RAM or Random Access Memory is essential for gaming laptops. Mainly because the more RAM you have in your laptop or computer, the higher level of performance you can achieve. Higher RAM will increase your enjoyment and allow you to play even the most challenging 3D games.

Besides the CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM is probably the most vital item you’ll have in your laptop or computer. Just as you can’t have enough money, you can’t have enough RAM either. The more the better. The more RAM you have, the faster your computer will run.

Most serious gamers know their RAM. They know the difference between static and dynamic RAM. Many can even tell you how SIMM, DIMM, and SO-DIMM memory modules are different from each other. Also, everyone would know the importance of VRAM or VideoRAM for the operation of your gaming laptop. Above all, they know about their graphics cards or GPUs (graphics processing units).

First, you need to realize that RAM is probably the best known form or type of computer memory. Second, RAM is very important in how well your computer can perform the tasks you ask it to do. The more RAM you have, the more tasks and computer programs you can run at the same time.

You also shouldn’t make the mistake that only gamers care about getting enough RAM; Graphics-heavy professionals such as video editors, architects, layout artists, website designers… are also well aware of the importance of having enough RAM to get the job done.

Keep in mind that computer technology advances at a dizzying pace and is constantly changing. Overseeing all of these industry standards and technology is JEDEC, which acts as a regulatory body for the semiconductor industry. Hey, someone’s got to keep track of all these forms of RAM!

Basically, you have two types of RAM: Static RAM (SRAM), which is faster and more expensive than Dynamic RAM (DRAM). As its names suggest, dynamic RAM is constantly updated and is slower and less expensive than static RAM.

Static RAM is primarily used for cache memory, such as CPU speed sensitive cache.

What confuses most people is the entire range or types of Dynamic RAM, with more in development as we speak. Complicating matters further is the development of RAM for laptops that need smaller and more compact memory modules.

Here are some types of RAM that you may or may not have seen or heard of:

FPM DRAM, which stands for “Fast Page Mode Dynamic Random Access Memory” and was the original form of DRAM. It has a maximum transfer rate of approximately 176 MBps to L2 cache; and if you are wondering what level 2 cache is, then this is a cache located outside the processor chip. Level 1 refers to the internal cache on the processor.

EDO DRAM, which stands for “Extended Data Output Dynamic Random Access Memory” and is around 5% faster than FPM DRAM. The transfer rate is approximately 264 MBps to L2 cache.

SDRAM, which stands for “Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory,” is very common in computers today. The transfer speed tops out at around 528 MBps.

DDR SDRAM, which stands for “Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM” is similar to SDRAM but has higher bandwidth, allowing for faster speeds. The transfer speed to the L2 cache is around 1064 MBps.

DDR2 SDRAM, which stands for “Double-data-rate Two Synchronous Dynamic RAM”, operates the external data bus twice as fast as DDR SDRAM.

DDR3 SDRAM, which stands for “Double-data-rate Three Synchronous Dynamic RAM” and is an improvement over DDR2 SDRAM. DDR3 allows chip capacities from 512 megabits up to 8 gigabytes, giving you the maximum memory module size of 16 gigabytes.

memory modules

RAM modules are mounted on printed circuit boards for use in personal computers. First, it had SIMMs (single inline memory modules) which were gradually replaced by DIMMs (dual inline memory modules). The main difference between them: SIMMs have a 32-bit data path and DIMMs have a 64-bit data path. Now for laptops you have SO-DIMMs (Small Design Dual In-Line Memory Modules) which are smaller and more compact memory ICs.

Of course, like everything in life, there are radically different forms of RAM, such as RDRAM, which stands for “Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory.” This was designed by Rambus and has a high speed data bus nicknamed the Rambus channel. Similarly, it had the Rambus Inline Memory Module (RIMM) and for laptops it had SO-RIMM.

Graphic card

Next, you should know that there is something called VRAM or VideoRAM. This is a type of RAM that is used for video adapters or 3-D accelerators. VRAM is found on the graphics card and is important for high resolution and deep color, both of which are very essential for gamers. Since true multi-port VRAM is expensive, some graphics cards use SGRAM (Synchronous Graphics RAM) instead because it’s cheaper. Other types of specialty high-speed or multiport memory include WRAM, DDR2, GDDR3, and GDDR4.

Your graphics card will be the heart of your gaming machine. Most of the gamers go for the top brands like NVIDIA (GeForce) and ATI (Radeon); the higher numbered serial card generally means higher performance. For example, at the time of writing this article, Nvidia released the GeForce 9800 GX2, which is basically a dual GeForce 8800 GT on a single card. This will also give you DirectX 10 Graphics. Wait a couple of months and there will probably be something faster and more powerful on the market.

If one graphics card is good, two or more would be even better. That’s why it has SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology that allows you to link two or more video cards to get a single output. PCI Express, is another expansion card interface format that was introduced by Intel in 2004.

How much RAM do you need?

As already mentioned, the more RAM you have, the better your computer will perform. You will be able to perform more tasks and do them faster if you have enough RAM. In reality, upgrading your RAM to a higher level will usually give you a whole new computer.

There are recommended minimum requirements if you want to run certain programs or operating systems on your PC or laptop. To run Windows XP, Microsoft recommends 128MB as the minimum RAM requirement, once again, more is better.

For Mac OS X systems, you will need a minimum of 128 MB, but for optimal performance, try 512 MB. Linux will work fine on a system with only 4MB of RAM.

For Windows Vista: Microsoft recommends at least 1 Gig of RAM, but many users have reported that 2-3 Gigs of RAM makes Vista a much easier beast to handle. Vista probably needs all the good press it can get.

For gaming laptops: how much RAM?

Again, the more the merrier, gaming laptops need a lot of RAM as it is graphics and video heavy. Serious gamers tend to buy all the RAM they can afford and go for the fastest machines with the latest graphics card. Laptops with 4 Gigs of RAM are becoming common, with many gamers opting for 8 Gigs.

At the time of writing this article, what levels are we currently at regarding laptops and RAM? Well, the new Alienware Area-51® m17x laptop comes with the following specs: an Intel® Core(TM) 2 Extreme processor with up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory and dual Nvidia® GeForce® 8800M GTX. This machine also has the Killer(TM) K1 gaming network card, in addition to the ultra-realistic environments generated by the Ageia PhysX(TM) processor. You should also note that Ageia was recently (Feb 2008) acquired by Nvidia.

Perhaps the smartest route to take when it comes to RAM is to buy a laptop or PC where you can easily upgrade or expand the RAM if you need more memory. The changes are, wait a few months and you will probably need to increase your RAM.