Is a memory manager worth the effort?

[Guest]

i have an Intel 4 3.2 GHz, 250MB cache, and 2 GB of RAM. Page File is set to
'suggested' size of ~ 3 GB.

Question: Would purchasing a memory manager be worth my time and money?
Seems like just another program intecepting data traffic, which seems it
would slow down overall performance. But they claim to speed up the PC
performance.

What's the real story?

 

[Poprivet]

i have an Intel 4 3.2 GHz, 250MB cache, and 2 GB of RAM. Page File is
set to 'suggested' size of ~ 3 GB.

Question: Would purchasing a memory manager be worth my time and
money? Seems like just another program intecepting data traffic,
which seems it would slow down overall performance. But they claim to
speed up the PC performance.

What's the real story?

Most of them are just what you said; something else to get in the way and
slow things down. XP is very good at memory management and doesn't need
memory managers. In fact, in some cases they can make things worse than
before they were used.

HTH
Pop`

 

[JS]

Spend your money on something else, it's snake oil.

JS

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

i have an Intel 4 3.2 GHz, 250MB cache, and 2 GB of RAM. Page File is set to
'suggested' size of ~ 3 GB.

Question: Would purchasing a memory manager be worth my time and money?
Seems like just another program intecepting data traffic, which seems it
would slow down overall performance. But they claim to speed up the PC
performance.

What's the real story?

This argument has been going on for at least 3 years that I know of
(when I got my first laptop with 2GB off RAM).

I have read some very good papers on the subject. Most of the
authors seem to think that memory managers are basically snake-oil.

About a month ago a similar thread started, and I basically have
decided that for MY purposes and the way I use my laptop (YMMV), I
have found 2 memory managers that give 'real' world performance
increases. To be honest though, I don't always run them since each
has a quirk that gets in the way of a couple of my resident utilities.

Basically I run my HP Pavilion dv8000z (2GB RAM) with the pagefile
turned completely off. I have one program (PhotoShop) that won't run
without a pagefile. When I have to run Photoshop I turn the pagefile
on. When I am done I turn it back off. To be honest, I don't even
know if newer versions of Photoshop require a pagefile. I am still
using v6.0 (I don't use it often enough to buy and upgrade).

I think you should do like I did, do some 'real' world testing based
on your needs. What makes me more productive the next person may
find to be nothing more than an annoyance.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

"A promise is nothing more than an attempt,
to respond to an unreasonable request."

 

[Rock]

i have an Intel 4 3.2 GHz, 250MB cache, and 2 GB of RAM. Page File is set
to
'suggested' size of ~ 3 GB.

Question: Would purchasing a memory manager be worth my time and money?
Seems like just another program intecepting data traffic, which seems it
would slow down overall performance. But they claim to speed up the PC
performance.

What's the real story?

Don't waste your money or your time even if it's free.

 

[Ron Martell]

This argument has been going on for at least 3 years that I know of
(when I got my first laptop with 2GB off RAM).

I have read some very good papers on the subject. Most of the
authors seem to think that memory managers are basically snake-oil.

About a month ago a similar thread started, and I basically have
decided that for MY purposes and the way I use my laptop (YMMV), I
have found 2 memory managers that give 'real' world performance
increases. To be honest though, I don't always run them since each
has a quirk that gets in the way of a couple of my resident utilities.

Basically I run my HP Pavilion dv8000z (2GB RAM) with the pagefile
turned completely off. I have one program (PhotoShop) that won't run
without a pagefile. When I have to run Photoshop I turn the pagefile
on. When I am done I turn it back off. To be honest, I don't even
know if newer versions of Photoshop require a pagefile. I am still
using v6.0 (I don't use it often enough to buy and upgrade).

I think you should do like I did, do some 'real' world testing based
on your needs. What makes me more productive the next person may
find to be nothing more than an annoyance.

