RAM Utilization

[silentrite]

Fellow geeks,

I have what I would consider a pretty high-speed system. 12gb RAM, i7 920, 2x GTX 295s (3584mb video memory), etc... My question is, how do you get Windows 7 to utilize all of my RAM?
It is showing available in the Task Manager, BIOS, everywhere; but I have never seen it use more than 4gb even when playing games (Crysis, Call of Duty: World at War, +more) I have tried running Crysis and CoD at the same time, with Crysis in windowed mode behind CoD, but still it will not use more than 4gb and relies heavily (in my opinion) on the PageFile.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or other help I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Nemix]

We're having a very similar discussion here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...y-senseless-upgrade-can-i-take-advantage.html

Personally I don't have more than 4GB of ram, in my own humble opinion anything more than 6GB is major overkill.

 

[Uber Philf]

12GB RAM is insane, lol, definite overkill, you can try turning off the pagefile, which would help the PC use more RAM.

 

[IggyAZ]

Fellow geeks,

I have what I would consider a pretty high-speed system. 12gb RAM, i7 920, 2x GTX 295s (3584mb video memory), etc... My question is, how do you get Windows 7 to utilize all of my RAM?
It is showing available in the Task Manager, BIOS, everywhere; but I have never seen it use more than 4gb even when playing games (Crysis, Call of Duty: World at War, +more) I have tried running Crysis and CoD at the same time, with Crysis in windowed mode behind CoD, but still it will not use more than 4gb and relies heavily (in my opinion) on the PageFile.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or other help I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Eric

The only way you can use that much RAM is if you were doing video edition and rendering a large file to a DVD. At that point you should use the full potential of your MB, CPU and RAM.

 

[Wishmaster]

Fellow geeks,

I have what I would consider a pretty high-speed system. 12gb RAM, i7 920, 2x GTX 295s (3584mb video memory), etc... My question is, how do you get Windows 7 to utilize all of my RAM?
It is showing available in the Task Manager, BIOS, everywhere; but I have never seen it use more than 4gb even when playing games (Crysis, Call of Duty: World at War, +more) I have tried running Crysis and CoD at the same time, with Crysis in windowed mode behind CoD, but still it will not use more than 4gb and relies heavily (in my opinion) on the PageFile.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or other help I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Eric

The only way you can use that much RAM is if you were doing video edition and rendering a large file to a DVD. At that point you should use the full potential of your MB, CPU and RAM.

This


12Gb for a gaming machine will not ever be used. At least , not any time soon.

The majority of games out now will never use more than 2GB for themselves.

So for a gaming machine 2Gb + system resources is typically all it will use.


I have 8Gb in my system and the only time I ever use more than 4GB is when editing/encoding HD video or virtual machines. Which for me, makes it worth having.

 

[whs]

You'll have to find programs that need that much RAM. Try CAD or some matrix inversions.

 

[Nemix]

whs you're basically telling him to throw in more money on something he already doesn't use, I think someone somewhere mentioned RamDisk...

 

[brady]

12Gb of RAM will never be utilized in a desktop OS

 

[fseal]

I could fill 12 gigs of ram pretty easy using photoshop. A single highly edited 9x12 image can be almost a gig all by itself. Let alone doing something poster sized...

WIth 4 gig I get about 10 open raw files with very minor editing. 8 Gig would be mroe comfortable, but 12 better still.

 

[whs]

whs you're basically telling him to throw in more money on something he already doesn't use, I think someone somewhere mentioned RamDisk...

Well, other than with programs that are real RAM eaters his RAM usage will stay low because normally most programs just do not need that kind of RAM. And I did not say he should spend money - there are plenty of free programs around.
RamDisk is a nice thaught, but for what purpose? Just for data is probably a dull idea.

 

[Nemix]

We're at it again... No worries, my confusion.

 

[foresttodd]

run msconfig, select boot, advanced options, check max memory box, this might show your 12g ram!

 

[Firestrider]

Try running this program:y-cruncher - A Multi-Threaded Pi Program

Run it at 2,500,000,000 digits and 8 threads using the 64-bit executable. You should cap out your RAM (and CPU) then.

 

[silentrite]

Why I Built It...

Thanks for all the replies, however, I think I should have been more clear. I built the computer for benchmarking / OCing, I would just like it to run faster. Is there a way to load the windows kernel into the ram, like in the XP days? Things like the background changing every 30 mins cause the computer to lag heavily for a few seconds, I want to get rid of that lag. It seems that Windows doesn't properly utilize the system.
(I have the max memory / cpu boxes checked)
I'm not trying to consistently max out everything, I'm just saying that it seems there is an arbitrary cap on memory usage around 4gb and was wondering if anyone else has experienced these symptoms and might have a workaround.
To me, for the price of a high-end computer + the ridiculous price of Windows 7 there shouldn't be any lag when just working within the Explorer environment. It seems there should be a way to pre-load things like the next background, all the icons, search indexes, Aero features (to video memory), etc...

Any Windows 7 gurus out there that might have noticed the same things? I find it hard to believe that I am the only one. Maybe if there are enough of us Microsoft will look into it and hopefully release a patch / upgrade for systems that can support it.

Thanks in advance!
Eric


(p.s. I got a great deal on the RAM, only about $200 for all 12gb, I didn't build the system around it - it just worked out well )

 

[Colonel Travis]

(p.s. I got a great deal on the RAM, only about $200 for all 12gb, I didn't build the system around it - it just worked out well )

That is not a great deal. That is a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious deal, and I would like to know how I can have your problems.

 

[fatedquest]

200 for 12GB is not a great deal. Kingston DDR2 Value Ram cost only 35 for 2GB. 200/35 about 5.7 ~ 6, you could have really negotiated for less since you're buying so much.

 

[TildeMerand]

Question relating to this thread:

With 3 Gb of RAM (My system)
Is it safe to disable my Pagefile?

I've been running it like that anyways, just curious though.

Thanks,

Matt~

 

[valtonray]

Question relating to this thread:

With 3 Gb of RAM (My system)
Is it safe to disable my Pagefile?

I've been running it like that anyways, just curious though.

Thanks,

Matt~

leave the pagefile alone.

 

[Uber Philf]

Question relating to this thread:

With 3 Gb of RAM (My system)
Is it safe to disable my Pagefile?

I've been running it like that anyways, just curious though.

Thanks,

Matt~

Nah, turn it back on mate, too little RAM to turn it off.

 

[silentrite]

200 for 12GB is not a great deal. Kingston DDR2 Value Ram cost only 35 for 2GB. 200/35 about 5.7 ~ 6, you could have really negotiated for less since you're buying so much.

Ok, you got me. But ~$200 for Quality ram OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Flex EX Low Voltage Triple Channel OCZ Technology is not a bad deal.