How to Find Your RAM Speed, Type, and Size on Windows and Mac

Knowing a couple of specs about your computer such as RAM can be helpful in different scenarios. For example, if you are facing some issues with the RAM or need more memory to improve the performance of the computer, you’ll need to know the RAM specs.

This way you’ll be able to figure out the right size, speed, and brand of the RAM to purchase in case you want a RAM upgrade.

In this article, we will guide you through the steps to follow if you want to learn your computer’s RAM specs like its speed, type, capacity, serial number, and so on.

Understanding RAM

What Is RAM?

RAM can be defined as the short-term memory that is responsible for storing data that can get deleted once they’re done. Short for Random Access Memory, RAM saves all the important information required for running your OS and other programs installed on your system.

It gives your device a higher processing capacity that handles data flows through the machine so that tasks are processed faster. So, if you have a higher RAM that means your system has more space to handle such tasks and a higher capacity to multi-task.

An obvious advantage of this is that the device can handle many applications at the same time and not hamper the machine’s performance.

Why Is It Important To Know How Much RAM Your Computer Has?

If you own a computer, ideally, you should know how much RAM it has. This will ensure that a certain application or game you want to get will run smoothly on the system.

Other than that, knowing how much RAM your computer can support and other details are required when you decide to upgrade your system’s RAM. Else, the purchase will go in vain and it will become a costly mistake.

How To Check RAM Specs On Windows 7 OS?

1. Open the Windows Task Manager by typing Task Manager in the Windows search bar and opening the first search result.
2. In the Task Manager, go to the Performance tab.
3. This window will show you how much available RAM you have along with the total RAM.

How To Find Your RAM Speed, Type, And Size On Windows 10?

You can check RAM speed, type, and other specs on Windows 10 in several ways. Listed below are all such methods:

1. Check RAM From System Settings
2. How To Check RAM Usage Via Windows Task Manager
3. Check RAM Capacity on Windows 10 Via System Information
4. Check RAM Specs On Windows 10 Via Command Prompt

Check RAM From System Settings

It is very important to know various details about your system and the RAM you use. This way you will be able to figure out what will be compatible with your computer’s components.

1. Click on the Windows icon located at the left bottom of your screen.
2. Type in RAM in the Windows search bar and from the search results, click on “View RAM info”. Else, you can also access the System settings and then, go to the About section

1. Here, you’ll find information about your device such as the processor type and speed, device name, RAM installed, etc. 

Also, notice that the RAM will show two numbers, the first one being the total RAM installed and the second number is the usable RAM. The latter tells you how much RAM can be utilized by your applications and processes.

The usable RAM is always lower than the total RAM because some amount of RAM remains reserved for critical Windows processes.

How To Check RAM Usage Via Windows Task Manager

• Right-click at an empty space in the Windows taskbar and click on Task Manager

1. Go to the Performance tab and that opens up the CPU view selected.

• Click on Memory from the left panel to see the Memory view.

• Now, you will be shown various details about your system’s RAM like its speed, available RAM, and total RAM.

You can check out even more details about the RAM installed on your computer by clicking on the Open Resource Monitor located at the bottom of the window.

Check RAM Capacity on Windows 10 Via System Information

1. Click on the Windows icon towards the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Type in System Information in the windows search bar
3. From the search results, click on System Information
4. Scroll down until you reach Installed Physical Memory (RAM) and check out how much RAM is installed on your system

Check RAM Via CPU-Z

It surely isn’t that easy to check what type of RAM your computer has and other details about it. If you don’t want to follow the aforementioned steps, you can choose to check your RAM type with a free tool CPU-Z. It works for both Windows 7 and Windows 10. Follow the steps given below to do so:

1. Download and install CPU-Z.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to install CPU-Z.
3. Open the app and go to the Memory tab
4. In the Memory tab, you’ll get to know what type of RAM you have on your system.

Check RAM Specs On Windows 10 Via Command Prompt

Follow the steps given below to determine the brand of the RAM installed in your computer:

1. Go to the Start menu
2. Type in “Command Prompt,” and then, right-click on the result that says Command Prompt. Then, click on Run as administrator.

