How does Computer Memory Work? 💻🛠
Branch Education5 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2022–2023
explainer · general · evergreen · 2022–2023 on HN
A 36-minute animated deep dive from Branch Education into how DRAM works. It shows how memory connects to the CPU and how billions of bits are stored in nanoscale capacitor cells. It also covers why DRAM sits between SSDs and the processor.
Commenters recommend it as a clear, well-animated explanation of memory, especially for visual learners.
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5 comments from Hacker News
I hate to be the guy recommending youtube videos but if you want to understand how DDR5 multiplexing works and this article doesn't do it for you check out the amazing visualization "How does Computer Memory Work?" ▶ this video . A lot of it is applicable to all DDR but it specifically covers DDR multiplexing starting around 9 minutes in. It is both detailed enough and clear thanks to the simplified visuals.
Yesterday I got presented an ad disguised as an educational YouTube video, but the content was really good and is worth watching if you have some time on your hands. "How does Computer Memory Work?" [0] Uploaded 1 month ago, 35 minutes playing time. It even goes into explaining what the timings mean while showing an animation for it. [0] ▶ this video
DDR ram is refreshed every 64ms (varies by DDR generation and specific chips). Branch Education has an excellent video on this named "How does computer memory work?"[1]. It would still take an exceedingly long time to reach a trillion, but it's still pretty frequent. [1]( ▶ this video )
That's great, and dovetails perfectly into a video I just watched on the topic, which I really enjoyed. It's a little flashy with the animations at first, but getting into the meat of things, they're used well: ▶ this video
I found this video a long time ago about this and it's a great way to understand it if you're a visual learner ▶ this video