Virtual ram, Useful or Gimmick?
What is virtual ram?
The Virtual RAM is a new concept emerging in the Smartphone industry which is being seen in new phones like IQOO 7 series, Vivo X60 series, etc.
It involves partitioning a portion of the phone's internal flash storage to be used as "Virtual RAM" when the physical RAM has been saturated.
This concept was prevalent in the computer market, under the alias of Virtual Memory. Now it finds itself as one of the defining features of some Enthusiast smartphones.
In the Vivo X60 series the virtual ram is used from UFS 3.1 storage. This helps to keep more background running apps in smartphone.
Virtual RAM, just a Marketing Gimmick?
Usually, with such memory management tech, only tiny amounts of data would be transferred to the "Virtual Memory". This is done so to not bog down the entire system, as however advanced our Flash Storage modules are, DRAM chips are simply faster.
Our smartphones, now-a-days, use UFS3.1 Storage as ROM and LPDDR4 for RAM.
In the above chart, the sequential Read/Write speed spec was taken to give the UFS Storage chip the best chance, as Random Read/Write speeds would be much slower.
UFS 3.1 Storage (2100/1200Mbps) LPDDR4(4266/4266Mbps)
But on these phones, the smartphone relies on algorithms to identify the processes of low importance and transfers it to storage for caching.
This reduces the load on the RAM and frees it up for more critical operations, like keeping the UI running smooth. So, while Virtual RAM cannot substitute dedicated DRAM chips, they are a welcome stopgap to improve the responsivity and snappiness of a device without driving up costs.
You can consider Virtual RAM as an intern for the main RAM module. In that sense, the technology is super useful and doesn’t seem like a gimmick at all. Having said that, there’s no tangible way for anyone, as a consumer, to verify whether this is indeed working as advertised. But then again, if the smartphone is working like it did on Day 1, you can thank Virtual RAM for that.
Does virtual ram affect the longevity of the device?
Whilst, in theory, Virtual RAM sounds like a sweet concept, a literal way of downloading more RAM, it is not all fun and games. The constant writing and rewriting of data on the Flash Storage modules, which weren't designed to be put under this load would eventually end in the degradation of the modules, leading to the device failing.
Have the Flash Storage manufacturers implemented any protection against increased chip wear? We cannot say for sure now as this technology has just taken foot, and it will be a long while till we are able to observer the ill-effects of it.
Now, to answer the question. Virtual RAM is a useful feature, but it's ill-effects on the Flash Storage chips need to be assessed before mass implementation.
About the Author :
Shiv is a tech enthusiast and he has a YouTube channel called Droid Customs.
You can check his channel and socials using this link - https://hydr.in/7zof
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