Chapter 5: RAM

Modern DRAM sticks come in 32-bit- and _______________-bit-wide data form factors with a varying number of chips.

64

List the five commonly used clock speeds for early SDRAM systems.

66,75,83,100, and 133MHz

What is a mass storage device?

A mass storage device is a device that can hold data and programs while the computer is off.

What do system lockups and page faults indicate in Windows?

A problem with RAM

No____ processors support a triple-channel feature.

AMD

Of the three major operating systems, windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, which ones use virtual memory?

All 3 use virtual memory

Briefly outline good practices for storing and handling RAM sticks.

Always store RAM in anti-static bags whenever they are not in use, and use strict ESD handling procedures.

Why is it advantageous to use one of the low voltage versions of DDR3?

An advantage is DDR3 is the lower generation of heat, provides substantial cost savings up to 15%

Describe some best practices to follow when installing DIMMs

Attach an anti static wrist wrap to avoid ESD and dont touch contacts.

In windows Vista and Windows 7, the NMI proprietary crash screen is what techs call the ______a bright blue screen with a scary sounding error message on it.

BSOD

Why is SDRAM considered to be synchronous?

Because it is tied to the system clock

Why has DRAM been the standard RAM used in all computers-not just PCs-since the mid-1970s?

Because of its low cost,high speed, and capability to contain a lot of data in a relatively small package.

How does DDR2 RAM accomplish its speed increase over DDR RAM?

By clock doubling the input/output circuits on the chip.

DDR sticks use a rather interesting naming convention based on the number of ______bytes per second of data throughput the RAM can handle.

Bytes

A non maskable interrupt(NMI) is simply defined as an interruption the ____cannot ignore.

CPU

Describe two undesirable scenarios that can result from mixing RAM speeds on a system.

Can cause system to lock up or might get data corruption.

When installing DRAM, how can you ensure maximum stability in a system?

Choose RAM sticks that match in technology, capacity, and speed.

Because RDRAM could only be used with intel components, AMD and many major system and memory makers threw their support behind an alternative to RDRAM called________

DDR SDRAM

________basically copied Rambus, doubling the throughput of SDRAM by making two processes for every clock cycle.

DDR SDRAM

________is DDR RAM with some improvements in its electrical characteristics. Enabling it to run even faster than DDR while using less power.

DDR2

______boasts higher speeds, more efficient architecture, and around 30 percent lower power consumption than DDR2 RAM, making it a compelling choice for system builders.

DDR3

Memory manufacturers offer a low voltage version of DDR3, most commonly labeled _____ that provides substantial cost savings when used in massive RAM applications.

DDR3L

The ultra low voltage version of DDR3, ________, runs at a miserly 1.25v

DDR3U

________ arrived on the scene in late 2014 with much fanfare and slow adoption, offering higher densities and lower voltages than DDR3 and handling faster data tranfser rates.

DDR4

What is the difference between DDR 400 and PC3200?

DDR400 is measured in frequency and PC3200 is measured in bandwidth

The CPU uses _____ as RAM for all PCs.

DRAM

_______functions like an electronic spreadsheet, with numbered rows containing cells and each cell holding a one or a zero.

DRAM

Describe the new RAM intel used to replace SDRAM on the Pentium 4 computers.

Developed by Rambus, called RDRAM could handle speeds up to 800MHz.

What is the range of sizes for readyboost devices and what factors affect how much of this memory windows can use?

Devices can be between 1 and 32GB in capacity.

What does a windows 8/8.1/10 system display as its NMI proprietary crash screen?

Displays a blue screen of death with a sad face and the words to the effect of windows has a problem.

By populating the same colored motherboard RAM slots with identical RAM, you can run in ________ mode.

Dual-Channel

One of Rambus' best concepts may be the_________architecture—using two sticks of RDRAM together to increase throughput.

Dual-Channel

Today's PCs that need to watch for RAM errors use a special type of RAM called _________RAM.

ECC

A _______ is an error that can cause cause an application to crash.

