Solved Free RAM

[UsernameIssues]

...You get the "(x.xx GB usable) bit when Hardware Reserved is over a certain limit.

Thanks - that makes sense.

That long article that I linked to talks about ways to see how much RAM each hardware device is reserving,

 

[fezbombmatt]

I dont use a graphics card on this machine.

Well after a long read it seems its normal lol, i didnt know Hardware used up RAM to begin with as my other machines barely use any. Ive checked.

What kind of things to you guys place on a RAMdisc? Just software programs?

 

[LMiller7]

What kind of things to you guys place on a RAMdisc? Just software programs?

I generally do not recommend the use of a RAMDisk at all.

A RAMDisk was a good thing back in the days of DOS, but those days are long gone. Modern operating systems provide most of the benefits of a RAMDisk with fewer of the problems. The big problem with a RAMDisk is that you will almost invariably end up with large amounts of RAM tied down containing data that is rarely accessed, if at all. That is a crime against performance. Windows memory management is far more dynamic and usually avoids such problems.

The bottom line is that a RAMDisk is usually a bad use of RAM. The OS will almost always do a better job managing it on it's own. There are legitimate uses of a RAMDisk but not many.

Windows designers are well aware of RAMDisks but Microsoft does not include on with the OS. Now you know why.

With only 4 GB RAM a RAMDisk is far more likely to harm performance than help it.

 

[fezbombmatt]

I wouldnt be attempting to with only 4GB, just curious say if i happen top have 12GB or more spare. What do people use on there?

 

[whs]

I use the extra RAM to run virtual partitions with Linux operationg systems and Windows 8. Those run concurrently and side by side with my base system which is Windows 7. With 2 clicks I can switch from one system to another.