PC Hardware —

Lesson Summary

The following points summarize the main elements of this lesson:

  • There are two basic kinds of memory in a computer: ROM and RAM.

  • Memory chips come in many sizes and shapes: DIPPs, SIPPs, DRAM, SRAM.

  • Installing memory (RAM) is easy; however, you must be able to match the size and configuration of the memory chips to the motherboard.

  • The number of memory modules needed to fill one memory bank equals the width of the external data bus (in bits) divided by the width of the SIMM (in bits).

  • Cache memory is used to increase the performance of a computer.

  • Cache memory (SRAM) is faster, but more expensive, than the standard DRAM; therefore, it is used in small quantities and for special purposes.

  • There are two types of cache memory: L1 and L2.


Lesson 2: Memory Mapping

Computer memory has many functions. Some memory is reserved for particular uses by the processor and, if improperly allocated, will cause problems. Understanding how to identify and manage memory is key to optimizing a computer. In this lesson, you learn how memory is allocated. Later, you will learn how to apply this information and optimize computer memory (in Tutorial 15, "Software: MS-DOS and Windows 3.x."

After this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Know how to use hexadecimal numbers.

  • Define the different types of memory access.

  • Optimize memory allocation.

Estimated lesson time: 20 minutes