GPF

Briefly describe error correction code RAM and explain how it works.

It detects any time a single bit is incorrect then fixes these errors on the fly.

How is DDR SDRAM faster than regular SDRAM?

It doubles the throughput of SDRAM by making two processors for every clock cycle.

Intel's______ platform supports triple-channel memory.

LGA 1366

The original 8088 processor needed RAM that could store data in 8-bit (1-byte) chunks, such that each time the CPU asked for a line of code, the _____ could put an 8-bit chunk on the data bus.

MCC

What is microsoft recommendation on the amount of RAM to use for readyboost drives?

Microsoft recommends using 1-3x the amount of system RAM

Why does microsoft memory requirements for windows vista/7/8/8.1/10 to the authors recommendations for better performance.

Microsoft requirements are to get people to upgrade as for the authors is to give you solid performance if you upgrade.

When a computer starts running out of real RAM because of too many loaded programs, the system swaps programs from RAM to the ________file, opening up more space for those programs that are currently active.

Page

The first type of error detecting RAM was known as ______ RAM.

Parity

What was the first type of error-detecting RAM?

Parity RAM

Describe the necessary steps to enhance system performance using readyboost.

Plug a ready boost compatible flash drive in your computer then right click on the device and select properties. Click the ready boost tab and select the button next to either dedicate this device to readyboost or use this device then click apply.

Excessive hard drive activity when you move between programs points to a need for more__________.

RAM

The default and recommended page file size in windows is 1.5 times the amount of installed _____ on your computer.

RAM

What is RAM count and how is it used to verify the successful installation of RAM?

RAM count is the amount of RAM you put into your PC. After installing boot up your PC and the RAM count on the PC reflects the new value.

Describe the RAM requirements and recommendations for the Linux OS.

RAM requirements for linux depend entirely on the distro used.

Why is it better to add more system memory than use readyboost to gain performance?

RAM will always give your clients and you a far better boost in performance than readyboost.

When intel was developing the Pentium 4, they replaced SDRAM with a very fast, new type of RAM developed by Rambus, called Rambus DRAM, or simply RDRAM.

RDRAM

Windows Vista and later versions offer a feature called_________that enables you to use flash media devices-removable USB thumb drives or memory cards-as super fast, dedicated virtual memory.

Readyboost

A motherboard should detect and automatically set up any DIMM you install, assuming you have the right RAM for the system, using a technology called ___________

SPD

All the new systems count on______ to set the RAM timings properly for your system when it boots.

SPD

What limitation may surface when running a software based tester on RAM?

Since you have to load a software into memory its about to scan there is a chance the RAM tester might cause an error.

What is the difference between a single-sided stick and a double-sided stick?

Single sided sticks have chips on one side and dual sided sticks have chips on both sides.

What is stored on the serial presence detect(SPD) chip?

Stores all information about your DRAM, including size,speed,ECC or non ECC.

_________RAM is tied to the system clock, as is the CPU and MCC, so that the MCC knows when data is ready to be grabbed from SDRAM.

Synchronous

How does the extra bit help parity checking?

The extra bit of data helps so that the MCC used to verify whether the data was correct.

What is an indication that disk thrashing may be occurring?

The hard drive access LED going crazy as windows rushes to move programs between RAM and the page file.

Describe how windows virtual memory uses a page file.

The page file works like a temporary storage box, windows temporarily moves loaded programs from RAM to the page file so other programs can load.

Describe the performance gain obtained by using readyboost.

The read and write access times are better on a flash drive than hard drive

Explain why DDR3 I/O speeds are quadruple the clock speeds, whereas DDR2 I/O speeds are only double the clock.

The speed increase is due to the increase buffer size, which enables DDR3 to grab twice as much data every clock cycle as DDR2 can.

Explain why DDR2 DIMMs and SO-DIMMs are not compatible with DDR DIMMs and SO DIMMs.

They are electronically incompatible and DDR2 sticks will not fit in DDR sockets.

Briefly explain the DDR stick naming convention.

