RAM stands for Random Access Memory, it is a physical chip installed on the motherboard of your PC that stores all the temporary information to access all the programs and software stored on your PC and functions as primary storage.

Basically put, the more RAM you have, the better the ability of your PC to multitask, open programs faster, and even boot your PC faster. However, all of these things also depend on the secondary storage devices (HDDs or SSDs) but that is a discussion tabled for another time.

Knowing how to check RAM on your Windows 11 PC can come in handy in many situations such as when checking the requirement for software you wish to install, diagnosing a slow PC, or even at the time when you wish to upgrade your RAM or any storage-related hardware for a better-informed decision.

Since Window offers more than one way to check the RAM of your machine, let’s take a look at all of them.

Check RAM Using System Settings

This is one of the most straightforward ways to check the installed RAM on your system.

First, launch the ‘Settings’ app from the ‘Start Menu’ present on the taskbar of your PC.

Then, click on the ‘System’ tab from the sidebar present on the ‘Settings’ window.

Now, scroll down and locate the ‘About’ tile and click on it to enter the section.

Finally, you will be able to see the installed RAM on your device under the ‘Device specifications’ section present on the window.


Check RAM Using System Information

The Settings app is no doubt a very quick method to know the installed RAM on your PC. However, if you need a little bit more information than that, you can bring up the ‘System Information’ window.

To do so, press the Windows+R shortcut on your keyboard to bring up the ‘Run’ utility. Then, type msinfo32 in the space provided and click the ‘OK’ button.

This will bring up the ‘System Information’ window on your screen.

Now, locate the ‘Installed Physical RAM’ label from the left section of the window. You will also be able to see other options related to RAM as well. In case you do not have an idea what do they mean, here’s a quick gist about all of them.

  • Total Physical Memory: Some amount of your installed RAM is allocatted for the hardware to function. Hence, this will always be less than your installed RAM and will be exact amount your OS would be able to access.
  • Availaible Physical Memory: The amount of RAM displayed here is the amount currently not already in use by your machine and is available to be allocated to other programs and/or services. The value here may depend on the specifications of individual machines.
  • Total Virtual Memory: As the name suggests, Virtual Memory does not have a physical form on the motherboard of your machine. Virtual Memory is an unused section of your hard drive used as an addition to the physical memory to compensate the amount of Physical Memory your computer lacks.
  • Availaibe Virtual Memory: The Available Virtual memory field indicates the Virtual Memory not currently in use and available to be allocated to programs and services.

Check RAM Using Task Manager

In case you prefer more of a real-time statistic of RAM usage by your system, Task Manager is the option you should go for. Along with RAM usage, Task Manager provides a lot of other metrics which might help you to realize the utilization of available resources by your system.

To do so, click on the ‘Search’ icon present on the taskbar of your Windows 11 PC. Then type Task Manager in the search box and click on the ‘Task Manger’ tile from the search results. Alternatively, you can also press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc shortcut on your keyboard to open it.

Now, click on the ‘Performance’ tab from the ‘Task Manager’ window. Then click on the ‘Memory’ tab present on the sidebar.

You will be able to see the total available RAM for your system along with the RAM type on the upper right section of the window.

On the lower right section of the window, you will be able to see ‘In Use’ RAM, ‘Available’ RAM, along with the ‘Speed’, ‘Slots used’ physically on the motherboard of your machine along with ‘Form actor’, and ‘hardware reserved’ RAM amount. Underneath the ‘In use’ RAM, you can see the currently in use RAM under the ‘Committed’ label.


Check RAM Using Command Prompt

If in case you think the Task Manager is showing you inaccurate results, or you want information beyond what all of the above methods offer such as part manufacturer name, part number, serial number; you will need to take help from the Command Prompt on your Windows 11 PC.

First, press Windows+R to launch the ‘Run’ utility on your computer. Then, type cmd and click on the ‘OK’ button to bring up the Command Prompt window.

Otherwise, press Windows+R to bring up the ‘Run’ utility on your computer screen. Then, type wt.exe and click on the ‘OK’ button to bring up the Terminal window.

Now, from the Terminal window click on the carat icon (downward arrow) and select the ‘Command Prompt’ option from the overlay menu. Alternatively, you can press the Ctrl+Shift+2 shortcut on your keyboard to open it.

Next, irrespective of whichever option you choose for Command Prompt, type systeminfo | findstr /C:"Total Physical Memory" and hit Enter to check total physical memory installed on your machine. The Command Prompt will display the total physical memory in MB(Megabytes), divide the figure by 1024 to get your speed in gigabytes (GB).

To check memory speed, type wmic memorychip get devicelocator, speed, and hit Enter on your Command Prompt screen. You will be able to see the form factor of your chip along with the speed (values in Mhz).

Now, type wmic memorychip get devicelocator, memorytype, and hit Enter to check the type of memory you have installed in your system. Since this command returns a numerical value, below is a list to know your memory type using the number displayed on your screen.

  • 0: Unknown
  • 1: Other
  • 2: DRAM
  • 3: Synchronous DRAM
  • 4: Cache DRAM
  • 5: EDO
  • 6: EDRAM
  • 7: VRAM
  • 8: SRAM
  • 9: RAM
  • 10: ROM
  • 11: Flash
  • 12: EEPROM
  • 13: FEPROM
  • 14: EPROM
  • 15: CDRAM
  • 16: 3DRAM
  • 17: SDRAM
  • 18: SGRAM
  • 19: RDRAM
  • 20: DDR
  • 21: DDR2
  • 22: DDR2 FB-DIMM
  • 24: DDR3
  • 25: FBD2

In case you want to know the capacity of each module (in case you have more than one installed), part number, and serial number; type wmic memorychip list full and hit Enter on your Command Prompt screen.


There you go folks, these are all the ways you can check RAM on your Windows 11 computer.