How much ram does your vista notebook use while idle?

if you could please answer the above....

also, if you could mention the gpu you have, that would be nice.

i have a theory that notebooks with integrated gpus will be using more ram on idle than notebooks with dedicated ram b/c it allocates part of the ram all the time for aeroglass. i don't have any data to back this supposition up, so let me hear what you people have to say about it. =)

currently, i'm using a setup that uses around 500 mb of ram on idle, and the notebook has integrated graphics.

 

It's not a theory...It's true. All computers with integrated gpus will use more ram vs dedicated gpu computers because part of the ram is stolen by the gpu (given all other things are exactly even)

 

i know. but usually that ram is stolen when you are doing something that requires some sort of 3d processing, usually not when you are idling. i guess what i'm trying to get at is why is a dedicated gpu actually necessary? my integrated gpu system runs vista flawlessly with all aeroglass features on. but then again, i also have 2 gigs ram so 500 mb is not a huge hit for the basic tasks i am performing. so is the reason a gpu is recommended mostly so that aeroglass is run using the dedicated vram and less is taken from system memory...thus the "strength" of the gpu doesn't matter but the amount of dedicated vram is what counts?

 

I don't think anybody is buying a computer with a dedicated card JUST to run Aero. Typically you have other aspirations. Because, as you pointed out, most current integrated gpus can run Aero w/o incident.

 

teliing the truth, i could care less.

simple fact is that vista is managing ram quite well, more than any other os that i currently use (linux, xp).

Vista truly takes advantage of whatever ram u have and make the most out of it - my motto : ram not used = wasted ram

it is strange that nowadays one should be concerned about the amount of ram usage ("hog") instead of taking in as how the system performs in a whole under certain os

cheers ...

 

I completely agree. If the computer is acting bogged down, then there is cause for concern. Otherwise it is nice that the OS can take advantage of the extra RAM. Well said!

 

Mine used around 550MB on boot. Specs in sig. 1GB is not enough for a good Vista experience.

 

actually, you'd be surprised. this is part of the reason i was wondering this question.....i read many posts in the wsib thread about users who don't do any gaming or any 3d rendering stuff but state that they must have a dedicated gpu to run vista smoothly.

i think the problem is that even on idle the os takes up 500 mb of ram. that means that if you used some sort of program that required lots of ram, then you wouldn't be able to use that extra 500 mb for the tasks that you want to do. true...for most tasks, the ram that vista uses to run isn't a big deal, but for some it could be a problem....especially if you don't have 2 gigs.

 

i do not know much with the math and number, but fact is that whatever u would be doing or how much ram (meeting the minimum requirement first) under vista, its ram management will make sure that u have an overall good performance.

now saying that 500mb at idle is quite misleading. 500mb out of how many? i take a look at my system and i do not see "idle" processes using so & so number of ram, and then would not release it when other app requires. I have not seen vista "hogs" 500mb of ram if u only have 512 or 768 or even 1gb. I currently have 1.5gb and cannot confirm that 500mb idle

So this number of 500mb, if it is correct when u have 2 gigo, then vista is doing well for preparing its cache and services, and to be ready when apps require.

We can argue that less than 2gb is no good for vista - which is not true since i have 1.5 with 64mb gpu dedicated. I would rather say that less than 1gb for vista is sad since one does not take advantage of its ram management, but - comparing between 1gb vista and 1gb xp, vista is still performing much better (if it can ever gets all the drivers in place)

cheers ...

 

Well, I can say that my experiences using 1GB of ram with Vista are not good. 550MB of ram used on boot. Now that would be fair enough, with the pre-cashing. But that EXTRA 500MB of pagefile Vista has decided to use? I dunno what thats for.

Playing BFME2 wasn't bad. Exiting the game was. Bringing Aero back up took up to a minute. About a 58 second increase over XP. I don't know what Vista was doing with my memory, but it wasn't working as well as XP.

 

About 500mb idle with Windows Classic theme and several other services.

I'm running Windows XP Home SP2, optimized by me.

 

huh....i never really checked out my ram usage in xp. i am using 550 on idle. seems like the same. i guess vista isn't as much of a ram hog as i thought.

 

if i can still remember (i don't use vista now) correctly it's 500 mb something....

 

1G ram, when completely idle, I'm in the mid 400 range.

I was surfing with many tabs(opera browser has the thumbnail feature on tabs, like vista's taskbar), suddenly vista told me it was going to change my aero settings for me.

That was nice of vista, but it took me by surprise.

I think 2G would make the experience better. After I shut off glass, the 3d desktop was smoother. I changed my desktop image to a solid color and noticed a bigger difference.

The only peeve I really have, is that there is a delay when changing tabs in opera now. In XP, with thumbnails on tabs enabled, the thumbnails pop up quickly and cycling tabs experiences no delay.

 

UPDATE

I am currently booting and idling between 360-380.

Vista Home Premium HP Notebook 1G RAM integrated go 6150, aero enabled with tweaks

This is with a factory hp/vista install.

 

1GB RAM of which 64MB is shared with the GPU...

 

This is with a browser and about 10 tabs open.

I'll do another one on the next reboot.

I noticed that if you use administrative tools and disable startup items from there, it will help your startup more then with windows defender/tools/software explorer.

YMMV