Its About Time!
There has been quite a bit of buzz lately in the tech world about the new generation of memory sticks coming out. It may not seem like it is big news, but let me assure you, it is. In the past five years we have seen significant improvements to hard drives, processors, USB, SATA, and PCI slots, but we haven’t had much to cheer about on the memory front. A while back it was announced that DDR4 was being developed, and now it’s ready to start hitting the sales floors.
What Exactly Does Memory Do?
Often time we call memory “RAM”, which stands for Random Access Memory, while technically that is the proper name for it; we often use the word memory interchangeably. Without getting too technical, the memory stores data used by the processor (cpu) for quick access. With memory being randomized into a grid/cell style, it can read and write data at an incredible rate. So when the processor can store some of its data on the memory, it can free up its processing power to calculate other complex variables and work harder, all the while checking on the stored data when it needs it. In short, it frees up power and allows for much better performance.
What Is The Big Deal About This New Memory?
The big deal is that with all of the new hardware in machines, we are finding that one of the major contributing factors to PC slowdown is the memory. We find that we do not have enough, the speed is too low, or we have out of date memory. Modern memory is classified in a couple ways and it starts with DDR (Double Data Rate,) which you can think of as a generation of memory. Each generation increased the speed in which it does its job, increased the bandwidth, and more often comes in a much higher quantity. The second qualifier is the actual speed, which we measure in megahertz (mhz) the higher the speed, the higher it can accept and give that stored data. So in the previous iterations, DDR3 is literally twice as fast as DDR2, and as you can guess DDR4 is twice as fast as DDR3. The best part is that with every new generation of memory released it actually consumes less power than its previous version.
So Should I Go And Upgrade Now?
The sad and tricky part of new PC parts is that they are not fully supported at first. To get the new memory you have to have a mother board that supports it, however current motherboards are not readily supporting it. It generally takes a few months before we are starting a noticeable increase in motherboards that do support the new components. It is also worth nothing, that if you are not a serious enthusiast, really love gaming, or are doing some hardcore photo and video editing it probably isn’t worth it until the prices go down. As always prices for new components will start high and eventually equal out to a normal price.
I hope that this helps explain the reason why many of us are excited, and if you need help building or fixing a computer, let us know. We would love to help you out.
