Vista/XP Memory Usage

Hi,
Sorry to add to the pool of Vista/XP questions again, but I do a lot of composing and sampling on my computer, and seeing as instrument samples take up huge amounts of MEMORY, I need as much memory as I can get.

How do Vista/XP compare in terms of memory usage?

 

Vista has better memory management. Unused ram becomes a dynamic cache to speed your system up.

In terms of RAM usage, (Vista) the OS itself use up a little bit more resource than XP.

 

You may be confusing "memory" (RAM) with hard drive space. Do you mean that the samples have very large file sizes? If so, get a large hard drive. Vista takes up more hard drive space than XP, but not that much more...and in the grand scheme of things you should have plenty.

If you are talking about the software that does the sampling, then as long as you get 2gb + you should be good with either XP or Vista.

 

No, I know what I'm talking about - RAM. Random Access Memory.

Right now, on my desktop with 2GB memory and XP, I can't even load up a piano sample from my hard drive because I don't have enough memory.

The laptop I'm looking at has 4GB, so

 

A full install of XP Pro takes roughly 2.5GB. A full install of Vista x64 Ultimate takes approximately 14GB. Not that much more, you say? 8GB of that is just WinSxS.

Vista also uses more RAM. Again, people are distracted by Superfetch. There is a separate number in Task Manager for Superfetch, it says 'Cached' memory. The *bar* tho, indicating RAM in use, is really "in use" and not cached. When Vista says it's using 1.06GB of RAM, it's really USING 1.06GB of RAM. That's not Superfetch caching, and the actual service for Superfetch is pretty small.

Vista seems to page out more if it's run under low RAM conditions, but it's still using an abnormal amount of memory. XP32 can fit in around 110MB or so, while Vista x32 on the same rig may use 400MB. Again, NOT Superfetch, but actual used RAM.

Vista thrives on big memory. Under 2GB I'm not sure I can strongly recommend it. Over 4GB, I have a hard time NOT recommending it. XP64 can work, but for a decent rig these days, Vista x64 is perfect.

 

You really need to word things differently because it seems like you keep talking about hard disk space

 

Would you people please freaking stop with the semantics and answer the question - it's Random Access MEMORY, so I say MEMORY, and since you ALL KNOW what I MEAN, at least I hope so, by NOW, there's no point in discussing the terminology I use any further.

 

If 2gb and XP is giving you that hard of a time with memory consumption, then 4gb with Vista or XP should be much better. But I have to ask, what do you have running in the background? Or, can you post a screenshot of this software in the Task Manager that is eating so much RAM?

Also, please do not berate the people trying to help. If this is a time pressing issue, people may need more information to solve it faster.

 

I can't provide a screenshot because once I try to load the Piano sample and the memory starts to get full, everything gets EXTREMELY slow.

It's EastWest Quantum Leap Colossus's piano sample.

Well, I'm wondering if Vista or XP would have a significant difference in memory usage, enough to nullify me getting another 2gigs (although technically another ONE GIG, since both in 32bit can only read 3gigs).

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul05/articles/colossus.htm

According to that, it shouldn't require much to run. Maybe your hard drive is on its last leg? Though it is apparently light on resources, it is absolutely HUGE at 32GB. Therefore, if your HD is fragmented or even failing, that could have a major impact on performance of such a large program.

 

Or it could be his processor. Two gigs of RAM is usually enough for most apps these days, though, admittedly, that's slowly changing....

 

No, I have FreeRAM XP Pro installed on my computer, and it keeps a RAM counter in my tray, and as I load up the Piano sample, I can slowly see the counter going down till it hits zero and so on and so forth.

The app/sampler (Kompakt/Kontakt 3) itself will run, its a matter of loading samples into RAM.

 

it shouldn't use up that much ram, must be the program. must have some dodgey coding xD

 

It really has to be bad coding. I had the same problem with "Art Vista Acoustic Grand", if I as much as touched the sample quality controls and/or the polyphony settings RAM usage always went thru the roof. Touch that part of the program and RAM usage shoots up to 100% in a few seconds. That can't be normal.

 

How much RAM do you have available before loading samples? Did you mess with Windows Virtual Memory settings? If you don't have a pagefile, you should change the setting to allow Windows to manage Virtual Memory.

It is just hard to fathom that one program would gobble up 2gb of RAM. Wackydude could be right about dodgy coding. Either way I'd definitely go wtih 4gb. Why not go with Vista x64, and 4+ gigs?

 

My dad's company laptop had vista and 8 gigs of ram (yes they gave him 8)
and i honestly can't say he used more than half of it.

I took one 4 gig stick so i can have 6 gigs on my laptop, and he now has 3.
we don't see much a performance difference.
same with xp, i think

 

It's probably not a RAM problem but a pagefile size one. When I limited my pagefile size and loaded CS3 it said that I needed more memory but in fact it was the pagefile that was affecting the program.

 

Well I can load other samples - Clarinets, Trumpets, yada yada - just fine, just that the Piano sample is honking huge. And of course, if I load up too many of the smaller samples I also freeze.

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In the past I have found 2 gig or above of ram for basic computer needs is sufficient for Home Basic, Premium and Business Vista users.

 

My dad's laptop is running Vista with only 1GB and it's fine enough for what he does. Of course 2 is better though . Most pre-build computers are coming with 3 or 4 right now.

 

Yes... I had one gig for quite a while I only really use my laptop for uni, which did me fine. But I got into photo and video editing so I need a little more boost.
It makes me wonder because minimum specs for Vista basic is 512mb of ram.... WHAT THE!

 

Vista 64bit is a RAM monster. I have been fine on 1GB in XP Pro on one of my laptops. After deciding to try vista, the OS wouldn't work on 1GB, could not even use firefox. Now it has 2Gb with over 50% load most of time!