It isn’t necessary that every user who is using a computer is a tech-friendly person and knows about tech. These machines are built with a lot of technical complexities, like different types of processors, different types of storage devices are used, different sizes and qualities of RAMS are used and much more. Every material that is used to build a computer is so much diversified that you simply cannot tell only by looking at the hardware or the specs sheet. you need to dig in deeper to know the exact information about the hardware that your computer is using. For instance, RAMs nowadays come in a lot of different variants, speeds and sizes, so it could be tricky to know the exact information about the RAM your computer is using.

This could help you if you are planning to upgrade the RAM of your computer, so before you upgrade you should know what type of RAM your computer is using and what are RAM speeds it supports. Besides that, it is also important to know how the memory works in a computer with a different OS. So, below we have discussed how to find out the RAM speed, size, type and other information about the RAM.

See also: 12 Tips to Free Up RAM in Windows 10 and Mac

Understanding RAM

RAM is one of the very essential parts of a computer. depending on your knowledge, you might know some things about the RAM, while you might be unaware of some parts of how the RAM actually works.

What Is RAM?

RAM stands for Random Access Memory; it is basically the system’s memory and it is responsive to store the information in real-time. Due to the RAM, your system is able to hold multiple apps opened in the background or in the foreground. The more RAM you have more apps you will be able to open once, or an app that needs a large amount of memory will run smoothly if you have a good amount of RAM. In layman’s terms, it keeps the information stored temporarily, until you have shut down your computer. regardless of whether you have an SSD or an HDD on your computer, it operates faster when accessing and running files on your computer.

CPU on the other hand also stores some crucial information about the files and OS, but it has a very small amount capacity to store this information, this is when RAM comes into play it helps the CPU to get more information about whichever process it is is executing in real-time.

Why do You need To Know How Much RAM Your Computer Has?

The very basic reason to know the amount of RAM your computer has is because certain application or games have their minimum system requirements on which the application or game can run smoothly. These requirements also mentioned the amount of RAM your computer should have, in order to run the application or the game. So, in that case, you must know the amount, not of RAM your computer has, in order to know if your computer is capable of running the particular app or game.

You may also need to know the amount and the type of RAM your computer has if you are planning to upgrade the RAM of your computer. Yes, in some cases RAM of a computer can be upgraded, but there are certain scenarios where you cannot upgrade the RAM, if there is no extra slot, or if the motherboard doesn’t support RAM, beyond the limit of RAM you already have.

How Much RAM Do You Need?

In today’s world, the apps and browsers and even the webpages are becoming more intuitive and heavier, and in such cases, you should have an ample amount of RAM, in order to run the OS, apps and browser smoothly. A minimum of 4 GB of RAM is a must in order to run a Windows or a macOS system. While we recommend you should have 8 GB of RAM to run multiple apps simultaneously smoothly. or if you want to run any heavy application or game, so a minimum of 4 GB of RAM or a recommended 8 Gb of RAM is a must.

Finding your RAM Speed, Size and Type in Windows 10/11

As discussed above, it is essential to know the RAM speed, type and size for various purposes. here we have a guide on how to find the speed, type and other information about the RAM on a computer running Windows 10 or 11. Although it won’t give you much insight into the hardware specifications of your computer, it should tell you the capabilities of your computer.

1. So, let us begin finding the size of the RAM installed on your computer. You need to press Win +l keyboard shortcut to access your PC’s settings.
2. Now, find and click on the system settings.
3. Here, you need to click on About from the left-hand side, usually, it is at the end of the list, once you have clicked on it you will be able to see the RAM on the right side of the window.

This is the most basic method to find out about the hardware of your computer including the amount of RAM your computer is using, however, if you want more information about your RAM then you may proceed with the next guide.

View RAM information via Windows 10 Command Prompt

This method discussed below is one of the best methods to find out about the RAM and other information related to the RAM. Using the Windows 10 Command Prompt or Powershell you can get a lot of information about your system’s specifications including the information about the RAM. Other apps like the control panel or the system information options don’t tell the complete story about the hardware details of your computer, to know the precise and in-depth detail about the hardware of your computer, you should go with the following method. Below, is the guide on how to view the extensive details about the RAM installed on your computer.

