Increasingly complex software has pushed the minimum amount of RAM higher, but another, more practical reason that high amounts of RAM are commonplace is that RAM costs less than ever.

“There is something of a symbiotic relationship in the need for more RAM by applications and the cost of RAM,” says Jeff Tyson, senior editor at HowStuffWorks.com. “RAM has dropped tremendously in cost over the last several years, which has given software developers more flexibility in designing applications that are memory-intensive because they know users will probably have a larger amount of RAM.”

Upgrading from 64MB of RAM to 192MB costs between $120 and $165 (for 128MB PC100 ECC [Error-Correcting Code] DIMM [dual in-line memory module] RAM), depending on the brand and features of the RAM. Going from 64MB to 256MB costs between $170 and $255 (a 64MB and a 128MB PC100 ECC DIMM), again depending upon brand and features, including latency timing.

Taking a system from 64MB of RAM to 384MB costs between $290 and $420 (for two 128MB and one 64MB PC100 ECC DIMM). Smaller increme

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