Check The Memory Manufacturer

1. Enter the following command in the command prompt window to know your memory manufacturer name: wmic memorychip get devicelocator, manufacturer
2. Note the name of the manufacturer under the Manufacturer column

Check Out The Memory Part Number

1. Enter the command given below in the command prompt window and press the Enter key:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, partnumber

1. Note the product number from the “PartNumber” column

Check The Serial Number Of Your Memory

1. Type in the command given below in the cmd window and press the Enter key:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, serialnumber

Note: You can also try entering “banklabel” in place of “devicelocator” to get the serial number that shows the bank’s physical label of the memory’s location on the motherboard.

1. You’ll find the product identifier number under the “serialNumber” column

Check Out The Capacity Per Memory Module

1. Type in the following command to find the memory capacity and press the Enter key:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, capacity

1. You’ll find the size of every RAM module in your device from the “Capacity” column.

Note: the RAM module’s capacity will be shown in bytes. To convert the information into GB, divide it by 1073741824

Check The Total System Memory Capacity

1. Enter this command to check the total capacity of your physical memory: 

systeminfo | findstr /C:"Total Physical Memory"

Check The Memory Speed

1. You can check the memory speed of your computer by entering the following command: 

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, speed

1. From the Speed column, note the speed of your system’s memory modules (in MHz)

Check The Memory Type

1. Enter the command given below to know what is your system’s memory type and then, press the Enter key:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, memorytype

1. In the MemoryType column, confirm the number that will identify the memory type.

Check The Memory Form Factor

1. If you want to know the memory form factor, enter the following command in the Command Prompt:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, formfactor

1. Note down the form factor information from the formfactor column. If the number is 8, then, your device has DIMM modules (usually found on desktops). And if the output gives you the number 12, your device has the SODIMM modules (found on laptops).

Check Out All Memory Details

If you want to get all the information about your RAM modules, go through the steps given below:

1. Open the Start menu and type in Command Prompt in the search bar.
2. Right-click on the topmost result that shows up. Select Run as administrator from the context menu.
3. Copy-paste the command given below and press the Enter key: wmic memorychip list full
4. Take note of the information about the memory modules installed on your system.

In case you need to know specific details about the memory, type the following command instead:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, manufacturer, partnumber, serialnumber, capacity, speed, memorytype, formfactor

This will give you the information that you need.

How To Check RAM Specs on Mac OS

1. Click on the Apple icon from the top left corner.
2. Select the “About This Mac” option
3. Now, you’ll find all details and the total memory usage in the Memory field.

How To Know RAM Capacity You Have on Mac OS

• Press command and the Space bar together to open the Spotlight Search utility. 
• In the search space, type in “Activity Monitor” and open the first search result that comes up. 

• The Activity Monitor opens up in a new window. Click on the Memory tab from the top.

• Here you will be shown the amount of RAM used by various processes running on your system. This list will dynamically change based on the memory used by the ongoing processes in real-time.

• Now, towards the bottom of the window, you’ll get details about your system’s Physical Memory (RAM) and the Memory Used will show the amount of RAM that is currently in use.

Note: If the Memory Used section is more than the Physical Memory, then, you can consider upgrading your system’s RAM.

How To Get More RAM On Windows PCs?

If your computer has a small amount of RAM or if your PC uses up almost all of the RAM available, you can try out a couple of things. Find them listed below:

Upgrade Your RAM

This is a straightforward war to get more RAM. Just upgrade your RAM to that of a higher capacity. 

Uninstall Some Programs

If you have a lot of unused programs on your computer, you should consider uninstalling them or deleting them. Try uninstalling apps by visiting Settings > Apps. Then, uninstall the programs that you no longer use.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article gives you all the information you need to check out various details about your computer’s RAM. Knowing these RAM specs will come in handy if you are troubleshooting some RAM-related error, altering your hardware, or upgrading your RAM to improve your computer’s performance.

FAQs