Stepping Back Through Time
THE CONCEPT of random-access memory has been around since the 1940s, although it didn’t exist in its current form until 1968. When we talk about RAM here, we mean DRAM— dynamic RAM—the kind of memory you’re probably familiar with: Sticks that plug into your motherboard and use binary capacitors and transistors to temporarily store readable data. Early RAM worked differently, using electrically charged spots on cathode ray tubes or networks of magnetized metal rings. The core principles remain the same, though—the points of positive or negative data could be read in any order, therefore denoting them as “random access.”
The current model of RAM, using transistors to store data as combinations of charges, came into commercial use in 1970 with the Intel 1103 chip. This memory requires a constant supply of electricity, with the minuscule charges on the thousands of transistors needing to be refreshed hundreds of times per second. Unlike storage memory ( such as that found on traditional SSDs and HDDs), RAM is volatile; once the computer is powered off, the charges dissipate, and any data is lost. While non-volatile RAM does exist, it tends to be too slow for normal memory needs, and can suffer from other issues.
Modern DRAM uses solid-state memory on silicon circuitry, unlike the ceramic and magnetic components of the Intel 1103. It functions in much the same way, though, losing data once the power is turned off. Nowadays, RAM is used for a wide variety of computing functions, most commonly for graphical tasks, be that rendering 3D objects in real time in a game, or editing video footage. DRAM is found in more than just the heatsink-equipped silicon sticks you can buy in varying sizes and kits; it operates inside modern graphics cards, games consoles, even calculators.