[merlinxi]

Holy macrole out of my 2 gigs of ram i have 63 MB left????

and it is even allocating ANOTHER 2 gigs of page file memory. How the heck is that possible? How will we able to run games if windows is taken that much???

[Necrosis]

Strange it's only using 600 meg on my setup. What does resource monitor say?

[DudeBoyz]

You're having this trouble with Windows XP?

Have you looked at your processes? (CTRL-ALT-DEL and then the Processes tab)

You could put a screen shot up so we can see what is running and try to help you out that way...

[coldfrontt]

556 megs with 44 processes running on ultimate here...what do you have running in background?

[EternalTraveler]

It is quite normal for Vista to use all those memory, since Microsoft really improved the way Vista handles unused resources. When the RAM are unused, Vista caches all of them to improve the performance of the system and desktop, and if you launch a RAM extensive application, like a game, it will free up RAM accordingly. See details here: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000688.html

[merlinxi]

Ahh thank you, it's all clear now!

[DudeBoyz]

Wacky changes...

As long as it reduces disk thrashing, I would think most foks would not mind the changes.

[PangingJr]

Originally Posted by merlinxi; OMG Memory Hogg!!

Holy macrole out of my 2 gigs of ram i have 63 MB left????

and it is even allocating ANOTHER 2 gigs of page file memory. How the heck is that possible? How will we able to run games if windows is taken that much???

if your computer is still running smooth, application starts faster, overall system runs better? then don't you think you should be happy that the memory manager in Vista has put your RAM in good use?

IF in fact your experiences are completely opposite from what i just said, then it might be something wrong with your software setup, or perhaps Vista is just not that good?

this goes to other operating systems too. have a look at this Linux OS's memory info...

[jasonbourne]

im running vista ultimate and most of the time is onling taking 530mb i also havent noticed any slow down while gaming

[DudeBoyz]

Can you believe that Windows XP is looking lean compared to Vista?

OMG!

[PangingJr]

Originally Posted by jasonbourne

im running vista ultimate and most of the time is onling taking 530mb i also havent noticed any slow down while gaming

i think that depends on how you use your computer... yours may not use a whole lot of system memory like some others.

have a look at my example below which i just did a quick check after reading the above article and i was interested in seeing how Vista worked.

i did try to fill up the cached memory (in a mere one hour computer's uptime) by browsing files on my local drives and running some apps. as you can see on the first pic that the Free RAM was only 16 MB left... and the system was not slow down at all.

as so little system memory left, how can i run another app?
check this second pic... and this was as soon as i ran a task that i know it will eat up a lot of system memory the free RAM went down to zero...

i can't up load these two Windows TM pics, i will post them later.

[Monkeyboy]

PangingJr is quite correct - the Superfetch routine in Vista 'learns' what applications you use most frequently and loads them into free memory so that they are ready for you to use when you want them. Superfetch is quite intelligent and will even pre-load your apps depending on the time of day you usually load them up, so that they are ready for you when you want them.

This does indeed reduce disk thrashing by a significant amount.

Superfetch then intelligently frees up memory as and when you need it.

Quite nifty, in my opinion.

[Phantom2]

Another cool feature is Vistas'ability to use a memory stick as cache.
If you have a flash card, slip it ito a USB port (Use USB 2 port) Vista will give you the option to use it as an external hard drive (the traditional use) or as a system cashe, this rocks, you now have xGB of super fast cache, much faster than the Hard Drive.

[Judas]

Actually all that infomation means didly,

While vista "will appear" to use up a pile of memory, i'm finding it MUCH MUCH better at handing everything, not only seeing better/faster load times for various apps but some performance improvements all around.

Vista appears to be always prepared, and to do that it sucks up a pile of memory initially and releases when the applications demand it. It's no different then seeing XP's CPU idle timer sitting at 99% when in actuality 1% cpu time is being used not 100%...

[PangingJr]

If there is one thing that can really help applications on Windows Vista run better, it's memory. When comparing the performance of Windows XP and Windows Vista on a PC with 1 GB of main memory, Windows Vista is generally comparable to Windows XP or faster. However, we also know that in some cases, on PCs with 512 MB of main memory, applications on Windows XP may seem more responsive. Why? Mostly because the features in Windows Vista use a bit more memory to do the things that make it so cool, like indexing your data, keeping the fancier AERO UI running using the desktop window manager (DWM), etc. The less memory in your machine, the more often the OS must randomly access the disk. This slows system performs in cases where your applications just barely fit in memory on Windows XP but not quite in Windows Vista.

We redesigned the memory manager in Windows Vista so that if you give the system more memory, it uses that memory much more efficiently than previous operating systems via a technique called SuperFetch -- part of Windows Vista's intelligent heuristic memory management system. And so Windows Vista on a PC with even more than 1 GB of primary memory (say 2 GB) will generally outperform Windows XP on that same machine -- especially once you have been using the machine for some time because Windows Vista learns what you do the most often and optimizes for this.

Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows ReadyBoost

RAM's prices seems to drop right now, Just so, i think, for people who use Vista's on a 512MB system, this may be the time to give your system more memory. so that, you can enjoy using software programs under Vista even more.

as if your system already had 1 GB, you might want to consider increasing the system's main memory to 2 GB. after all if you are using Vista as your operating system, it can perform better on that same system with more memory on it.

[DudeBoyz]

I'm thinking about going to 2 gig on my iMac. Pain in the tail is that I have to pull both 512 meg DDR2 modules and get two 1 gig modules.

For some reason, a 2 gig module for this format is unbelievably expensive. A 1 gig is about $100 each, but a single 2 gig is over $500. Woah.

[josh2thad]

Originally Posted by Judas

Actually all that infomation means didly,

While vista "will appear" to use up a pile of memory, i'm finding it MUCH MUCH better at handing everything, not only seeing better/faster load times for various apps but some performance improvements all around.

Vista appears to be always prepared, and to do that it sucks up a pile of memory initially and releases when the applications demand it. It's no different then seeing XP's CPU idle timer sitting at 99% when in actuality 1% cpu time is being used not 100%...

I agree

[PangingJr]

"it sucks up a pile of memory initially and releases when the applications demand it"

that is an easy way to put it, Judas.

for anyone who wants to understand a bit more about what's actually Vista do with its memory management technique.
this information may help you understand it...

Prefetch

Windows Vista's SuperFetch builds on a technology introduced in Windows XP called Prefetch, so let's talk a little bit about it as well before we move on to SuperFetch and EMD. To begin with, prefetching is a process in which the operating system loads key pieces of data and code from disk into memory before it's actually needed. With this in mind, let's take a general look at how prefetching works.

In order for this prefetching operation to actually improve performance, the Windows XP Cache Manager monitors the data being moved between the disk and RAM and between RAM and virtual memory when the system is booting up as well as when various applications are loaded. As the Cache Manager monitors these occurrences, it constructs maps of the directories and all of the files that were referenced for each application or process. These maps are then saved to files with a .pf extension in the \Windows\Prefetch folder.

Once these map files have been created, the Cache Manager will use them to improve efficiency when the system boots up as well as when loading applications. More specifically, the Cache Manager will intercept every process or application that is about to be loaded and will check the \Windows\Prefetch folder to see if there is a corresponding map. If there is, the Cache Manager will call on the file system to immediately access the directory and files referenced in the map. The Cache Manager will then alert the Memory Manager and tell it to use the information in the map file to load data and code into memory. Once this prefetch operation is complete, the Cache Manager will allow the application or process to continue loading. As the application or process does so, it will find the majority of the files and data that it needs already available in memory, thus reducing the amount of disk access and allowing the application or process to load or respond faster.

In order to further improve the efficiency of this prefetching operation, Windows XP will regularly analyze the contents of the map files, compile a list of the directories and files, organize them in the order in which they are loaded, and save this information in a file called Layout.ini in the \Windows\Prefetch folder. It will then schedule disk defragmenter to run on a regular basis and use the information in the Layout.ini file to relocate all of the directories and files listed to a contiguous area of the disk.

SuperFetch

Now that you know how Windows XP's Prefetch technology works, you have a good idea of how about 70 percent of Windows Vista's SuperFetch technology works. As the next version of Windows XP's Prefetch, SuperFetch does everything that Prefetch does and more.

To begin with, SuperFetch overcomes one of the big drawbacks in Windows XP's Prefetch technology. As I've explained, Prefetch improves efficiency by loading the majority of the files and data needed by an application or process into memory so that they can be accessed very quickly when needed. However, because these files and data exist in memory, they are subject to the laws governing virtual memory. In other words, when other applications need access to memory, any prefetched data is moved out to the page file on the hard disk. When it is needed again, it then must be moved back from the page file to memory, which of course offsets the performance enhancement.

SuperFetch goes one step further to ensure that you get the most out of the performance enhancement. In addition to constructing the map files I described earlier, SuperFetch also constructs profiles of the applications you use that include information about how often and when you use them. SuperFetch then will keep track of the applications in your profile and note when any prefetched data is moved out to the page file. SuperFetch will then monitor the progress of the application that caused the prefetched data to be moved out to the page file and, as soon as that application is done, it will pull the prefetched data back into memory. So when you go to access the application, the prefetched data will again be available in memory and the application will be very responsive.

Handy Software Lab Products FAQ - Windows Vista: SuperFetch and External Memory Devices

[germanjulian]

Originally Posted by merlinxi

Holy macrole out of my 2 gigs of ram i have 63 MB left????

and it is even allocating ANOTHER 2 gigs of page file memory. How the heck is that possible? How will we able to run games if windows is taken that much???

sight.

normal. thats how vista works.... it caches.... its one of the main features of vista to cache everything. if it needs ram it will give you ram