What is RAM/Memory?
Random Access Memory, or RAM, is a type of memory that is used by processors to run the data and information this is currently being used by the system. Examples of these include running operating system files, device drivers, application data, etc. As soon as the computer is powered off, the data in the RAM is erased. This is because the RAM is a volatile memory, which losses its data as soon as it loses power. Let us now continue to see how to check the different RAM-related details on your computer.
Checking the Complete RAM Details using WMIC Command
Using the WMIC cmdlet, you can obtain some information about the RAM on your computer, such as its capacity, speed, which bank it is installed in, etc. Here is how: Moreover, you can also use the following list of switches to obtain other information about the memory: The three columns will be shown in front of you. The BankLabel column will tell you which slots the RAM chips are installed in. The Capacity column will tell you the size of each module in bytes. The DeviceLocator is another entity that tells which slots the RAM chips are installed in. MemoryType tells you the type of your physical memory. In this case, we get 24 which means DDR3. The value comes from the TypeDetail member of the Memory Device structure in the SMBIOS information. We got “128” which says my RAM TypeDetail is synchronous. This command may not give you a user-friendly list of details but it will give you complete details about the hardware.
AttributesBankLabelCapacityCaptionConfiguredClockSpeedConfiguredVoltageCreationClassNameDataWidthDescriptionDeviceLocatorFormFactorHotSwappableInstallDateInterleaveDataDepthInterleavePositionManufacturerMaxVoltageMemoryTypeMinVoltageModelNameOtherIdentifyingInfoPartNumberPositionInRowPoweredOnRemovableReplaceableSerialNumberSKUSMBIOSMemoryTypeSpeedStatusTagTotalWidthTypeDetailVersion
Get RAM Details using SystemInfo Command
Here is another way to find the RAM details for your system through the SystemInfo command. This method also gives you similar information to the WMIC cmdlet.
Get RAM Details using PowerShell
If you want to get complete RAM details, you can use the following PowerShell command: This command will give you a wealth of information about your memory, as in the image below.
How do you see how much RAM is in your computer?
You can easily check the details of RAM in Windows 10 using Task Manager. The task manager performance tab shows the majority of memory details including the total amount of RAM, how much is in use, committed/cached and paged/non-paged amount of RAM, RAM speed and frequency, form factor, hardware reserved, and even how many slots are being used in the system. To check how much RAM you have on your computer, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys and go to the Performance tab. Select Memory from the left-hand pane. The right-hand pane will open RAM details. If the RAM usage is more than 90%, you should think of upgrading the RAM capacity in your system, reducing the memory load, and bringing it below 80% for optimal performance. To check how much RAM you have using the command line, open Command Prompt and run the following command: This will show the RAM capacity of all RAM modules separately and in bytes. To check the total RAM capacity in your system, run the following command in Command Prompt: This will show you the total physical memory installed in Megabytes. If you are using PowerShell, you can run the following command to get the RAM size:
Check Installed and Available RAM/Memory from System Information
System Information is a tiny applet in the Windows operating system that displays the different information about the computer as a whole. It gives both hardware and software information. It can be used to find out what amount of RAM is on your computer, and how much of it is available for you to use. Here is how:
Check RAM/Memory Size using DirectX Diagnostics Tool
The DirectX diagnostic tool is a built-in tool in the Windows operating system used to check and troubleshoot video or sound-related hardware problems. With that, it also displays other hardware information, such as the amount of RAM installed on your PC. Here is how to check your RAM details using the DirectX diagnostic tool:
Installed Physical memoryTotal Physical memoryAvailable Physical Memory
How to Check RAM Speed?
Windows 10 Task Manager gives the option to check RAM speed with ease. To check RAM speed, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys and go to the Performance tab. Select Memory from the left-hand pane. On the right-hand page, you should see the Speed of RAM in MHz. Please note that if you have multiple RAM modules, Windows 10/11 will report the operating RAM speed which is the lowest of all installed modules. If you want to check the speed of each individual module, just hover your mouse cursor over the slots used. This will show a pop-up with the speed of each module. To check RAM speed using the command line, open Command Prompt and run the following command: This will show the speed of all installed RAM modules. If you are using PowerShell, you can run the following command to check the speed of RAM modules:
How do you check what type of RAM you have? DDR3 or DDR4?
Unfortunately, the Task Manager doesn’t give very useful information about the RAM type. We can use PowerShell commands to accurately determine the RAM type. To check the RAM type from the command line, open PowerShell and run the following command: This command will give you a number. This number corresponds to the appropriate RAM type. Here are the codes and their corresponding RAM types: For more information on these codes, you can refer to Microsoft documentation here. You can also use the WMIC MEMORYCHIP command in Command Prompt to check the memory type: Please note that wmic MEMORYCHIP is an old command and does not always detect the correct RAM type. If you see 0 as a memory type code, it means the MEMORYCHIP command was not able to determine the RAM type. Using commands is a very convenient, time-saving method for any task. It is as simple as typing a command and getting the task done. Use the commands I described above to get detailed information about your RAM. Upgrade the RAM if your system is slow or has insufficient RAM so that all operations will be performed smoothly and rapidly.
