Windows 7: Windows Task Manager

I noticed a new row for Physical Memory in Windows 7 from Vista as "Available", so what is the difference between Cached, Available, and Free memory now?

Anyone know? Also what are your thoughts on new resource monitor? You can track individual processes now.

Hello Firestrider -

• Total is the amount of RAM installed on your computer, listed in megabytes (MB).
• Cached refers to the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources.
• Available is the total of standby and free memory from the Resource Monitor.
• Free is the amount of memory that is currently unused or doesn't contain useful information (unlike cached files, which do contain useful information).

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the response. Shouldn't Cached + Free = Total memory? What are all the other bytes in memory used for if they are not cached or free?

Firestrider,

After doing more research on it, it appears as Available is the total of standby and free memory for programs. It is shown better in the Resource Monitor. (updated post above)

Hi all,

What happens when you have 0 'Free' but loads of Available? How does the above work if 'Available' is supposed to be the total sum of Standby and Free!

Cheers
Nick.

Windows 7 caches memory that is not under demand. Should an app require memory, the OS will release the cached memory and make it available to the application. The idea is that if memory is not being used elsewhere, then might as well cache it so it can be used quickly when required. Thats what Superfetch is about.
Available is the sum total of the cache and free memory. So if your free mem is zero and available is plenty, it simply means that there is no active app taking up a lot of mem so the OS has cached it. It'll be freed immediately if required.

Would you suggest disabling SuperFetch? I have read that doing this will free up more mem from the Cache and allow for smoother running. Opening applications quickly is not a concern, stability however is.

The issue is for example that when Photoshop is running (a huge file loaded in) it often leaves only 12MB in 'Free' however 'Available' is far higher with over 12GB. Loading anything else typically will crash. The only way to resolve is to reboot the machine.

What worries me is the 'on demand' that Cache seems to have? When Free is 0 Cache doesn't seem to release mem. I was wondering if disabling SuperFetch would help stabilise things?

Really appreciate the help. Thanks!

Cheers,
Nick.

NO


Pointless to do so.

If your computer is not running smoothly your problem is else where, not SuperFetch

SuperFetch does not effect stability.

Hi,

Ok great at least I know what it isn't so this all helps allot i.e. SuperFetch. ZBrush is the other app which causes the system to really struggle and is what was running when the attached image happened.

I've attached a screen capture of the Task Manager 'just' before ZBrush crashes. I can recreate this every time so my thoughts are just nothing left in the tank.

Would you infer based on the task manager (if you can) that the system is just simply out of resources or the application itself has hit its resource allocation limit! By the way ZBrush is only 32bit so limited to only 4GB, could this be why Free is VERY low and Available is VERY high?

Thanks,
Nick.