Superfetch... how exactly does it work

logicearth said:

whs said:

Logicearth, could you provide a link please.

Windows Internals Book

Thanks.

i skipped some posts, so not sure if its been talked about already but personally it seems to be more use for systems with more RAM. But that depends - what kind of user are you?
I use large variety of software and it can be different every day or hour.
After monitoring ram usage, in about hour it did increase from my ~400mb idle to 1.2GB and i do only have 2gb installed.
So Using more different software, specially those that use more memory (games, audio workstations) i found myself running out of RAM and using page file and lots of RAM was full of crap.

For a casual user whos everyday routine is more or less same its a good option. Or if u got lots of ram and having 2-3gb of it filled would make no difference.

Superfetch is just a temp. way to fix the outdated data transfer methods and devices.
SSD may be faster but everything inbetween - cabels, controllers etc are still inefficient.

Superfetch is just a temp. way to fix the outdated data transfer methods and devices

Absolutely right. It is just a means to overcome the access delay on a rotational disk. For SSDs it does not seem to do anything (just wears the SSD). I have been running with and without (on the SSD) and have not noticed any difference - but that could also be my way of using the system.

djmauro said:

i skipped some posts, so not sure if its been talked about already but personally it seems to be more use for systems with more RAM. But that depends - what kind of user are you?
I use large variety of software and it can be different every day or hour.
After monitoring ram usage, in about hour it did increase from my ~400mb idle to 1.2GB and i do only have 2gb installed.
So Using more different software, specially those that use more memory (games, audio workstations) i found myself running out of RAM and using page file and lots of RAM was full of crap.

For a casual user whos everyday routine is more or less same its a good option. Or if u got lots of ram and having 2-3gb of it filled would make no difference.

Superfetch is just a temp. way to fix the outdated data transfer methods and devices.
SSD may be faster but everything inbetween - cabels, controllers etc are still inefficient.

A couple points wrong in your post. First superfetch is bad for those with lots of ram as it just increases disk thrashing that much more trying to fill up all that ram with stuff (that probably wont get used for users like myself. The ram used by superfetch is also availible to what ever program wants it as it is cache, not used ram.

You are right about using lots of different software, superfetch impedes that as while you are running that software superfetch is still cacheing stuff from the HDD slowing down it's access and saturating the south bridge chip subsystem while you are trying to work.

And about your last comment. The only outdated devices are rotational disks. Controllers, cables, etc are all capable of a lot more bandwidth then what we are currently using. However this is done by design as the true potential of our current tech is used in raid not stand alone devices.

Bottom line superfetch helps speed up the loading of applications that you use regularily (it does nothing however for operating programs, just there load times so I dont see how they argument it speeds up your computer). Other wise it slows down the operation of others. Also until it figures out what your doing and optimizes for that it really doesn't do much and for me it never gets a chance as I do different stuff all the time and when im not useing the computer it is a sleep and I also disable the built in scheduled defragmenter... so I leave superfetch off.

whs said:

Superfetch is just a temp. way to fix the outdated data transfer methods and devices

Absolutely right. It is just a means to overcome the access delay on a rotational disk. For SSDs it does not seem to do anything (just wears the SSD). I have been running with and without (on the SSD) and have not noticed any difference - but that could also be my way of using the system.

But, see, Superfetch caches to the RAM. Anything that is cached in RAM will by definition be accessed and read faster than on an SSD.

IDK.

~Ibrahim~

[QUOTE=BunBun;536562The ram used by superfetch is also availible to what ever program wants it as it is cache, not used ram. [/QUOTE]

But cache still uses up the RAM storage capacity... so it should count as a usage, it still fills up RAM.

I guess the superfetch related massive ram usage is a bug of the specific version.

I guess the superfetch related massive ram usage is a bug of the specific version.

I don't think so. I think it is just a misinterpretation on your part. The more RAM it uses, the better it is (in general). There may be some very specific cases where that is not true, but I cannot think of any.