MEMORY DEVICES

INTRODUCTION
 Memory is the most essential part of a computer.
 Without memory there would be no computer, as
we know it today.
 It is used for storing both instructions to be
executed and data.
 This presentation has been developed after an
intensive research on Memory Devices.
TYPES OF MEMORY

 MAIN MEMORY
o Random Access Memory
(RAM)
o Read Only Memory (ROM)
 CACHE MEMORY
 SECONDARY MEMORY
o Optical Media Devices
o Magnetic Media Devices
MAIN MEMORY
 Directly or indirectly connected to the CPU via a memory bus
 Comprises of two buses: an address bus and a data bus
 The CPU firstly sends a number through an address bus, a
number called memory address, that indicates the desired
location of data. Then it reads or writes the data itself using the
data bus.
 Additionally, a memory management unit(MMU) is a small
device between CPU and RAM recalculating the actual memory
address, for example to perform translation of virtual memory
addresses to physical addresses.
 Broadly, the main memory is of two types-

o Random Access Memory (RAM)

o Read Only Memory (ROM).
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY
 In RAM, the memory cells can
be assessed for information
transfer from any desired A 1GB DDR RAM memory
module
location, that is, the processing
of a word in memory is the same
and requires an equal amount of
memory.
 It is the fastest main memory
technology.
 It requires constant power to
maintain the stored
information, therefore, it is
volatile.
TYPES OF RAM
 The RAM chips are of two types-
o Dynamic RAM(DRAM)
A form of volatile memory which also requires the
stored information to be periodically re-read and re-
written, or refreshed, otherwise it would vanish.
o Static RAM (SRAM)
A form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the
exception that it never needs to be refreshed.
Dynamic RAM
 A type of RAM that stores
each bit of data in a
separate capacitor within an
integrated circuit.
 Since real capacitors leak charge,
the information eventually fades
unless the capacitor charge is
refreshed periodically.
 Its advantage is its structural
simplicity: only one transistor
and a capacitor are required per
bit, compared to four transistors
in SRAM.
TYPES OF DRAM

 DRAM chips are available in various designs:

 EDODRAM (Extended Data Out DRAM)
 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)
 RDRAM (Rambus DRAM)
 DDRDRAM (Double Data Rate DRAM)
EDODRAM (Extended Data Out DRAM)

 Type of RAM chip used to

improve the time to read from
memory on faster
microprocessor.
 Conventional DRAM can
only access one block of data
at a time, EDODRAM can
start fetching the next block
of memory at the same time
that it sends the previous
block at the same time.
A pair of 32 MB EDO DRAM
modules
SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)

 A type of DRAM that can run

on much higher clock speed
thn conventional DRAM.
 This allows the chip to have a
more complex pattern of
operation than asynchronous
DRAM which does not have a
synchronized interface.
RDRAM (Rambus DRAM)

 It is a type of
synchronous DRAM,
designed by
the Rambus Corporation
.
 It is fairly fast and has tried
to address some of the
complex electrical and
physical problems involved
with memory.
DDRDRAM (Double Data Rate DRAM)

 Unlike SDRAM, it can do

two operations per cycle
thereby doubling the
memory bandwidth over
the corresponding single-
data-rate SDRAM
Static Random Access Memory (SRAM)

 It is a type of memory in
which, memory refreshing is
not required.
 It uses flip-flops to store
binary information.
 As it takes up more space
than DRAM, it is used for
specialized applications.
 It is much easier to use and
has shorter read-write cycles
compared to DRAM.
READ ONLY MEMORY

 It performs only read function

not write function. So the data
stored in ROM cannot be
modified.
 It comes with special internal
electronic fuses that can be
programmed for a specific
configuration. Once this pattern
is established it stays in the unit.
Thus, ROM is non-volatile.
 TYPES OF ROM

 Programmable read-only memory (PROM)

 A memory chip in which data can only be programmed once.
Once a program is written, it remains there forever.
 Erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)
 It can be erased by exposure to strong ultraviolet light (typically for
10 minutes or longer), then rewritten with a process that again
requires application of higher than usual voltage.
 Electrically erasable programmable read-only
memory (EEPROM)
 It allows its entire contents (or selected banks) to be electrically
erased, then rewritten electrically, so that they need not be
removed from the computer (or camera, MP3 player, etc.).
 CACHE MEMORY

 It is a high speed storage mechanism.

 Can be either a reserved section of main memory or an independent
storage device.
 It speeds up access to data and instructions stored in RAM.
 MEMORY CACHE-
 It is a portion of memory of SRAM instead of the slower DRAM. By
keeping as much of the information as possible in high speed SRAM, it
avoids accessing the slower DRAM.
 DISK CACHE-
 It works under the same principle, but uses conventional main memory
(DRAM) instead of high speed SRAM. It improves the computers
performance a lot as accessing data from RAM is much faster than
from hard-disk.
TYPES OF CACHE MEMORY
 Level 1 (L1) cache
 Built inside the CPU.
 It works at half CPU clock speed.
 Level 2 (L2) cache
 Built external to CPU, in the motherboard.
 It works at the motherboard bus speed.
 Nowadays both L1 and L2 are integrated in the CPU to
reduce access time and further improve system
performance.
MEMORY CACHE

The whole idea of memory cache

is to keep staging more
instructions and data in a high-
speed memory closer to the CPU.
DISK CACHE

Disk
caches
are
usually
just a
part of
main
memory
made up
of
common
dynamic
RAM
(DRAM)
chips.