This Unit

Resources

Lecture Material

 Activity 3

Computer Memory

Student Name____________________________     Date_____________    

Lecturer Witness Statement:  The student named above carried out the following activities and did so safely.    

Activities  ____________                        Signature ____________________

Lesson Plan

Lecture Computer Memory	30 minutes
Activity 3.1	30 minutes
Activity 3.2	30 minutes
Break	15 minutes
Activity 3.3	30 minutes
Activity 3.4:	15 minutes
Review notes, ask questions, prepare for quiz	15 minutes
Activity 3.5: End of session Quiz	15 minutes

Document Checklist

The following documents are to be handed in at the end of the lesson.    

Documents	Tick
This document in Word format
Activity 3.2 report
Activity 3.4 report
Quiz answers

Activity 3.1     

This activity is to be done in groups of 3 or 4

You will be given three or four different memory modules to examine and research.  For each module you should

identify the module type (SIMMs or DIMMs)

and carry out an Internet search to find out...

	the manufacturer of the RAM chips
	the type of RAM chip, e.g. DRAM, SDRAM, EDO RAM, DDR RAM.
	the size of each RAM chip and the total size of the RAM module
	speed of the RAM

I would suggest that each group member chooses one RAM module to investigate and that the information gathered is shared and discussed amongst the group at the end of the task period.

You will find information on how to go about identifying RAM in the Notes section. 

I would also suggest you use a table of the form below to record the details about each RAM module.

Activity 3.2

This activity is to carried out individually 

Write a short report explaining

1. the different module types and how to identify them

2. the types of memory chip, DRAM, SDRAM, EDO RAM, DDR RAM

3. the importance of chip speed.

Activity 3.3

This activity is to carried out individually 

I am thinking about buying a new computers but I cannot decide between a... 

• 2000 MHz AMD XP CPU 

• 2000 MHz  Intel Pentium 4 Northwood CPU

I have been meaning to look for articles on the Internet discussing and comparing the two processors.  So, your task is to do this for me.  Find out some information about each CPU's performance by searching the Internet.  Make sure you check the L2 cache size and confirm each processor has L1 and on-die L2 cache.

Activity 3.4 

Write a short report explaining in your own words

1. what cache memory is and why it is important
2. the difference between L1 and L2 cache memory.

Activity 3.5 - Quiz

Log into Blackboard and navigate to Quiz 3.  Answer the questions and record your score below.

Quiz Score  __________________

That's it for this activity!