The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Question regarding Vista RAM usage and upgrade...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by audioslave84, Jan 14, 2008.

  1. audioslave84

    audioslave84 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have a CPU gauge on the sidebar that monitors cpu and ram usage. The RAM meter is almost always using at least 50% of RAM. It varies from 40% to 70%, obviously depending on what I'm doing. When at idle, the RAM is still around 50% usage. I have 2 GB which was shipped with the laptop and is the recommended minimum for Vista. It seems to me that using 700 Mb to 1 Gb is rather much when at idle. Does Vista by nature just use more RAM doing regular jobs? Also, my computer is capable of upgrading to 4 Mb of RAM, and I have 2 slots for it. I feel like my next question is too obvious, but I'm going to play dumb and ask it anyway... Would I see Vista run smoother by installing a 2 Gb card in one of the slots, making the total RAM 3 Mb? Also, does Ready Boost really give that extra 'Boost'?

    I appreciatte the help!

    L8R
     
    audioslave84, Jan 14, 2008
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    I don't use Vista so I can say much about Vista memory usage, but I do know that ReadyBoost is not a terribly mature technology and does not offer significant performance gains at the moment.
     
    Commander Wolf, Jan 14, 2008
    #2
  3. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I noticed a nice increase going to 3GB from 2GB, same with my brother, with Vista.
     
    goofball, Jan 14, 2008
    #3
  4. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    7,101
    Messages:
    5,757
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    That opinion seems to be shared by many Vista users who post on this site. As to OP question of is this high usage at idle normal yes it is designed that way. Unused RAM does you no good until it is used. Vista keeps more in RAM than previous OS (MS), if something is already in RAM the system will function faster than if it has to get it and put in RAM. You don't say you are hitting the pagefile ever, that is the only downside of using too much RAM (really not having enough) because Vista does this by design it also frees up RAM for other applications when it determines needed. In older OS high RAM usage is a problem because it indicates to run the basics, X amount of RAM is needed so it indicates not enough RAM not with Vista. If you get 3GB's the amount of RAM Vista will take will increase but the % of the total will likely drop. It is by design, "unused RAM does you no good". People like 3GB but if you are not experiencing problems other than your meter you are fine. ;)
     
    powerpack, Jan 14, 2008
    #4