regarding: Superfetch

I discovered something regarding Superfetch after I turned it off because of the disk thrashing even after several weeks of use. Windows Vista will still use all of your memory depending on how many apps you have running.

So for those that have said I bought memory to have it used and not sit there, believe me it will get used. I have 4GB installed and I was running multiple apps. I watched my memory count go from 325MB on startup loaded into cache to 3.4GB loaded into cache with multiple apps running.

And also Vista will unload memory when it's not used or as apps are closed. After I closed several apps. Vista released 1.5GB of memory albeit much slower. So I think this is a decent trade off if you don't want the disk thrashing. And as far as overall system performance, it's negligible. Programs or pages that take a little longer (1-2 secs) without Superfetch on will reload quicker if you call up that app or page again without a reboot.

I know there are believers and skeptics regarding Superfetch, and I can be counted as the latter.

 

Enough with Superfetch, so did you fix the driver issue yet?

 

That's an excellent observation, whether the applications are preloaded by SF based on your usage pattern, the applications will be loaded by the user in a needed basis using the necessary memory space.

The point is this, for example, any MS Office application will load fast whether SF is on or off, so what is the use?

Now regarding the HDD working less, I have an issue with that, whether SF preload the apps, or you do it manually, why would the HDD continue thrashing? Once you have manually mounted all the apps, shouldn't the HDD thrash?

 

I did a fresh install on (Vostro 1700) another Dell and the error codes appeared after applying SP1 but have not come back since clearing the log. I then did a fresh install on my Vostro 1500 and the error messages did appear shortly after applying SP1. Once I cleared the log they have not come back.

I did not install the Broadcom drivers but instead used the drivers Vista installed initially. Weird !

 

Seems like it's a problem with SP1, and according to google, other Broadcom users are also having similar problem with SP1.

By the way, you should ask Dell to send you an OS disc that has SP1 integrated already, it's better than installing SP1 on top afterward. :yes:

 

MY guess is that Superfetch loops in a learning stage pattern. i.e. "release memory, oh wait I may need that back, never mind release it, no wait that's a high usage app" so on and so on.

I watched Superfetch load 1.7GB into cache on start up. Once I opened certain programs like Media Player it would at times gobble up the remaining unused memory. Once I closed it I would watch, for like 10-15 minutes Superfetch unload and reload memory at a constant rate. At times it was 1.5-2GB. It got really annoying.

As i'm typing, i've closed several apps and Vista dynamically without Superfetch on, has released 2.5GB of memory. I also noticed that prefetch files are no longer created with the service turned off.

Good idea i'll do that Monday or Tuesday. :yes:

 

I don't mind the disk thrashing with Superfetch. Why will one even worry about disk thrashing when busy with other stuff?

 

because they obsess over the long term life of their hard drive.

 

The reason of my words is, that I removed SF but I still see my HDD thrashing, like when I had SF on, no difference, it doesn't bother me, I can't nearly hear it, but my point is that with or without SF, Vista will still interact with the HDD.

 

No because it actually slows down the system when you want to do something else while the hard drive is actually thrashing away.

And with the over hyped Superfetch feature turned off, Windows Vista dynamically uses all available ram anyway and will eventually give it back albeit at a much slower rate with almost no negligible performance hit.

 

HD life is one of the common arguments i saw in the big superfetch thread, though maybe not everyone said it.

when the HD is "thrashing away", i haven't noticed much of a slow down. when i disabled superfetch, i thought i didn't notice any slow down in loading applications, until 2 days later when i opened open office and gimp. it took about three times as long to open as it did before.
turned superfetch on, and those programs opened up almost instantly, while performance while "thrashing" wasn't hurt much at all.

i suppose i'm one of the few who disabled superfetch, but went back.

 

I have superfetch active since it's an integral part of Vista. I also have speedboost activated. I figure why disable a service where in the long run will make your system faster. I too notice that turning off superfetch the HDD still thrashed around. Oh well.