Imagine you need to upgrade your computer by adding some addtional RAM. Here is how to check RAM speed, type and size without to open computer. There is command called dmidecode which comes pre-installed on most Linux distribution. With dmidecode you can dump a computer’s DMI (or SMBIOS) table contents in a human-readable format. Command prints a description of the system’s hardware components, as well as other useful pieces of information such as serial numbers, BIOS info, etc. The DMI table doesn’t describe only the current status of hardware you are running, it also can report the possible upgrades (such as the fastest supported CPU or the maximal amount of memory supported). With dmidecode you can get info about all hardware, but in this post I will write only about how to find installed RAM, it’s type, size and speed.
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In Ubuntu and other Debian based distros dmidecode come pre-installed. But if you don’t have it just run the next command to install it.
howopensource@esprimo:~$ sudo apt-get install dmidecode
To find RAM info just execute the command sudo dmidecode -t memory and look into the output bellow. I highlighted important information.
howopensource@esprimo:~$ sudo dmidecode -t memory # dmidecode 2.12 SMBIOS 2.7 present. Handle 0x002C, DMI type 16, 23 bytes Physical Memory Array Location: System Board Or Motherboard Use: System Memory Error Correction Type: None Maximum Capacity: 32 GB Error Information Handle: Not Provided Number Of Devices: 4 Handle 0x002E, DMI type 17, 34 bytes Memory Device Array Handle: 0x002C Error Information Handle: Not Provided Total Width: 64 bits Data Width: 64 bits Size: No Module Installed Form Factor: DIMM Set: None Locator: DIMM-3 Bank Locator: Channel A Type: Unknown Type Detail: Synchronous Speed: Unknown Manufacturer: A1_Manufacturer3 Serial Number: A1_SerNum3 Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum3 Part Number: Array1_PartNumber3 Rank: Unknown Configured Clock Speed: Unknown Handle 0x0030, DMI type 17, 34 bytes Memory Device Array Handle: 0x002C Error Information Handle: Not Provided Total Width: 64 bits Data Width: 64 bits Size: 2048 MB Form Factor: DIMM Set: None Locator: DIMM-1 Bank Locator: Channel A Type: DDR3 Type Detail: Synchronous Speed: 1333 MHz Manufacturer: Samsung Serial Number: 9396004A Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum1 Part Number: M378B5773CH0-CH9 Rank: 1 Configured Clock Speed: Unknown Handle 0x0032, DMI type 17, 34 bytes Memory Device Array Handle: 0x002C Error Information Handle: Not Provided Total Width: 64 bits Data Width: 64 bits Size: No Module Installed Form Factor: DIMM Set: None Locator: DIMM-4 Bank Locator: Channel B Type: Unknown Type Detail: Synchronous Speed: Unknown Manufacturer: A1_Manufacturer4 Serial Number: A1_SerNum4 Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum4 Part Number: Array1_PartNumber4 Rank: Unknown Configured Clock Speed: Unknown Handle 0x0034, DMI type 17, 34 bytes Memory Device Array Handle: 0x002C Error Information Handle: Not Provided Total Width: 64 bits Data Width: 64 bits Size: 2048 MB Form Factor: DIMM Set: None Locator: DIMM-2 Bank Locator: Channel B Type: DDR3 Type Detail: Synchronous Speed: 1333 MHz Manufacturer: Samsung Serial Number: 9396000B Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum2 Part Number: M378B5773CH0-CH9 Rank: 1 Configured Clock Speed: Unknown
What you see is that my computer has 4 RAM slots, Maximum RAM supported is 32G. I have two modules installed 2G each, type is DDR3, speed is 1333 MHz. Searching by part number (M378B5773CH0-CH9) in Google I can find how much it cost to order two more blocks and to expand my RAM to 8G.
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When you need information about hardware specs on a Linux computer, you can use dmidecode to get all info that you need without actually having to be near the machine or have any documentation or open the box.
Hope you find this article useful. I will write more about dmidecode in next articles.
