Feel the need for more computer speed? Even if you're already rocking a fast SSD (one of the best upgrades you can make), you can still improve your computer's performance by adding more memory and turning it into a RAM disk, which can be as much as 70 times faster than a regular hard drive or 20 times faster than an SSD.
We've previously mentioned how you can move caches to a RAM disk to increase your SSD's longevity. Besides that benefit, though, a RAM disk can make your programs launch as much as twice as fast—whether you have an SSD or not.
Laptop Magazine offers the instructions for turning extra memory into a RAM disk. You'll need at least 6 GB of RAM, a 64-bit system, and RAM disk software (e.g., the free RAMDisk from DataRAM).
Performance tests by Laptop Magazine using the CrystalDiskMark benchmarking tool shows the RAM disk reading and writing even faster than an SSD. In real life, after setting up the RAM disk, you should notice dramatically faster application launching.
There are, however, some disadvantages to using RAM disks that you should know of. As PCWorld points out, there's very limited storage capacity and the random access memory is inherently volatile—you don't want to store important files on there. A RAM disk could also increase startup and shutdown times, because most utilities (optionally) save and reload the data to avoid losing it when the PC loses power. (PCWorld mentions Primo Ramdisk gets around this issue, though.)
Still, for those of us without an SSD, this is a cheaper upgrade than getting a new SSD. And the combination of SSD with RAM disk will take your computer performance to a whole new level.