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Memory Requirement: How Many 128 × 8 RAM Chips for 2048 Bytes?

Memory Requirement: How Many 128 × 8 RAM Chips for 2048 Bytes?

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Nov 3, 2026

A “RAM organization like 128×8128 \times 8 means the chip has 128128 addressable word locations, and each word is 88 bits wide. Therefore, the chip’s total capacity is: 128×8 bits=1024 bits128 \times 8 \text{ bits} = 1024 \text{ bits} Convert to bytes using 88 bits per byte: 1024 bits÷8=128 bytes1024 \text{ bits} \div 8 = 128 \text{ bytes}

Memory capacity target is 20482048 bytes. So the number of chips needed is: 2048 bytes128 bytes/chip=16 chips\frac{2048 \text{ bytes}}{128 \text{ bytes/chip}} = 16 \text{ chips}

Answer: 1616 chips of 128×8128 \times 8 are required to provide 20482048 bytes of storage.

Key ideas: word width (8 bits), depth (128 words), total chip capacity (1024 bits = 128 bytes).

RAM organization (depth × width) basics

Compute required number of 128×8 RAM chips

  1. 1
    Step 1

    In 128×8128 \times 8, the chip has depth 128128 and word width 88 bits.

  2. 2
    Step 2

    Total bits per chip = 128×8=1024128 \times 8 = 1024 bits.

  3. 3
    Step 3

    Total bytes per chip = 1024/8=1281024/8 = 128 bytes.

  4. 4
    Step 4

    Chips needed = 2048/128=162048/128 = 16.

  5. 5
    Step 5

    You need 16 chips of 128×8128 \times 8 to get 2048 bytes.

Common pitfall

Don’t treat 88 as bytes—it’s bits. Always convert using 88 bits == 11 byte.

Capacity vs. bus width

This problem only asks for total capacity (bytes). The exact arrangement (e.g., how many chips in parallel to widen to a certain data bus width) depends on the system’s required word size, but for pure capacity, you just divide total bytes.

Capacity per chip vs. total target

Each 128×8 chip stores 128 bytes; 16 chips store 2048 bytes.

From chip spec to required chip count

Read chip organization

Step 1

128×8 → 128 words deep, 8 bits per word."

Compute capacity

Step 2

128×8 bits = 1024 bits per chip."

Convert to bytes

Step 3

1024/8 = 128 bytes per chip."

Determine chip count

Step 4

2048/128 = 16 chips."

Quick checks and related concepts

Memory organization: 128×8

1 / 4
Question · Term

What does 128×8 mean?

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Answer · Definition

Depth = 128 word addresses; word width = 8 bits.

Knowledge Check

Question 1 of 4
Q1Single choice

A single RAM chip labeled 128×8 can store how many bytes?

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