1. First, you need to type cmd after you have pressed the start button. Click on the command prompt in the list.
2. Now, inside the terminal window you need to type the following code and then press enter:- wmic MemoryChip get MemoryType, Name, Capacity, Configuredclockspeed, DeviceLocator, FormFactor, Manufacturer, Serial number, Speed.
3. In case you want more advanced details about your hardware then you can even add other aliases like ConfiguredVoltage, DataWidth, MaxVoltage, CreationClassName, InterleavePosition

There could be some instances where the information might be blank. To see all the alias options, you need to type the following command and then look under the Full section:

WMIC MemoryChip List /?

View RAM Information via Windows 10 Powershell

1. First, you need to open the PowerShell, for that you need to right-click on the Windows 10 start menu and then from the drop-down menu select Powershell. You don’t need to start the program with admin privileges, it can work even without admin access.
2. Next, you need to type the following code into the PowerShell terminal screen: Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_PhysicalMemory | Format-Table Capacity, Manufacturer, MemoryType, FormFactor, Name, Configuredclockspeed, Speed, Devicelocator, Serial number -AutoSize
3. If you want a complete list of properties (Speed, Serial Number, Form Factor etc), then you need to visit the following page about Win32_PhysicalMemory Properties.

View Windows 10 memory details via CPU-Z

There are some alternative methods as well, through which you can check the information about the hardware which your computer is using. one such method is by using the CPU-Z application. you need to first download and install the application as it is not a system built app. Below we have the guide for the same.

1. Download CPU-Z and then run the executable file. You will be needing the Classic version of the app.
2. Next, you need to navigate to the memory tab to view how many slots your PC has, and how many slots are occupied by RAM and what type of RAM (DDR, DDR2, DDR3 etc) and the RAM size in (GB). Apart from the system information, you will also get real-time information about the RAm’s running frequency plus a piece of detailed information about the system resources being used and a detailed breakdown of latency and clock speeds.

Finding your RAM Speed, Size and Type in macOS

As we all know, the macOS is pretty straightforward and simple to use. The system information is also very easy to look for and gives us the required specifications of the system in a well-organized way. You can use the process to know about the details of your RAm on which your mac is running.

1. First, you need to click on the Apple logo and then select About This Mac. your basic details about the RAm installed on your computer will be displayed in an overview tab.
2. Now, let us proceed with more in-depth detail of the RAM, for that you need to click on the System Report button which will open a new window and inside which the details will be separated with different types of components in the left window pane. You need to head into the Memory tab and then you can find the relevant information about the RAM of your mac.
3. In order to monitor the real-time memory usage of your mac, you need to open the Spotlight to search for Activity Monitor and then click on the associated link to open it further which you need to select the Memory tab.
4. Alternatively, you can also access the real-time memory information by directly opening the Finder, clicking on Applications and then selecting the Utilities Folder, which is then followed by the Activity Monitor and then inside which you have to choose the memory tab, to get the in-depth information about the RAM and the frequency on which it is running on your mac computer.

How To Check The RAM Manufacturer in Windows 10?

if you want to check the brand or the manufacturer of which your computer is using the RAm, then you can do so by using the command prompt or Power-shell or any other third-party tool.

1. So, in Command Prompt you need to type wmic memorychip get manufacturer and then press the Enter button from the keyboard.
2. If you are using PowerShell, then you need to type Get-WmiObject win32_physicalmemory | select manufacturer and then press the enter button.
3. For a third-party tool, like CPU-Z you need to open the app and then click on the SPD tab, and you will get the required information about the RAM.

How To Check Whether I Have DDR3 or DDR4 SDRAM?

Knowing the type of RAM is very important if you are planning to upgrade your RAM, or if you want to replace the RAM since a DDR3 RAM slot won’t support DDR4 RAM and vice versa. So, it is very important to know the type of RAM your computer is using, and the easiest way to know the type of RAM your computer is using is by opening the CPU-Z app. once you have installed the app, click on the Memory tab and then you need to find the Type within the general section.

Finding Your RAM Specs

By now, you must have a lot of 9nformatiuon about finding the specifications of your computer or knowing the exact specifications of RAM. If you don’t want to indulge in the command line, then you can simply use the software CPU-Z, it is the easiest yet accurate one to know the information about the RAM. Som, before you plan to upgrade the RAM of your computer, make sure you know the correct and exact information about the hardware that your computer is having and the hardware that your computer supports.

See next: 10 Tips to Boost your Computer Speed by 2X