To determine the bytes per second, take the MHz speed and multiply by 8 bytes.

Why does Microsoft set very low minimum RAM requirements for the various windows operating systems?

To get the maximum number of users to upgrade or convert.

What information does the CPU-Z freeware program provide?

Total number of slots on your motherboard, the number of slots used, and the exact type of RAM in each slot

Some motherboards that support DDR3 also support features called ____________ architecture or quad-channel architecture, which work much like dual-channel, but with three or four sticks of RAM instead of two.

Triple channel

What hardware does dual-channel DDR require?

Two identical sticks of RAM and must snap into two paired slots.

Intel has proposed a memory standard called ________ as of this writing that would bridge the gap between DDR3 and DDR4.

UNIDIMM

Some DDR3 modules include a feature called_____ that enables power users to overclock their RAM easily, boosting their already fast memory.

XMP

What precautionary measures should be taken while installing SO-DIMM in a laptop.

You should turn off the system and disconnect it from the AC wall socket and remove any removable batteries, also use an anti-static wrist wrap.

What happens if you put a high latency stick in a motherboard set up for low latency stick?

You will get an unstable PC or a completely dead PC

What two resources can a technician use to determine the total capacity of RAM the system can handle and what specific technology works with the system?

Your motherboard book or RAM manufacturers website.

What is the Blue screen of Death?

a crash screen that appears on windows vista or windows 7 system.

When the CPU needs certain bytes of data, it requests those bytes via the _______________ bus.

address

Registered RAM, or _______RAM, refers to a small register installed on some memory modules to act as a buffer between the DIMM and the memory controller.

buffered

How was the 400MHz frontside bus speed achieved?

by making the CPUs and MCCs capable of sending 64 bits of data two or four times for every clock cycle.

What is the primary cause of a general protection fault?

by programs stepping on each others toes.

Rather than using a label that describes the electronic structure of RAM, common usage describes the total capacity of RAM on a stick in________.

bytes

In reference to RAM sticks, CAS stands for ________.

column array strobe

How do you get to the windows performance tab

ctrl-shift-esc

When windows needs to be access the page file too frequently, the hard drive access LED goes crazy as windows rushes to move programs between RAM and the page file in a process called __________.

disk thrashing

Every type of RAM stick comes in one of two types: single-sided RAM and ________RAM.

double-sided

List some sources that may cause intermittent memory errors.

dying power supply, electrical interference, buggy applications and buggy hardware

The delay in RAM response time is called _________.

latency

A system __________is when the computer stops functioning.

lockup

With DDR4, most techs have switched from bit rate to _________, a way to describe the bandwidth as the number of data transfer operations happening at any given second.

megatransfers(MT/s)

A_______number of chips on a stick indicates ECC or parity DRAM.

odd

Parity RAM stored an extra bit of data (called the _______________) that the MCC used to verify whether the data was correct.

parity bit

How do "memory" errors show up on modern systems?

parity errors, ECC errors, system lockups, page faults, and other screens.

__________ parity errors show up on systems that do not have parity or ECC memory.

phantom

When a Mac OS X system receives a non-maskable interrupt, Mac OS X will display a spinning rainbow wheel called the _______________.

pinwheel of death

____________parity errors are simply errors that the MCC detects from the parity or ECC chips.

real

In general, how do you access RAM in a laptop?

removing a panel or lifting up the keyboard

As the CPU data bus sizes increased, DRAM manufacturers responded by creating wider DRAM chips, such as x4, x8, and x16, and putting multiples of them on a small circuit board called a ______ or module.

stick

Latency numbers reflect how many ticks of the ______ occur before the RAM responds.

system clock

GDDR3 is a type of memory used solely in_______ cards.

video

Windows 7 and later include the ____________tool, which can automatically scan your computer's RAM when you encounter a problem.

windows memory diagnostic

What keystroke combination would you use to access the System Control Panel applet?

windows pause/break keystroke combination

When adding RAM to a modern machine, where do you obtain information regarding the right stick or sticks for the particular motherboard.

your motherboard manual