Running with the paging file turned off forces Windows to use actual
RAM addresses for the unused portions of memory allocation requests,
and these can easily add up to several hundred megabytes. For
example on my computer at this moment the total is around 530
megabytes. Task Manager is reporting PF Usage of 620 megabytes and
the current amount of valid memory content that is in the paging file
is 90 mb.

You will find yourself in serious difficutly if you start using
applications that are more memory intensive, working with larger data
files, and/or having more applications open at the same time. Once
your total memory requirements exceed the 2 gb of available RAM you
will be headed for crash city.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

Question: Would purchasing a memory manager be worth my time and money?

No.

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Running with the paging file turned off forces Windows to use actual
RAM addresses for the unused portions of memory allocation requests,
and these can easily add up to several hundred megabytes. For
example on my computer at this moment the total is around 530
megabytes. Task Manager is reporting PF Usage of 620 megabytes and
the current amount of valid memory content that is in the paging file
is 90 mb.

You will find yourself in serious difficutly if you start using
applications that are more memory intensive, working with larger data
files, and/or having more applications open at the same time. Once
your total memory requirements exceed the 2 gb of available RAM you
will be headed for crash city.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Hi Ron,

I work with VERY large database files on a regular basis, and
occasionally will have a 1GB TPS file loaded completely into memory
when I need to do intensive processing of the data. I haven't had
any problem with out of memory errors.

I will agree that on a theoretical level you are probably right. The
thing is that in 'real' world usage ( . . .and I use my computer
anywhere from 12 - 18 hours a day) the configuration I mentioned in
my previous post works well for me. That is why I said to the OP to
test for himself. Generic answers tend to give generic results. If
the computer is an important part of his job, then he needs to
determine what tools and configuration is best for him.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

"A promise is nothing more than an attempt,
to respond to an unreasonable request."

 

[Jim]

Hi Ron,

I work with VERY large database files on a regular basis, and occasionally
will have a 1GB TPS file loaded completely into memory when I need to do
intensive processing of the data. I haven't had any problem with out of
memory errors.

And you should not have trouble loading a 1GB file entirely into RAM if you
have at least
2GB available. And, you should not need a third party solution to
accomplish this task.
Jim

 

[Poprivet]

This argument has been going on for at least 3 years that I know of
(when I got my first laptop with 2GB off RAM).

I have read some very good papers on the subject. Most of the
authors seem to think that memory managers are basically snake-oil.

About a month ago a similar thread started, and I basically have
decided that for MY purposes and the way I use my laptop (YMMV), I
have found 2 memory managers that give 'real' world performance
increases. To be honest though, I don't always run them since each
has a quirk that gets in the way of a couple of my resident utilities.

Basically I run my HP Pavilion dv8000z (2GB RAM) with the pagefile
turned completely off. I have one program (PhotoShop) that won't run
without a pagefile. When I have to run Photoshop I turn the pagefile
on. When I am done I turn it back off. To be honest, I don't even
know if newer versions of Photoshop require a pagefile. I am still
using v6.0 (I don't use it often enough to buy and upgrade).

I think you should do like I did, do some 'real' world testing based
on your needs. What makes me more productive the next person may
find to be nothing more than an annoyance.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

"A promise is nothing more than an attempt,
to respond to an unreasonable request."

Prior to XP and I think 2000, memory managers had some usefulness. XP
however uses an entirely different memory management structure and seldom is
outdone by any 3rd party manger because those functions are already being
done.

If you've found some benefit, good; but that's unusual IMO and isn't going
to be repeatable for many people.

Pop`

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

And you should not have trouble loading a 1GB file entirely into RAM if you
have at least
2GB available. And, you should not need a third party solution to
accomplish this task.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Actually I do need the memory manager, since it is very rare
that I just have 1 file open. With 'just' Windows managing
memory, I need to either have a page file or not as many
applications open. When I need to I run MemMonster, and it
is not an issue.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

"A promise is nothing more than an attempt,
to respond to an unreasonable request."