How To Find Computer Memory

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If your PC is feeling a petty sluggish—plagued by freezing, spinning wheels, or even error messages about "depression retentivity"—y'all might need more RAM.

What Is RAM?

RAM stands for Random Admission Memory, and information technology's a blazon of super-fast storage your estimator uses to hold data it needs in the brusque term. Think of your hard bulldoze as a filing chiffonier where all your data is stored and the RAM like your desk, where you put the stuff you're currently working on. The more than RAM you take, the more than projects and programs your computer tin can keep open at once without getting bogged down by taking things in and out of the proverbial filing cabinet.

Unfortunately, in the age of thinner and thinner devices, many modern laptops have their RAM permanently soldered to the motherboard, meaning you can't upgrade it without ownership a whole new PC. But if y'all accept a desktop PC or an upgrade-friendly laptop, calculation more RAM is commonly quite piece of cake. You merely need to find a compatible stick (which may require some Googling), popular open your computer, and bandy the RAM into its dedicated slot. Before you accident $50 on a new stick, it'southward a good idea to see if you actually need it, or if that coin is meliorate spent on another upgrade, like a solid-state drive.

Here's how to see how much RAM is currently in your PC, and whether you need to upgrade.

Find Out How Much RAM You Have

If you're using a Windows ten PC, checking your RAM is easy. Open Settings > System > About and look for the Device Specifications section. You should come across a line named "Installed RAM"—this will tell you lot how much you currently have.

If you're still using Windows 7, you should upgrade because official support has ended. In the concurrently, open the Start menu, right-click on Estimator and so click Properties. This should bring up a window with your computer's basic specs. Under System, you should see a line cogent your Installed Memory.

Mac users have a simple manner of checking their computer'south specs: simply click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen, and select About This Mac. In the Overview tab, you'll exist presented with a simple list of specs, including the corporeality of memory currently installed.

RAM Issues? Consult Task Managing director or Action Monitor

As a general rule, 4GB is starting to become "not plenty," while 8GB is fine for most general-utilise PCs (with loftier-stop gaming and workstation PCs going upwardly to 16GB or more). But this tin can vary from person to person, so in that location's a more precise way to see if y'all actuallyneed more RAM: the Task Manager.

Go about your work as normal, and if the computer begins to slow down, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring upwardly Windows Task Managing director. Click the Functioning tab and select Memory in the sidebar to see a graph of your current RAM usage.

You don't desire the graph to exist completely empty—later on all, unused RAM is wasted RAM—but if your RAM is completely full when you're trying to practice basic tasks like scan the web or write up some Give-and-take documents, you're probably due for an upgrade. (Though you can also try closing applications that Job Managing director says are using lots of RAM, or uninstalling needless extensions from your browser.)

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If your RAM isn't bursting at the seams during those slowdowns, then your bottleneck is likely somewhere else, and you should await to other solutions for speeding up your PC.

On Macs, you should bank check Activity Monitor. When you feel a slowdown, press Command + Space to bring up Spotlight, type "Action Monitor," and printing Enter. Click the Retention tab along the meridian of the window. You lot'll encounter a graph at the bottom showing you how much of your RAM is currently in use.

Remember that more gratis RAM does not equal ameliorate—as long equally you have some free RAM, you're fine, and should look into other potential upgrades. But if Activeness Monitor is saying that your RAM is full to the brim, you probably demand more than. In the meantime, you can check the list of processes and close any programs that are using lots of retentiveness.

Sadly, many modern Macs practice not have upgradeable RAM. Almost iMacs and older MacBooks are upgrade-friendly, while newer MacBooks have their RAM permanently soldered to the motherboard. Google your specific model (the one listed in Most This Mac) and meet what's doable on your motorcar. And for more on choosing exactly the correct RAM for your PC, bank check out our deep-dive feature on RAM ownership strategy.

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