Upgrade RAM TRX has long been the most common way to improve your computer’s performance. RAM stands for “Random Access Memory” and is basically the part of your computer that monitors what your computer is working on.
If RAM is limited, your computer must store this current information elsewhere, which can drastically slow down your workflow and load times. This is especially notable for computer-intensive projects such as video encoding and high-quality art creation.
Whether you want to upgrade or collect RAM from one computer for use on another, it will help you know what kind of RAM your system is using. There are several ways to find out!
RAM Information in Windows 10
For basic information about RAM, see the About page and the Performance tab in Task Manager.
There are two easy ways to access the About page:
- Press Win + Pause / Break
- Enter “About Your Computer” in the search function on the Windows Start menu
There are three easy ways to access Task Manager:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Escape
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select “Task Manager”
- Enter “Task Manager” in the Windows Start menu search
These two methods will give you the simplest view of your computer’s RAM information, which mainly shows how much RAM you currently have, along with information about the RAM speed. If that’s not enough for what you want to do, try the Windows Management Instrumentation or wmic command-line tool.
To use wmic, you need to open a command prompt window, which is quickly done by typing “cmd” into the search function on the Windows Start menu. Once you’re there, you can usually use the “wmic MemoryChip get” command to retrieve the information you’re looking for.
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Here is a comprehensive set of features that you can include in the “wmic MemoryChip get” command, but the following should cover a practical basis for most RAM identification needs:
wmic MemoryChip gets memory type, capacity, speed, configured clock speed, DeviceLocator, FormFactor, manufacturer, serial number, part number
This creates a table with the following information, if available:
- MemoryType reports a number corresponding to a specific “type” of RAM module. 20 means that it is DDR memory. DDR2 is 21. DDR3 is 24. DDR4 is 26. Sometimes 0. is displayed here. If so, you will want to use “SMBIOSMemoryType” instead.
- Capacity shows the raw byte value of the RAM capacity, so something like 8,589,934,592 will be 8 GB of RAM for the module.
- Speed is a supported value for the speed of memory that your RAM Trx module indicates that it can support, usually somewhere between 800 and 3200.
- Configuredclockspeed indicates the speed at which your RAM is currently configured to work.
- DeviceLocator tells you which physical slot the RAM module is connected to on the system board.
- FormFactor is a type of physical form of a RAM module. This is usually number 8 for desktop DIMMs or number 12 for notebook SODIMMs.
- The manufacturer indicates the identified manufacturer of the RAM module. Sometimes it may seem Unknown.
- The serial number provides you with the hardware serial number for a specific RAM, which is usually only relevant if you contact the manufacturer for troubleshooting.
- The part number indicates the model number of the manufacturer of the particular RAM module, which can be very useful when searching on Google to identify the RAM you have and whether you can buy it back.
Additional software options
Much of the above information is also available through third-party software such as CPU-Z and Speccy.
In CPU-Z, you will want to use the “Memory” and “SPD” tabs to display RAM information. The memory shows the memory type and the current frequency. The SPD card, which means “serial presence detection”, provides information about the RAM modules themselves, including information about the manufacturer and part number.
In Speccy, you want to go to the “RAM” display in the left menu. You should find almost all the necessary information about RAM and memory in it. Depending on what you are trying to find, you may need to expand the “SPD” drop-down list to get more specific information about RAM.
RAM Physical Information In Linux
You can find practically all of the above information via a Linux terminal with the following command:
- sudo dmidecode – memory type
This should provide an ordered list of information about your storage devices, also known as your RAM, including size, types, and manufacturer information.
Physical RAM module
Most consumer RAM modules have a label identifying the type of RAM. Typically, these labels are either a sticker that is applied directly to RAM, engraved on an effective heat spreader on more powerful modules, or they can be printed directly on a circuit board.
In these cases, you will usually find the part number, which you can then search using your preferred search engine to find out more specifications. If you can’t find the label or identifier anywhere, it may be wise to use one of the methods described above instead.
These options should help you determine what RAM your computer is using. If you want to upgrade, make sure you get the same type and shape of RAM, because you can’t directly replace DDR3 with DDR4 RAM without having to replace the motherboard.
For more information on upgrading RAM, see our guide to installing new memory on your computer.Please note that if you buy something after clicking on the links in our articles, we can earn a small commission. See our affiliate link policy for more details.