Author Topic: How much RAM do you have on your PC? (Read 72764 times)

Darwin · « **Reply #50 on:** October 16, 2007, 12:45 PM »

Can't answer your question, Nosh, but I can report that for me the big pay-off is in multi-tasking (now if I could somehow manage to shoe-horn a dual-core processor in I'd REALLY be set...) - opening all components of Office 2003 Professional (with their respective addins and macros running), Maxthon 2, Corel PaintShop Pro X2 plus Windows Media Player 11, everything runs smoothly and the computer is zippy. On a gig of RAM this was not the case... Don't know if this will help you or not.

Ralf Maximus · « **Reply #51 on:** October 16, 2007, 12:58 PM »

On my 4GB system (well, 3.25GB) I've devoted 1.5 GB to disk cache. End result is a ~2GB workstation with a really fast disk subsystem.

nosh · « **Reply #52 on:** October 16, 2007, 01:09 PM »

Thanks Darwin... it depends on whether your RAM was maxed out before the upgrade, I suppose.
Knowing myself, I'm aware I probably won't be able to resist going for it, I'm just looking for one good reason to do it. My system's functioning pretty smoothly in general and I've had teething pains almost every time I've added new hardware to the box so I'm a bit circumspect. The results posted at the Tom's Hardware link I posted don't do anything to help.

Darwin · « **Reply #53 on:** October 16, 2007, 04:02 PM »

I'll have to revisit the Tom's Hardware page (I've visited in the past)... My system was *supposed* to be taxed at 1 gig but is loving 2! This could very well have something to do with the placebo effect - I open up a bunch of processes and then ctrl-shift-esc to my Task Manager and revel in the fact that I still have 1.4GB of RAM free... Everything just *feels* more stable, more responsive and MORE! When I upgraded this laptop from 512MB to 1GB RAM the diference was not nearly so profound (I was actually a bit disappointed).

mwb1100 · « **Reply #54 on:** October 16, 2007, 04:16 PM »

On my 4GB system (well, 3.25GB) I've devoted 1.5 GB to disk cache. End result is a ~2GB workstation with a really fast disk subsystem.
-Ralf Maximus (October 16, 2007, 12:58 PM)

How exactly do you do that? I'd like to have some ability to tune this on my system.

nosh · « **Reply #55 on:** October 16, 2007, 04:34 PM »

Everything just *feels* more stable, more responsive and MORE! When I upgraded this laptop from 512MB to 1GB RAM the diference was not nearly so profound (I was actually a bit disappointed).
-Darwin (October 16, 2007, 04:02 PM)

That's really strange coz you're actually utilizing over 512 MB so the jump from 512 TO 1 GB should have (theoretically) made a substantial impact. The tests on Tom's Hardware attest to this. And you'd have 400 MB of free RAM even if you hadn't upgraded so I'm wondering how much the placebo factor is actually contributing here. Did you swap out your old RAM or just add a stick or two?

Edit: Reread the first page of this thread and I think I'm going to go for it. Nothing much to lose really.

f0dder · « **Reply #56 on:** October 16, 2007, 04:41 PM »

I want 4 gigs in my next system, along with a 64bit OS. Large filesystem cache, and/or a substantially sized RAM disk -

Darwin · « **Reply #57 on:** October 16, 2007, 05:32 PM »

Nosh - I swapped out both sticks of RAM (512MB each) and replaced them with two 1 gig sticks. Opening "up a bunch of processes" really means booting to my desktop and firing up Maxthon...

Your're right, of couse, that doing this leaves me with in excess of 400MB of free RAM if you're subtracting from 1GB. However, from this point I can open a TON of memory hogging apps and I'm not grinding down toward 0 but toward a gig of free RAM. I found that my system was pretty happy even with only 70MB free RAM, but it feels a heck of a lot happier/better with a Gig of free RAM. I mean, I wouldn't have even attempted the every office app plus PaintShop Pro open when I was only running 1 gig... I don't know, YMMV, but for me this was worth every penny (even if it is all placebo

)...

Darwin · « **Reply #58 on:** October 16, 2007, 06:18 PM »

Another point: I use Scansoft software, which is RAM hungry to put it mildly. It always ran when I had a gig of RAM but was sluggish and annoying. I've currently got PDF Converter 4 Professional running along side Word 2003, Outlook 2003, Maxthon 2 (also a RAM pig), Endnote X and it is like a brand new application. I've never seen it perform like this!

Task Manager reveals 1.2 GB of free RAM running the above...

nosh · « **Reply #59 on:** October 17, 2007, 12:15 AM »

I swapped out both sticks of RAM (512MB each) and replaced them with two 1 gig sticks.

