Is my system memory usage within normal boundaries?

Truckerlb

Truckerlb

Truckerlb

Associate
Joined
15 Dec 2008
Posts
21
Hi all,

I was hoping to employ the talents of people with more computer knowledge than myself!

I've just spent the last couple of hours reading forums/searching the internet and tidying up my computer. I've removed unwanted programs, configured start-up processes, tweaked my Kaspersky settings etc. all in the hope of reducing my physical memory usage, because it seemed to be running a little high in the task manager.

However, as I'm no expert, it's difficult to know what to look out for, or whether my current system (see signature) is performing within the norm. Therefore, I was wondering whether you might be so kind as to cast your eye over these screenies and let me know if anything stands out?

Image 1/
Image 2
Image 3


Thanks

LB
 
So there was nothing in the images which you would consider out of the ordinary? or could be improved?

I'm sure what you said is true, but surely wasted memory is also using it on processes you don't need/want? W7 is indeed excellent, but I would rather it didn't run my phone sync app when I rarely connect my phone to this computer, hence the process tidy up. I also want to make sure that all my games are given the best chance they possibly can, and if that means destroying anything unecessary which could possibly hinder their performance, then I'm game (excuse the punn!) :)
 
That usage is perfectly fine. Windows 7 is very advanced at memory management and it will commit chunks of free RAM via various new technologies in Windows such as Superfetch to speed up common software load times and things.

As above, unused (or a better term, un-utilised) RAM is wasted RAM.

The more RAM you have the more resourceful Windows will be.
 
Task manager as well as the resource monitor aren't particularly the best tools to use when you're after a concrete answer when it comes to the physical memory utilisation of the system. A better tool to use would be one from Sysinternals called RAMMap. It will give you a much more in-depth view into how physical memory is being used. Once RAMMap is running, click on the 'Use Counts' tab which will display the type of memory and how much is on each of the paging lists.

Edited...
 
Last edited:
His usage is perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary so looking into it with such pixel precision isn't really commanded in this instance :)
 
mrk said:
His usage is perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary so looking into it with such pixel precision isn't really commanded in this instance :)
Click to expand...

Taking a look at the processes which he has running and given the information which we have, doesn't 1.8GB seem a little high? I just thought it would be worth getting a slightly more in-depth view into how the physical memory on his system is actually being used. Sorry, I forgot to add that to my previous post. :)
 
Last edited:
Yup with 4+GB of RAM about 2GB cached with a large portion of the remainder committed is perfectly normal and expected. There has not been a single workstation yet that I've seen where this trend has not been the norm.
 
Seems fine to me. The more RAM you have the more windows will utilise. I have 4GB ram and it only uses 950MB at idle after startup. My mum has 2GB ram and it only uses about 700MB. My brother has 8GB and it uses 2GB. This was observed after fairly fresh installs.
 
memusegadget.jpg


:p
 
You mentioned "running the phone sync app" on startup. You could try to disable anything you don't need - but always make a note of what you do in case you need to undo it.

For example, use msinfo to see what starts when the computer starts. You can also view the Services and set the phone app one to manual startup. use "services.msc" and set ny you don't need to manual.
 
ShakenNstirred said:
1.8gb isnt high and he does have 6gb to play with and as said whats the point of having lots of ram there never doing anything
Click to expand...

I agree you would want as much of the physical memory of the system to be used in a way which is going to improve the performance of the system. The 'Memory' graph which is displayed under the 'Performance' tab in task manager though is representing the amount of memory which is assigned to processes i.e. working sets, plus how much memory is sitting on the modified page list. Pages on the modified page list have to be written to disk before they can be re-purposed and therefore don't contribute towards 'Available' memory.

The paging list which you would like to be populated with as much memory as possible is the standby page list, which represents cached data. As of Windows Vista, SuperFetch is going to be responsible for pro-actively populating the standby page list. It is one of the paging lists which make up the 'Cached' value you see under the 'Physical Memory (KB)' heading in task manager. It also includes pages on the modified page list. If you would like to see how much memory is on the standby page list alone, if you open up the resource monitor and select the 'Memory' tab, the information will be shown there. Alternatively, you could use a tool like Process Explorer or RAMMap.

mrk said:
Yup with 4+GB of RAM about 2GB cached with a large portion of the remainder committed is perfectly normal and expected.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by committed in relation to this thread?

mrk said:
There has not been a single workstation yet that I've seen where this trend has not been the norm.
Click to expand...

asim18 said:
Seems fine to me. The more RAM you have the more windows will utilise.

*Snip*
Click to expand...

I guess what I am interested in is seeing how the physical memory of the system is being allocated as you increase it. :)
 
Last edited:
My system has 12GB of RAM and after start up I am sat at about 2GB in use give or take a bit I would not worry about it to be honest. Windows 7 is light years ahead of XP in terms of memory management (not to mention everything else) if you have a decent amount of RAM then don't worry about it.

Stoner81.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom