What are the two main categories of RAM

What are the types of RAM?

There are two main types of RAM: Dynamic RAM (DRAM) and Static RAM (SRAM).

DRAM (pronounced DEE-RAM), is widely used as a computer’s main memory. Each DRAM memory cell is made up of a transistor and a capacitor within an integrated circuit, and a data bit is stored in the capacitor. Since transistors always leak a small amount, the capacitors will slowly discharge, causing information stored in them to drain; hence, DRAM has to be refreshed (given a new electronic charge) every few milliseconds to retain data.

SRAM (pronounced ES-RAM) is made up of four to six transistors. It keeps data in the memory as long as power is supplied to the system unlike DRAM, which has to be refreshed periodically. As such, SRAM is faster but also more expensive, making DRAM the more prevalent memory in computer systems.