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    Dell vostro, 1gb memory[vista business] used with nothing running!

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Macpod, Feb 17, 2008.

  1. Macpod

    Macpod Connoisseur

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    Just got my vostro 1500 with 8600GT, system process says that 1gb of ram has been used and nothing is running in the background apart from MSN, skype, Dell stuff and norton security centre.

    Does this have anything to do with turbocache? or is this normal for vista? this is more than double what XP uses.

    I thought about doing a clean install with the vista media dell provided, but if i wont gain much more memory then its probably not worth it.

    thoughts?
     
    Macpod, Feb 17, 2008
    #1
  2. cvx5832

    cvx5832 Notebook Evangelist

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    cvx5832, Feb 17, 2008
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  3. TonyZ

    TonyZ Notebook Evangelist

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    pretty normal, when I turn the laptop on I have around 900mb - 1GB used up. Even when I turn everything I don't use off like MSN, printer connections, etc...

    BUT after I have done all that and I play Counter Strike Source, when I exit after playing, I find that only 650-700mb of RAM is being used. I believe memory frees up after a while if its not needed
     
    TonyZ, Feb 17, 2008
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  4. ValkyrieLenneth

    ValkyrieLenneth Notebook Evangelist

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    Superfetch, i have 4GB and only 17MB free .. haha
     
    ValkyrieLenneth, Feb 17, 2008
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  5. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    You don't want to have free ram. Its a dumb concept. You want load as much as you can into the ram, programs it thinks you will launch based on your past history so in the chance you do launch them, they will load faster. Else you are just wasting that extra ram you paid for. Why not put it to use?
     
    nizzy1115, Feb 17, 2008
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  6. SteveJonesy

    SteveJonesy Notebook Evangelist

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    Yup - free RAM is wasted RAM ;)
     
    SteveJonesy, Feb 17, 2008
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  7. esqrkim

    esqrkim Notebook Enthusiast

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    That's of course, if you do not need that free space for some other application that is RAM intensive.

    Going back to the original question about an idle laptop taking up 1GB: I have heard from everywhere that the Vista OS eats up about 1GB of RAM. As a result, they recommend minimum of 2GB if you are running Vista.
     
    esqrkim, Feb 17, 2008
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  8. Macpod

    Macpod Connoisseur

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    i see. so 1 gb is normal, thats what i was after.

    I routinely use up 4 gb of ram under XP working with high res banner size prints so i need all the free ram i can get. i should have made that clear. i understand ram issue is not as relevent for average users....

    hmm............xp SP3.......
     
    Macpod, Feb 17, 2008
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  9. SteveJonesy

    SteveJonesy Notebook Evangelist

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    And if it does Windows will discard the data its prefetched into the RAM and allow the application to have whatever it needs until you run out of RAM. Then when the RAM is free again Superfetch will move cache data back to the RAM. It's not permanently used - just storing maybe-useful data for quick access while the RAM isn't needed for anything else.
     
    SteveJonesy, Feb 17, 2008
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  10. Bowlerguy92

    Bowlerguy92 Notebook Deity

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    Currently my computer is only using 1306 megs of ram out of my total 3069.
     
    Bowlerguy92, Feb 17, 2008
    #10