Stocking up on RAM is not the hardship it once was, since RAM prices have benefited from some insane discounting in the last few years. VRAM is a special type of RAM dedicated to data display. Unlike normal RAM, VRAM can accept data from the computer's graphics processor while simultaneously sending data to your monitor. More VRAM equals better refresh rates at higher resolutions. A cache is another type of fast memory that stores the most recently used data and makes it available to your processor faster than RAM does.
Further levels are possible in larger sizes and slower speeds.
Graphics, sound and especially digital video files can fill up hard drives and other storage media in no time. Your multimedia computer should have a SCSI hard drive with at least 6GB of storage space. Your computer should have a few empty bays to add internal hard drives as you need them. Removable drives are invaluable for backing up and transporting your work. The most popular of these are the 100MB Zip drives and 1GB Jaz drives from Iomega and the wide range of removable drives from SyQuest.