If you’re configuring a gaming computer, you’re likely to come across two similar-sounding terms: RAM and VRAM. However, what do these terms mean, how do they differ, and why is RAM and VRAM needed for the best gaming experience?
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Let’s analyze the differences and see how important each is to computers.
What is RAM?
RAM acts as a “desk containing records” and the computer will put on “that desk” processes and software to operate. Every time you upload a new program, that program is put into RAM for the computer to use.
Therefore, software and games often require a computer with a minimum amount of RAM to run (implicitly how many records can be contained on the surface of the table). This allows the computer to download applications and games to RAM to work. Today a computer usually has a RAM capacity from 2G to 32GB. To know the real needs of How much RAM does the computer need?I have a pretty detailed analysis.
When to add more RAM
Since RAM acts as the “desk” of the computer, having too little RAM can adversely affect computer performance.
When this happens, your PC starts mining to “virtual memory”. Unlike RAM; This is the feature of Hard Drive can be used temporarily to support a part of data processing for RAM when RAM runs out of memory.
When virtual memory operation, you will notice that open programs will lag slightly, data processing will be slower than usual, as this is only temporary virtual memory and Hard drive speed is slower than RAM. Therefore, the best way is to buy more RAM of the same type, with the same bus to attach to the Mainboard.
However, adding more RAM to your computer cannot solve all computer acceleration problems. For example, if the CPU is slow, adding more RAM won’t make it faster.
What is VRAM?
Likewise, VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) works like RAM, but serves graphics and video needs.
Typically, you’ll see VRAM in any hardware that displays what’s on your screen. If you have a graphics card, that card will have internal VRAM to handle all the display data. If you don’t have a graphics card, the CPU will have a built-in processor.
When buying a new graphics card, you can tell how much VRAM the card has by looking at the specs. It is usually listed in gigabytes and printed on the box; 4GB graphics card will have 4GB VRAM.
When to add more VRAM
Just like regular RAM boosts the PC’s computational processing power, VRAM helps the computer handle screen-related tasks. Therefore, if the processing of images, videos, and rendering is slow, installing a graphics card with high VRAM may increase the processing speed for the computer.
For example, if the Game plays in High mode (high configuration), more VRAM will help increase FPS, characters display more clearly, you need about 2-6GB VRAM for 1080p gaming experience.
However, like RAM, the graphics card’s VRAM is not the only determining factor in graphics processing. Graphics processing units (GPU) has processors that run at high clock speeds, and some will cool themselves better than others. Both of these factors should be considered when comparing GPUs against each other.
Can RAM be used instead of VRAM and vice versa?
Unfortunately, this is not a good idea if you solve the VRAM problem by buying more RAM and vice versa. That’s because both have their own jobs in the computing ecosystem.
But wait a minute. CPU with integrated graphics processor uses part of system RAM to operate. Why can’t you just buy a lot of RAM, assigning 8GB of RAM as VRAM is the same as an 8GB graphics card?
The problem here is that the RAM doesn’t overheat when dealing with data displayed as VRAM. The graphics card’s VRAM is near its processor, so moving data from one place to another is quick and easy. System RAM takes longer to access image data, so games that use RAM as VRAM will be difficult to play and break easily.
