more than 8GB RAM?

[Bob246]

Hi, running an 8GB laptop with SSD, tbh it's not bad (it was pretty terrible with a regular 2.5" HDD), I'm considering upping to 16GB ram.

I have some folders with over 5,000 images (up to 20,000) in them (all sorts of jpg's), sometimes the computer is slow (10 seconds) to index/thumbnail display them all, and also slightly annoying and occasionally (and inconsistently?), saving new images to these folders can take a few seconds to bring up the 'save as' dialogue box. would increasing to 16GB make this indexing any faster? or is that a cpu thing (an i5). reducing the number of files per dir isn't a preferable solution. The intel HD3000 graphics takes up 1.7GB, so that is effectively 6GB of ram. I don't "power use" but I often have 30+ tabs open in chrome, and firefox open at the same time, plus word and excel.

many thanks

 

[Snick]

Hi Bob246,
Welcome to SevenForums!
Would you please update your system specs, we have an automated tool for this purpose here:
System Info - See Your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[Megahertz07]

I don't think you will ever use more than 8G. How many memory sticks you have (2x4 or 1x8)?
To find out how much you're using install open_hardware_monitor

Download openhardwaremonitor-v0.8.0
Extract the folder under C:\Program Files (x86)
Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Openhardwaremonitor\OpenHardwareMonitor.exe
Under options set to Run on Windows Start.
My configuration file is attached - hardwaremonitor.config
Rename to OpenHardwareMonitor.config and replace the original one.

 

[Bob246]

hi, thanks

right now I have this

Number Of SPD Modules 2
Slot #1
Type DDR3
Size 4096 MBytes
Manufacturer Crucial Technology
Max Bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
Slot #2
Type DDR3
Size 4096 MBytes
Manufacturer Samsung
Max Bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)

Task manager brings up that I'm regularly using approx 7-7.8GB out of 8GB

right now under "low-medium" use (actually 45 tabs), I'm using 7.3GB. I've got an extension called 'the great suspender' installed for chrome, which blanks out tabs that haven't been active for a while, so probably actually 25 tabs active

 

[strollin]

I have 16GB of RAM in my system and the only way I've found to utilize more than 8GB is by running multiple Virtual Machines simultaneously.

 

[Megahertz07]

To install 16G you'll have to replace your existing memory.

Open task manager on processes tab and, with the snipping tool take a snapshot and save the image file to your disk.
Click on the paper clip on the answer window - browse to the saved the image file - upload.

 

[Bob246]

hi thanks

yeah there is 16GB (2x 8GB) of samsung memory on ebay for around £50, which is a reasonable price

my memory usage now is at 7.6GB, cpu usage at about 5-10% although spikes occasionally

 

[Megahertz07]

Your CPU usage is also high.

I asked for task manager processes tab image, not performance tab.
Sort by memory usage.

 

[Bob246]

task manager processes looks like-

 

[file3456]

RAM may not make much of a difference in the speed it takes to open images. But since you're close to the limit in the RAM department, more RAM wouldn't hurt.

I think the biggest factor on the images is the CPU capability. Then again, Windows handles images in like the most asinine way. My mom stuffs a lot of images on her computer and it also takes a few seconds to load them all. I even upgraded the RAM, but that didn't do much.

 

[Megahertz07]

What happens if you close Firefox and Chrome?

 

[Bob246]

I'll try that

 

[Megahertz07]

From similar thread Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix | Firefox Help

Chrome is launched when windows start. Even if it's closed it's running on the background, spying everything you do.
Why Is Chrome Using up So Much RAM? (And How to Fix It Right Now)

 

[townsbg]

Do you have to have so many tabs open at once? Perhaps if you get in the habit of closing them you will save yourself some ram. Lots of it.

 

[Snick]

In addition to Megahertz07, hyperlink regarding Firefox, if you use Firefox Quantum you can tweak about:config to make FF give up RAM when minimized.

To do so:

Enter about:config in your url, confirm you'll be careful.
Copy and paste config.trim_on_minimize into the search bar.
You should now have a blank area.
Right-click in that area & choose> New > Boolean
Enter config.trim_on_minimize > click OK
Click True
Exit about:config

 

[iko22]

If the user is using 6GB and the graphics chip is using just under 2GB of RAM, then I would think that is good enough reason to upgrade to 12 or 16 GB of RAM.

 

[Bob246]

townsbg - generally yes, but that doesn't seem to be the culprit here. the addon 'the great suspender' does seem to do it's job (like 'auto tab discard' for firefox, only much easier to use). it seems like the main culprit is files per dir. the performance of the laptop really isn't bad, generally. upgrading my ram isn't a big deal to be honest. but going by replies, more ram might not be the solution

I've found a program called XYplorer which can display all files in subdirectories, but one of the problems is I don't want to up/download the same filename twice, saving to the same directory is the only way I know to prevent overwriting the same file (because it give a "filename already exists" box). there's an addon for chrome called "have I downloaded this before", which...sometimes works.

 

[townsbg]

I disagree. Once you run out of memory your computer starts using virtual memory which really means loading some of your running programs and files on your hard drive which has proven to be slower than memory even if you are using an SSD. I'm sure that if you started using less tabs, say only 3-4 at a time you'll gain at least 3-4 gb. On just that section of task manager on your screen shot firefox and chrome are taking up over 5 gb of memory. I'm sure that you will save most of that if you minimize tabs. Why don't you at least try it?

 

[Snick]

Try the about:config tweak for Firefox, when you minimize to taskbar FF gives up RAM.
I agree with townsbg's RAM description, which is in fact what occurs.

My Mobo has 8gb RAM installed, max permitted. Slot #1 has become inoperative reducing my RAM to 4gb. I cannot run VMWare right now. Programs will load & run, however, they crawl. Task manager shows constant cache (virtual memory) activity and free RAM is close to zero.

 

[Bob246]

I've put in the firefox tweak, will see how it goes

At some point I'll...probably,,try closing some tabs down and see if that affects it. normal running use is 30+ tabs going though (the 'great suspender' means about 2/3 of them are active), apart from the occasional filesave dialogue, performance really isn't that bad (until something else comes up). I don't normally have things like Photoshop running, that might be an extra test