That's exactly what I plan to do. I always have around 15 icons in the system tray, I don't really need to run too many power-hungry apps side by side but I've done that and the system holds just fine. On the (rare) occasion that I fire up a 3D game, I tend to shut down as many other programs as I can - this is something I'll probably be doing even after upgrading, to spare the CPU. But I'd rather get it done and stop wondering than not and keep rationalizing to myself that I have x00 megs of free RAM. Like you, what I really need is a dual core CPU running alongside. I believe Mr.Hyde just had an idea and Dr.J seems to be playing along.

TeaTime · « **Reply #60 on:** October 17, 2007, 07:19 AM »

1Gb here, and I seldom use more than 50%. I must say I have a good memory manager, O&O's CleverCache.

f0dder · « **Reply #61 on:** October 17, 2007, 09:24 AM »

1Gb here, and I seldom use more than 50%. I must say I have a good memory manager, O&O's CleverCache.
-TeaTime (October 17, 2007, 07:19 AM)

Unused RAM is wasted RAM

Cynic · « **Reply #62 on:** October 17, 2007, 09:43 AM »

On my 4GB system (well, 3.25GB) I've devoted 1.5 GB to disk cache. End result is a ~2GB workstation with a really fast disk subsystem.
-Ralf Maximus (October 16, 2007, 12:58 PM)

How exactly do you do that? I'd like to have some ability to tune this on my system.
-mwb1100 (October 16, 2007, 04:16 PM)

So would I. How does one devote a specific amount of RAM to filesystem cache?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #63 on:** October 17, 2007, 09:52 AM »

1Gb here, and I seldom use more than 50%. I must say I have a good memory manager, O&O's CleverCache.
-TeaTime (October 17, 2007, 07:19 AM)
Unused RAM is wasted RAM
-f0dder (October 17, 2007, 09:24 AM)

Can you believe that i saw that one coming even before i read your post?

TeaTime: f0dder is right, you should read more about these "memory optimizers", if most of your RAM isn't being used, it probably isn't 'optimizing' that much, it's making you waste speed.

nosh · « **Reply #64 on:** October 17, 2007, 10:16 AM »

Update: Swapped out the 512 MB sticks for 2 x 1GB. The step up in performance, if any, is negligible. Was really tempted by the Core 2 Duo 2.6 upgrade *drools* but couldn't go for it, so was feeling a bit let down. Treated myself to a nice 19" LCD monitor as a consolation prize.

tomos · « **Reply #65 on:** October 17, 2007, 10:27 AM »

Treated myself to a nice 19" LCD monitor as a consolation price.
-nosh (October 17, 2007, 10:16 AM)

thats good nosh,
we dont have to feel sorry for you!

KenR · « **Reply #66 on:** October 17, 2007, 10:28 AM »

1Gb here, and I seldom use more than 50%. I must say I have a good memory manager, O&O's CleverCache.
-TeaTime (October 17, 2007, 07:19 AM)
Unused RAM is wasted RAM
-f0dder (October 17, 2007, 09:24 AM)
Can you believe that i saw that one coming even before i read your post?

TeaTime: f0dder is right, you should read more about these "memory optimizers", if most of your RAM isn't being used, it probably isn't 'optimizing' that much, it's making you waste speed.
-jgpaiva (October 17, 2007, 09:52 AM)

Ok, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Most of my ram was being used and it got me back 20%. I've tried a few managers/optimizers and this program does seem to be a very nice. I'm going to try it for a while and see how it changes my life.

Ken

f0dder · « **Reply #67 on:** October 17, 2007, 10:39 AM »

Well, if O&O CleverCache doesn't simply try to "maximize your free RAM" but takes over the filesystem cache, it could be a good product, since windows is a bit conservative by default...

Darwin · « **Reply #68 on:** October 18, 2007, 08:57 AM »

I'm responding to two things here:

1. RAM optimizers - I've found that all they do is eat up resources in their own right and make me obsess over how much RAM I have free. When I finally uninstalled the last of the ones that I ran as a standalone app, I was amazed to discover that my computer was actually performing just fine when I only had 70MB of RAM free. Prior to that I had a RAM optimizer trying to recover up to 300MB RAM. After uninstalling the optimizer, I went back to CleanCache XP 1.51 and set it up to optimize my cache and settings but NOT to run in the tray and recover RAM. I've been happy ever since (though in honesty, I've no idea if it's really made any significant change in performance or not). I had to re-run the optimizer after doubling my RAM the other day. All seems well.
2. An interesting (to me!) observation is that when I went from 512MB of RAM to a gig on this computer (running WinXP Pro Sp-2) I noted that all my apps used more RAM - I forget where I've read about this being normal - Windows was recognising that there was more RAM available and not working so hard to release it, I guess. The interesting observation is that this is not the case having doubled my RAM again - memory usage is the same on a per process basis.

