The RAM Deep Dive

• There are varying generations of RAM from DDR2 to DDR5
  • This must be matched to the CPU and motherboard
  • Some CPUs and motherboards support a pair of sequential generations (DDR4/DDR5)
  • DDR5 is still relatively new and DDR4 is still very common
• RAM comes in different speeds inside each generation
  • The faster the RAM, the faster you can work with your data
  • RAM speeds must be matched to the CPU and motherboard
• CPUs support and motherboards have a certain number of “channels” for RAM
  • Usually a power of two
  • RAM prefers to be installed in pairs split across channels
    • Think of one very long hallway one-sided hallway vs a shorter hallway with doors on both sides
  • The RAM in each channel should match, but different channels can be different
    • This may cause a small decrease in speed, but it may be worth it for the extra RAM
• Servers require ECC RAM which can detect and correct in-memory data corruption