Random Access Memory
Computer Science: OCR A Level, topic 1.3.10
Random Access Memory
Random Access Memory (RAM) is one of the two types of main memory found in computers. General purpose computers usually contain a large amount of RAM. The features of RAM are:
Volatile
- RAM is volatile. This means that it will lose its contents when power is lost (i.e. if the computer is switched off).
Fast
- RAM is much faster to access than secondary storage such as Hard Disk Drives (HDDs).
Expensive
- RAM is much more expensive per unit capacity than secondary storage media.
Random access
- Random Access means that any part of the memory can be accessed non-sequentially and as quickly as any other part of the memory.
Test yourself on Random Access Memory
What's Random Access Memory an example of?
Which of these tends to be faster to access?
Which of these tends to be cheaper per unit capacity?