

- #HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP FOR WINDOWS 10#
- #HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP PC#
- #HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP PROFESSIONAL#
- #HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP FREE#
You’ll need to check the documentation for your motherboard or PC for the details. The second part of the equation (how much your motherboard can handle) depends entirely on the manufacturer, though most modern computers will support at least 8 GB, and more likely 16 GB or more.
#HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP PROFESSIONAL#
The Home Basic edition can handle up to 8 GB, Home Premium up to 16 GB, and Professional up to 192 GB. On Windows 7, things are a bit different.
#HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP FOR WINDOWS 10#
64-bit Windows: 64-bit versions of Windows can handle up to 128 GB for Windows 10 Home, and up to 2 TB for Windows 10 Education, Professional, or Enterprise.32-bit Windows: 32-bit versions of Windows 10 can only handle up to 4 GB of RAM, no matter whether you’re running the Home, Professional, or Enterprise edition.Whatever is lower is what you’re stuck with, but it’s typically the motherboard that’s the more limiting factor. There are two factors here: the maximum RAM your version of Windows can handle, and the maximum that your motherboard can handle. The other part of the RAM equation is knowing how much total RAM your computer can support. If we had found that only two slots were taken up by two 16 GB RAM modules, we could have simply added another pair of modules-two 8 GB modules for a total of 48 GB, or two more 16 GB modules for a total of 64 GB. This means that to get more RAM in the machine, we need to replace some or all of what’s there. Since we have 32 GB total RAM, we can assume that we have four 8 GB modules in place.

Unfortunately, we can now see that we have four total slots available and that all four are taken up with memory modules.
#HOW TO UPGRADE RAM DESKTOP FREE#
There are several hardware information tools out there, but our favorite is the free version Speccy (made by Piriform, the makers of CCleaner).Īfter installing and running Speccy, we just switch to the RAM category on the left, and the right panel shows us gives us the info we need. How many total memory slots does the PC have? How many RAM modules are installed? Are there free slots?įor that, you could open up your case and count the number of modules and slots inside, or you could turn to another tool. We now need to know some additional information. That matters when you’re upgrading because memory is typically installed in pairs, and different systems can have different numbers of slots available.įor example, let’s assume we wanted to upgrade that system to even more RAM. That 32 GB listed in the screenshot above (yes, it’s a lot-this system is used to run multiple virtual machines at the same time) might be four modules of 8 GB each, or it might be two modules of 16 GB each. That only tells part of the story, though. It’s easy enough to pop open your Settings app, head to the “About This PC” section, and see how much RAM you have. How Much RAM Do You Have Now (and In What Configuration)? RELATED: How Much RAM Does Your Computer Need for PC Games?Īnd, if you work with large media files (like projects in Photoshop or Lightroom), you use virtual machines on your PC, or have other specialized needs, you’ll want as much RAM as you can afford (and that your PC can physically accommodate). If you’re a gamer, or you often multitask lots of bigger programs, you’ll probably want 12-16 GB, if that fits in your budget. That’s kind of the sweet spot for how the majority of people use their PCs. Right now, we generally recommend at least 8 GB of RAM for most people. Of course, some of that depends on what you use your PC for. And moving beyond 16 GB is going to be a smaller boost still. Moving from 8 GB to 16 GB still shows some good gains in performance, but not as much. Moving from 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM is likely to make a huge difference. That said, the law of diminishing returns applies.
