How much RAM does XP typically use?

I'm kinda wondering because my RAM usage is quite high. 500mb at startup with just the minimal programs loaded. With just a few more programs open like iTunes, MSN, FireFox, Steam, it shoots up to about 800 - 900mb. Seems quite close to Vista's RAM usage.

 

Typically after a fresh install and after all drivers are installed you'll be looking at 125MB. That numbers goes up when you install programs like AV, Spyware etc.

What you'll need to do is bring up task manager and see how many processes are active and look for the culprit. My guess is, it's Steam as it defaults to startup when you boot Windows and is a memory hog. Check for that.

 

new laptops are usually full of bloatware that runs at about 500MB after startup. That's what mine was running before, with none of my programs loaded. We have Dell Latitude D630 that runs at about 550MB as it came from Dell.

now after a clean install and all my software on mine, I boot up right at about 375MB. Clean windows with drivers only is about 3 times less, depending on how much hardwere you have on your machine

 

I closed Steam before checking my RAM usage.

Also, I opened up the Task Manager but the memory usage of all the programs only account for about half of the RAM usage. There's about 300 - 400mb of RAM being used but isn't shown under the Processes tab.

And no, there is no bloatware on my computer because I installed XP myself.

 

Right now my system is using 700MB physical memory & 600MB virtual memory.

That's with similar programs running as yourself, less Steam, but plus some memory resident interface-prettifying junk.

If you have 2GB or more of RAM I wouldn't be too concerned. You might as well use the RAM you paid for, right? .

(I believe Rodknee is right, 125MB sounds pretty typical of a clean system. )

 

what is Steam ?

 

A copy protection method also known as DRM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(content_delivery)

 

Mmm...well I know that I have more than enough RAM. I'm just curious as to what's hogging up all my RAM because I have no bloatware and none of the active processes are hogging them up. I just want to know that the RAM is actually being put to use rather than just disapearing away.

 

Press Ctrl + Alt + Del for the 'Task Manager' and it will state the programs using the memory under the 'Processes' tab.

Typically, my computer uses 500-550 MB max.

 

To play games such as Counter Strike, TF2, Portal, etc.

 

Speaking about RAM, this is on Medion laptops:
My mother's laptop needed about 140 or 150 MB on XP home

Mine on XP Professional wouldn't run with less than 350MB

But: I think the more RAM you put into it, the more of it will be used...

Under Vista - my SZ is generally around 1 GB and my mother's Medion is aroung 800MB...

 

It depends on how much you have. The more you have the more liberal the OS will be with handing out the RAM. My first XP computer had 256 MB of RAM. My work computer until recently only had 512MB of RAM. Thankfully I got a new laptop for work with 2 GB of RAM.

 

What type of anti-virus/firewall are you using? Those can take up a lot of RAM - my RAM usage at startup falls from about 350 MB to about 250 MB when I disable my anti-virus. My guess would be the security software is the cause of the high RAM usage.

Other than that, check for stuff in the System Tray (the icons by the clock) - some software starts up there automatically when it really isn't necessary, probably most notoriously QuickTime. You can go to msconfig (type it in under Run) and disable unnecessary programs in the Services and Startup tabs to lessen initial RAM usage as well. Most items that aren't Microsoft or nVIDIA can be safely disabled, but it is advisable to at least know what they are before disabling them.

On a fresh install of XP Home SP2 with drivers needed to actually have functionality I got just below 200 MB of RAM at startup with 2 GB installed. XP SP3 might be a bit higher than that, but I know it can be below 250 MB as I just got that yesterday. I've never actually seen XP use 500 MB on startup, and as you've got a MBP it certainly isn't bloatware, so your RAM usage does seem unusually high.

 

Usage of RAM is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're running out and your computer has low resources to cache files, then you're in trouble.

With an nLited XP32SP2...it shows 68MB of RAM usage and now mine is 156MB after installing drivers, FF, windows updates, NOD32 AV/Firewall.

 

my system idles with 140 mb of memory used in XP
When I load World Community Grid, the memory usage jumps to arouns 1200-1600mb used.

K-TRON

 

. current at 470mb, ff with many tabs, 7 active background apps.
. personally i dont pay attention as to how much ram OS is using, as long as i dont experience performance lags, it is the last thing that i pay attention to

cheers ...

 

Yeah same. I am at around 490ish. I think there's a max/optimal amount that XP grabs for its performance regardless whether it uses it all at once or not (vista grabs even more); likely 500megs. It's irrelevant how much is used unless XP/the OS doesn't hand the RAM off when other things need it.