM can fail in other ways. Cheap power supply or crappy motherboard might zap your memory with too high of voltage, but in those cases both sticks would be at risk.
Is it ok to have a laptop that has 4GB of RAM on one slot and 12GB to another slot?
There is no way you can put 12 Gb in one of the slots, because there are no commercially available 12 Gb RAM sticks. Even if that is memory directly soldered to the motherboard, it is very unlikely to have such amount in only one channel. If you’re not sure what you have currently installed, download the CPU-Z app and inspect the reported content of your RAM slots. One or both slots might not be actual slots with removable sticks though, and just soldered memory instead. To tell the difference you must pop the laptop open and do a visual recognition or search for memory specifications in the model manual.If your laptop has 2 real slots, then try to get a matched pair of RAM sticks of the same or better timing specifications. If you mix timing specs between slots, BIOS should default to the speed of the slowest in order to get stable performance, since they all are run with the same specs. If you don’t want to spend money and already have a slower RAM stick around, you should consider if installing it is convenient. If you have less than 8 Gb or only one slot populated, go for it. Even at a reduced timing, having 8 or more gigabytes of memory available will likely speed up some tasks that may be slowed down by occasional file swapping.If one of the sticks has a different capacity than the other, the smaller one will define how much RAM will get the benefit of double channel. For example, if you have one 2 Gb stick and one 8 Gb stick, the full 2 Gb in one stick and only a quarter of the 8 Gb in the other will interleave, totaling only 4 Gb in dual channel and the remaining 6 Gb in lower performing single channel. Having only 4 Gb in dual channel is better than nothing. Having 10 Gb is therefore better than having 8 Gb, even if the 2 Gb were slower than the 8 Gb stick, but of course you should aim higher and get an equally faster and hopefully larger stick to go with the other one.
Which is better, to have one 16GB RAM or to have 2 RAM of 8GB each?
1 x 16Gb means you can upgrade without throwing any RAM away, but the cost in performance until you upgrade is significant. I’d advocate always using both channels (assuming that it’s a CPU with two channels, such as almost all current Intel PC CPUs). There’s very little extra cost unless/until you do upgrade.For most workloads, a CPU spends much of its time waiting for data to get in and out of RAM. Using only one channel will approximately double that waiting time.For some workloads, that argument applies in spades to the Hard disk, versus a solid-state disk.So without strong evidence to the contrary, save money on the CPU and spend it on enough RAM in two channels, and on preferring a SSD.BTW if you need 16Gb you should have a fair idea as to why, and shape your system accordingly. For many common uses of a PC, 8Gb (as 2 x 4Gb ) is plenty.In passing: I was (almost) shocked to discover that there are now some laptops on the market which are one channel only by design. There’s no second RAM socket, so you cannot ever upgrade to two channels. They have engineered-in slowness. Stop it, before us technical people get lazy and stop recommending any of your laptops rather than laboriously checking the spec of each model. (Same reason I won’t be buying a VAG car any time soon, since the emissions cheating was uncovered. Too hard to know if the engine has been fixed, if the fix cost performance, if the reviews are of the car with the fixed engine or not …)
What are the benefits of 8GB RAM over 4GB RAM?
It must be said that there is a HUGE advantage in using dual-channel configuration first. If you have 4 memory slots and you want 4GB for now, you better should buy 2x 2GB, (preferably with, at last 1600GHz) than 1x 4GB. Later you will can do any upgrade you want, you will can put there another 2x 2GB to get 8GB in total, 2x 4GB to get 12GB or even 2x8GB to get 20GB! If you are gamer and if you plan to invest in your lovely PC for about 1-2 years. If you have just two memory slots you could buy 2x2GB considering that later you will sell them and upgrade to 2x4GB or 2x8GB. If you have two memory slots and you know that soon you will upgrade (2-3 moths - or weeks!) to 8GB then better buy 1 stick of 4GB!If you have two memory slots and you plan soon to upgrade to 16GB, get, of course 1 stick of 8GB.Must be said that with the higher capacity a stick came with, the lower is the price payed per byte.Considering that you are an average user, that buy a PC for web, chat, school, movies and light games, or games older than 2012 you are fine with 4GB for a while.If you are a gamer, a web designer, a programmer, a movie-maker, 8GB will be at the bottom line. You will need at last 2x 4GB in dual-channel or more.If you consider to buy sticks of 2GB I advice you that they are not so demanded on the market now, and if you will try to sell them you will not find easy someone to buy it, because most people that have Intel boards or AMD cheaper boards hold only 2 slots of memory and if they want to upgrade they will look to 8GB. Also many people will have soon 16GB of DDR4, since this appeared more than an year ago in the market, and now the tendency to buy a new Skylake platform accelerates, so, everybody that does an upgrade to a new PC shell spend the money investing in a PC with the newest technology.I think that as for DDR2 a stick of 2GB was a standard, and for DDR3 a stick of 4GB became also a standard, very soon, thanks to the ease of access, the wider bandwidth provided, and higher system requirements for games and other application 8GB DDR4 for a stick will be the standard. Today we already need 16GB to run many applications simultaneously.If you buy a new PC consider that 16GB DDR4 at 2400-2666MHz is the today's standard in terms of PC memory.