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    Windows 7 ---> Ram Usage

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by davidkneiber, Nov 12, 2009.

  1. davidkneiber

    davidkneiber Notebook Consultant

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    how much ram does your system use while idle-ing?
    i am running windows 7 and dont pass 1gb on idle.. (currently have 2gb of
    ddr3 onboard)
    is upgrading to 4gb of ram worth 75 dollars? (from 2)
     
    davidkneiber, Nov 12, 2009
    #1
  2. surfasb

    surfasb Titles Shmm-itles

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    ewww. for $75?

    Nope.

    :no:
     
    surfasb, Nov 12, 2009
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  3. DEagleson

    DEagleson Gamer extraordinaire

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    If you have Windows 7 x64 copy then you could upgrade to 4gb, but do you really need it?
    My Windows 7 install on my nettop runs happily with 1,5gb ram.
    (512mb is reserved for my Nvidia Geforce 9400m)
     
    DEagleson, Nov 13, 2009
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  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    My 7 system uses a bit less than 1GB at idle as well. It's maybe half that at boot, but picks up kinda fast. I've never hit my 2GB limit, but if you do consistently, you may want to consider that upgrade.

    Seeing that 2GB DDR3 DIMMs are running about $40 on Newegg, 4GB at $75 isn't a bad deal, assuming you need to replace a 2 x 1GB config to get 2 x 2GB.
     
    Commander Wolf, Nov 13, 2009
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  5. davidkneiber

    davidkneiber Notebook Consultant

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    what i want to know is how much ram is your operating system using (if you currently have 4 gigs of ram installed)
    nevertheless, thanks for the replies
     
    davidkneiber, Nov 13, 2009
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  6. surfasb

    surfasb Titles Shmm-itles

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    I'm at 2.4. But that's with a several programs loaded up...
     
    surfasb, Nov 13, 2009
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  7. hollis_f

    hollis_f Notebook Consultant

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    If you're worried that applications are using all that ram, then don't be. Win7 is like Vista - it thinks it's stupid to spend loads of money on getting masses of ram and then leaving much of it idle most of the time. So it'll take bits of it to try and speed up the operation of your PC. And it's pretty good at using it and giving it up if some app does need to use it.

    My ram gadget shows around 50% of my 4GB is being used most of the time. And that's independant of what's running until I have something that really does chew it up, then it gets up in the 90s.
     
    hollis_f, Nov 13, 2009
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  8. mtneer

    mtneer Notebook Consultant

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    I run at aroud 1 to 1.25 Gigs with Firefox, IM client open. Goes up to 2GB if I open up anything else.
     
    mtneer, Nov 13, 2009
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  9. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    About 1.2 GB when idle... i Use 3GB +++ when i play modern warfare 2 so 4 GB is really needed...
     
    sean473, Nov 13, 2009
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  10. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    ram is made to be used. all of it. all of the time.

    I wouldn't worry about idle ram usage. I *would* worry if you have an application that is PROVEN to grab ram and doesn't properly release it after being shut down.

    Task Manager is worthless for anything other than a 'right now' picture of your system. You need to use a set of monitoring/profiling apps such as those available from www.sysinternals.com.

    So do some long-term recording and profiling of your system memory usage, and then analyze the data. ONLY THEN will you be able to determine if you really have a problem application or if your concerns are being driven by bad data or bad advice or bad assumptions about how windows memory allocations work.
     
    newsposter, Nov 13, 2009
    #10