Intro: Good Morning everyone!

We are your today’s reporters- Ana Marie Sucgang and Ainsley

Recio, and today we will be discussing our topic which is all about RAM.

Ainsley: But before we start let me ask you some simple questions..

1. What is RAM?

2. What does RAM do?

Ainsley: So we will be discussing all of this to you later on

*START OF REPORTING

Ana: just like what u said RAM means RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY, but what does RAM
really do? Many people are aware that something called Random Access Memory (RAM) is at
work in their PCs, but very few know what RAM actually does.

Ana: So what does RAM do? The CPU uses RAM as its active workspace………. Programs
stored on the hard drive need to be loaded into RAM to enable the CPU to swap data in and out
quickly. And without RAM, the modern PC simply simply does not function.

Ana: You can conceptualize RAM as the CPU’s short term memory. The hard drive acts as the
book and RAM as the short-term memory. CPU uses a helper chip, the Northbridge, for all of its
communication with RAM. It has no direct connection to either the external data bus or the
address bus.

Ana: The Northbridge chip acts as the intermediary for all data transfers between RAM and the
CPU. The CPU sends requests for data stored in RAM to the Northbridge chip via the address
bus, and the Northbridge chip retrieves the data from RAM and drops it onto the external data
bus for pickup by the CPU.Northbridge, for all of its communication with RAM. It has no direct
connection to either the external data bus or the address bus.

Ana: The CPU uses RAM to store active programs and data temporarily. As it changes data, the
CPU tells Northbridge to update that data in RAM.

RAM does the job of storing programs just fine-but RAM also has a tiny problem.

Ana: RAM malfunction, If your computer suddenly lost power, everything that you typed would
be irretrievably lost. RAM used in the PC is a volatile medium, meaning that it requires
continous electricity to hold data. Losing power for even a split- second clears RAM completely.

Ana: The RAM in a typical PC consists of one or more small circuit boards, called sticks, usually
about 4 inches (13 cm) long. The average PC has at least one stick of RAM, although two, three,
or four are not at all uncommon.

Ana: RAM Sticks. RAM is covered with small chips. These chips work together to form the
many millions of rows of 64-bit-wide RAM used in today’s PCs. RAM is structured in 64-bit-
wide rows to optimize the flow of data into and out to of the data bus. The CPU tells the
Northbridge to grab a row of RAM stick and places a 64-bit-wide chunk of data on the data bus.

Ana: Given that RAM exist in the PC as millions and millions of 64-bit rows that can hold data,
how does the CPU tell the Northbridge which row it wants at any given nanosecond? To
understand how the CPU uses the address bus, you need to know a bit of binary math.