Random access memory

Random-access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) refers to data storage formats and equipment that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order — that is, at random, not just in sequence. In contrast, other types of memory devices (such as magnetic tapes, disks, and drums) can access data on the storage medium only in a predetermined order due to constraints in their mechanical design.
Generally, RAM in a computer is considered main memory (or primary storage): the working area used for displaying and manipulating data. This type of RAM is usually in the form of integrated circuits (IC). These are commonly called memory sticks or RAM sticks because they are manufactured as small circuit boards with plastic packaging and are about the size of a few sticks of gum. Most personal computers have slots for adding and replacing memory chips.
RAM is typically erased when a computer is shut down, though some RAM chips maintain data indefinitely without electrical power. Technically, RAM devices are not limited to memory chips, and random-access memory as a storage format is not limited to use as working memory. In a broad sense, modern storage devices for long-term or secondary storage, including magnetic media and laser-readable CDs and DVDs, are forms of random-access memory.

Computers use RAM to hold the program code and data during computation. A defining characteristic of RAM is that all memory locations can be accessed at almost the same speed. Most other technologies have inherent delays for reading a particular bit or byte. Adding more RAM is an easy way to increase system performance.
Early main memory systems built from vacuum tubes behaved much like modern RAM, except that they failed frequently. Core memory, which used wires attached to small ferrite electromagnetic cores, also had roughly equal access time. The term “core” is still used by some programmers to describe the RAM main memory of a computer. The basic concepts of tube and core memory are used in modern RAM implemented with integrated circuits.
Alternative primary storage mechanisms usually involved a non-uniform delay for memory access. Delay line memory used a sequence of sound wave pulses in mercury-filled tubes to hold a series of bits. Drum memory acted much like the modern hard disk, storing data magnetically in continuous circular bands. (See primary storage for a greater discussion of these alternatives and others.)
Many types of RAM are volatile, which means that unlike some other forms of computer storage such as disk storage and tape storage, they lose all data when the computer is powered down. Modern RAM generally stores a bit of data as either a charge in a capacitor, as in dynamic RAM, or the state of a flip-flop, as in static RAM.
Currently, there are several types of non-volatile RAM under development, which will preserve data while powered down. The technologies used include carbon nanotubes and magnetic tunnel effect.
In summer 2003, a 128 KB Magnetic RAM chip was introduced, which was manufactured with 0.18 µm technology. The core technology of MRAM is based on the magnetic tunnel effect. In June of 2004, Infineon Technologies unveiled a 16 MB prototype based on 0.18 µm technology once again.
As for carbon nanotube memory, a high-tech startup Nantero built a functioning prototype 10 GB array in 2004.
Software can "partition" a portion of a computer's RAM, allowing it to act as a much-faster hard drive, which is referred to as a RAM disk. Unless the memory used is non-volatile, a RAM disk does not maintain the stored data if the computer is shut down.
Some types of RAM can detect or correct random unintentional faults called memory errors in the stored data (see RAM parity).

The memory wall

The term "memory wall", first officially coined in Hitting the Memory Wall: Implications of the Obvious (PDF), refers to the growing disparity between CPU and memory speed. From 1986 to 2000, CPU speed improved at an annual rate of 55% while memory speed only improved at 10%. Given these trends, it was expected that memory latency would become an overwhelming bottleneck in computer performance. Currently, CPU speed improvements have slowed significantly partly due to major physical barriers and partly because we have already hit the memory wall in some sense. Intel summarized these causes in their Platform 2015 documentation (PDF): "First of all, as chip geometries shrink and clock frequencies rise, the transistor leakage current increases, leading to excess power consumption and heat (more on power consumption below). Secondly, the advantages of higher clock speeds are in part negated by memory latency, since memory access times have not been able to keep pace with increasing clock frequencies. Third, for certain applications, traditional serial architectures are becoming less efficient as processors get faster (due to the so-called Von Neumann bottleneck), further undercutting any gains that frequency increases might otherwise buy. In addition, resistance-capacitance (RC) delays in signal transmission are growing as feature sizes shrink, imposing an additional bottleneck that frequency increases don't address." The RC delays in signal transmission were also noted in Clock Rate versus IPC: The End of the Road for Conventional Microarchitectures which projects a maximum of 12.5% average annual CPU performance improvement between 2000 and 2014. The data on Intel Processors clearly shows a slowdown in performance improvements in recent processors. However Intel's new processors, Core 2 (codenamed conroe) show a significant improvement over previous Pentium 4 processors.

General RAM packaging formats

Semiconductor RAM is produced as integrated circuits (ICs) or commonly RAM chips. RAM chips (ICs) are often assembled into plug-in modules. Some standard module types are:

• RAM chip (Integrated Circuit or IC)
  • Dual in-line Package (DIP)
• RAM (memory) modules
  • Single In-line Pin Package (SIPP)
  • Single in-line memory module (SIMM)
  • Dual in-line memory module (DIMM)
  • Rambus modules are technically DIMMs, but are usually referred to as RIMMs due to their proprietary slot.
  • Small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM). Smaller version of the DIMM, used in laptops. Comes in versions with:
    • 72 pins (32-bit)
    • 144 pins (64-bit)
    • 200 pins (72-bit)
  • Small outline RIMM (SO-RIMM). Smaller version of the RIMM, used in laptops.

Common RAM modules

Common RAM packages as illustrated to the right, from top to bottom:

1. DIP 16-pin (RAM chip)
2. SIPP
3. SIMM 30-pin
4. SIMM 72-pin
5. SDRAM DIMM
6. DDR DIMM