Five memory myths busted

You should always add memory modules in pairs

While this is true for some systems, most PCS can take an odd number of modules (your PC’S manual or manufacturer website will be able to confirm this).

Memory is the most effective PC upgrade

In terms of bang for your buck it’s good value. However, if you’re not running memory-hungry tasks such as video editing, you may find 8GB (possibly even less) is sufficient, and your money would be better spent on something else, such as upgrading to an SSD.

System memory is the only memory that matters

There’s also memory on your processor (known as cache) and your graphics card.

If you enjoy video editing or playing games, upgrading your graphics card may deliver a more significant performance boost, as the memory here is often faster than anything attached to your motherboard.

You always need plenty of spare memory

Task Manager will tell you how much memory your PC is using at any given time (pr es sCtrl+ shift+ escape, then select the Performance tab). However, don’t assume a small amount of unused memory is bad – it often just means your PC is using your memory to store what it would otherwise have to offload on to your hard drive, which is much slower.

“640KB of memory ought to be enough for anybody”

This alleged 1981 quote is often attributed to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Of course, 640KB isn’t nearly enough for modern computing – even on a smartphone – but it’s likely the quote has been taken out of context. Gates himself denied saying it when questioned in the 90s.