I got a bit concerned about the possibility that my computer was only utilizing 1GB of RAM (if you recall, I finally upgraded to 2GB despite conflicting reports about whether or not this was possible) as I was writing this because I was going to observe that I'd yet to see my free RAM drop below 1.2GB. Well... I've got two different versions of PaintShop Pro (9 and X2) running, DrawPlus 8, PagePlus X2, the entire Office 2003 Professional Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, Publisher, Powerpoint), Onenote 2007, OmniPage 16 Pro, PDF Converter 4 Pro, PaperPort 11 Pro, Endnote X, Maxthon 2, SnagIt 8.2 and DOPus running (in addition to other apps in the background such as Clipmate 7.2, SpellCatcher Plus, TextMonkey, Archivarius 3000, NetworkMagic, PS Tray Factory, File-Ex, Spysweepr with AV, Windows Washer, Ad-Muncher, and Process Tamer. I've still got 560MB of RAM free and my computer is as responsive as ever. This alone justifies the price of the RAM upgrade for me

and relieves me of the worry that the extra gig wasn't being utilized!

*Note that I've opened three pictures each in the two PaintShop Pro programs and one document in each of the Office applications and in each of the Scansoft apps. Haven't opened files in the Serif products...

How much RAM do you have on your PC?

How much RAM do you have on your PC?

I'm pretty stinkin' happy about this (and feeling quite smug - not a good sign... doesn't pride come before a fall

?). This would have been IMPOSSIBLE with my former setup.

PS Most of the CPU utilization is split between PagePlus X2 and SnagIt. SnagIt really hits the CPU while you're taking a screenshot with it, I've found.

f0dder · « **Reply #69 on:** October 18, 2007, 09:14 AM »

Darwin: keep in mind that Task Manager's "Available Memory" meter doesn't take into account that it can simply drop filesystem cache... so only having 70 megs "free" isn't a problem if there's several hundred megabytes used for the filesystem cache. And I doubt the "ram optimizers" take this into account...

So you're right, one shouldn't obsess about those numbers. And one should use Process Explorer which has better & more accurate meters than MS taskmgr.

nosh · « **Reply #70 on:** October 18, 2007, 09:31 AM »

#2 = nice to know.

If I'm not mistaken you have a 2GB pagefile. Have you considered disabling it completely to squeeze that little bit more out of your system or do you think you'll hit the 2GB limit occasionally?

Darwin · « **Reply #71 on:** October 18, 2007, 09:38 AM »

Heh, heh, yes - you're right fodder. I used a screencap of TaskManager because I find it easier to read (and assume other readers will as well). I'm less concerned about the amount of RAM free than I am about the "feel" or responsiveness of the computer. I've now had all of the above apps running for 45 minutes and added two more about 10 minutes ago (Photofiltre Studio and RealDraw Pro - each with two images opened) and TM reports that there are 550MB RAM free still... while Process Explorer reveals:

How much RAM do you have on your PC?

How much RAM do you have on your PC?

EDIT:

The main point being that my computer is still as responsive running all of these apps - getting on for 1 hour 30 minutes now - as it was with a gig of RAM and Outlook and Maxthon running by themselves (with the background processes I mentioned running as well).

Nosh - I've considered disabling my paging file but have yet to take the plunge. The computer performs so well that I can't really see the point.

f0dder · « **Reply #72 on:** October 18, 2007, 09:56 AM »

With 2 gigs I haven't bumped into problems running without pagefile - but I don't use photoshop, video editing, or heavy 3D rendering. I do mess a slight bit with paint shop pro, I build projects with visual studio, and play some (even recent) games, though.

Darwin · « **Reply #73 on:** October 18, 2007, 10:10 AM »

With 2 gigs I haven't bumped into problems running without pagefile - but I don't use photoshop, video editing, or heavy 3D rendering. I do mess a slight bit with paint shop pro, I build projects with visual studio, and play some (even recent) games, though.
-f0dder (October 18, 2007, 09:56 AM)

Hmm... sounds like your usage is similar to mine - even a bit more intensive (I don't play any games) - what are the advantages, in your experience, between running with and without a page file?

f0dder · « **Reply #74 on:** October 18, 2007, 05:03 PM »

Darwin: when I was on my 1gig machine, I still felt that windows utilized the pagefile when it didn't need to. Nothing major, but it annoyed me - although with LargeSystemCache=1 and DisablePagingExecutive=1, the speed hit wasn't too bad (it annoyed me, but would probably be hard to benchmark objectively).

There were a few times on 1gig when pagefile was required, but haven't experienced it after going to 2 gigs.

Poll

How much RAM do you have on your PC? (Choose the nearest)

Author Topic: How much RAM do you have on your PC? (Read 72764 times)