Vista X64 RAM Query

nemesis01 · 22-04-2009, 13:59

Hello,

I was just wondering, I have 4GB ram installed and using Vista Home Premium X64, in the 'cached' and 'free' boxes the amount of RAM does not quite total 4GB. Is Vista reserving some RAM for other purposes?

Raistlin · 22-04-2009, 14:10

I think Task Manager only includes memory that is available for the Operating System to use as part of the 'Free' and 'Cached' figures.

If you have Physical Memory (shown in the first figure) that is mapped to another device (something like onboard sound/graphics) then it won't be available to the OS and so won't show in either the cached or free totals.

What should actually show there for it to add up and make sense would be:

Total Physical Memory:
Cached:
Mapped to Other Devices:
Free:

Graham M · 22-04-2009, 15:13

The "Cache" section of memory is usually used for frequently used files so that things load quicker, etc. it can be freed up when required so can be counted towards the total free, IE I currently have 3GB of RAM in this system, Nearly 1GB is in use, 2GB is cached and about 200mb is currently free, when required, the cached memory can be emptied and freed up for use.

downquark1 · 22-04-2009, 16:15

The memory being put to use is not counted in cache or free.

Free effectively means empty. And cache means memory that is not being used but is filled with things that COULD be used soon.

Aragorn · 22-04-2009, 16:41

This is what MS say about the three figures

Quote:

Under Physical Memory (MB), Total is the amount of RAM installed on your computer, listed in megabytes (MB). Cached refers to the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources. Free is the amount of memory that is currently unused or does not contain useful information (unlike cached files, which do contain useful information).

Taken from here.
Cached + Free do not have to equal Total

---------- Post added at 16:41 ---------- Previous post was at 16:39 ----------

As a more extreme example, on my Vista 32 system I currently have -
Total - 2038
Cached - 1121
Free - 17

damien c · 23-04-2009, 15:36

here's mine running xp 64 with barely anything running other than essentials

nemesis01 · 25-04-2009, 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by damien c

here's mine running xp 64 with barely anything running other than essentials

I have a backup of my XP 64 which runs with virtually the same amount of RAM usage, I just prefer the Vista interface and that Vista runs faster than XP 64. I rarely need anywhere near 4GB ram these days, don't play games on PC and only time it get's stretched is with DVDRB & CCE encoding which is not very often now.

damien c · 25-04-2009, 21:02

i prefer vista aswell but i have some issue's at the moment with games crashing under vista but all is okay on xp64, i only use my pc now for gameing and watching films on.

25-04-2009, 21:07

I think the whole reason Vista caches a lot of ram is missed by some. Its a good thing it allows programs to load quicker and more efficiently it also free up ram as its needed

nemesis01 · 26-04-2009, 13:13

Personally I love Vista, think it's treated very harshly but that's a whole other topic. Will be installing the RC X64 of Windows 7 later on so will see how that comapres aswell.

damien c · 26-04-2009, 14:06

i think my issue with it was to do with updates on vista but hey im happy with xp for now

but might give vista another try next week if i can be botherd to reload it.

nemesis01 · 26-04-2009, 16:51

I also had problems with updates on Vista, solved most of them by only installing with 2GB of RAM instead of 4GB, downloaded all updates and installed them, plugged in the other 2GB stick and then activated, seemed to be fine that way.