Using heaps of ram

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  1. Posts : 29
    Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1
       #1

    Using heaps of ram


    Hi. I'm new to win7. A friend installed win7 pro 32bit a few days ago and I've been installing and refining programs. Mus say I was pleasantly surprised how fast it installed. Way faster that xp

    A downside - I notice it is using an alarming amount of ram on startup and when all is stable - 600mb. That is before any apps have been started. Now that I have started Firefox and this forum we are up to 670mb.

    This is verified in Task Manager.
    Got any isea's on how to reduce this amount or is this the norm for win7 pro.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,528
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #2

    You need to see if it is really *used*, of if Windows is just caching. Open resmon (start > resmon.exe) and switch to the memory tab - this will actually give you an accurate indication of used vs standby vs free. Windows 7 is not like XP, in that it'll precache all kinds of things it expects you to use in RAM (superfetch), and will learn over time the best way to do this. This cache can be removed (and will be by the memory manager) if other things need the RAM, of course, but Windows tries to do the best job it can to put things in RAM it expects you to use at some point, so if there's free RAM, it will cache things. Assuming you don't have a memory leak on a newly installed system, this is likely superfetch doing it's job and nothing to be alarmed about (this is a common post by folks new to Win7, by the way).
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #3

    Don't worry about memory usage. It takes care of itself. Until there is a high level of Page Fault activity and the computer is actually sufficating from lack of memory is when you start worrying about these things. However, when that time comes around I can tell you what will cause it. An application you installed, in most cases the security (antivirus) software you use.
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  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #4

    You are lucky - 600 MBs is on the low side. I am currently at 1.360 MBs and all I do is work on the Forum with IE. If I were you, I would not worry. What do you want to do with all the RAM - save it for a rainy day?? - LOL. The best place to see how RAM is being used is in the Resource Monitor > Memory tab. The color bar is very telling. Everything in blue (light or dark) on that bar is "available".
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 531
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 RTM + SP1
       #5

    whs said:
    You are lucky - 600 MBs is on the low side. I am currently at 1.360 MBs and all I do is work on the Forum with IE. If I were you, I would not worry. What do you want to do with all the RAM - save it for a rainy day?? - LOL. The best place to see how RAM is being used is in the Resource Monitor > Memory tab. The color bar is very telling. Everything in blue (light or dark) on that bar is "available".

    Ditto here too, I seem to use about the 1600mb (roughly) and i have firefox, itunes, steam, rainmeter and what not running. 600mb's i think a lot of people might be jealous of that low amount being used.

    Lucky
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #6

    The idle amount of RAM depends on how much you have.
    I have 2 GBs on mine and it rest around 600 MB.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #7

    Unused RAM is wasted RAM. The key is that the RAM is "available" which means the OS can use it for other things like opening applications, etc. Looking at my box, with 8GB of RAM, there is only 700MB free...but 2.8GB is cached and 3.5GB is available. And the primary reason my RAM usage is so high is that I have Server 2008 running virtually.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,251
    Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
       #8

    My Win 7 desktop used to run at around 600 MB of RAM too, but as I began to add and use more programs that amount grew and its now at 1.37 GB as I type this.

    ~Maxx~
    .
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Using heaps of ram-tm-611.png  
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7,466
    Windows 10 Home Premium 64bit sp1
       #9

    This is my make -up
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Using heaps of ram-resourse2.jpg  
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 29
    Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Hey thanks everyone. I'm so pleased to hear from you all and to hear your comments and thoughts.

    It still concerns me that the system will pre-allocate ram. Does that mean I dont have access to that ram other than for what "it" expects i will use it for?. I use the system for photography and video editing and I need heaps of ram for that. So whats the score about the pre allocation? Is it waiting to be used by any program that fires up or set aside for a program it expects to use it. What if the anticipated prog dosn't use the ram? Sorry to be a bore.
      My Computer


 
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