How to quickly determine memory slots available on motherboard on Windows 10

How-to
By Mauro Huculak
last updated

Planning to upgrade your PC's memory, but you don't know if there are any slots available? Here's a quick way to find out on Windows 10, no disassembly required.

On Windows 10, when your computer starts getting slow due to memory demanding applications (such as Google Chrome, Photoshop, or Premiere Pro), understanding the number of RAM (Random Access Memory) slots available on the motherboard can help to determine whether you can simply add more memory sticks, or if you need to purchase a new memory kit with higher capacity to upgrade your system.

Although you can always open the computer case or check your documentation (or move things into a slick glass-panelled case), you can also confirm the total number of slots supported on your motherboard and how many of them are being used using Task Manager.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to quickly find out if your computer has any available memory slots that you can use to add more RAM to your system.

How to check RAM slots available on Windows 10

To confirm the number of memory slots available on your computer or laptop, use these steps on Windows 10:

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for Task Manager and click the top result to open the experience.Quick tip: There's not just one way to open Task Manager, you can access the experience in various ways. For example, through the Ctrl + Alt + Del keyboard shortcut, power user menu (Windows key + X keyboard shortcut ), and the Ctrl + Shift + ESC keyboard shortcut.
  3. Click on the Performance tab.
  4. Select the Memory section from the left pane.
  5. See the Slots used section, at the bottom of the page, to confirm the number of slots available on your motherboard.

Once you complete the steps, you'll be able to determine if you can add more memory to your computer, or if you need to replace the memory kit with one with higher capacity per module to increase the available memory.

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Mauro Huculak
Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he's a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community.