memory available in windows xp

[Guest]

How can I determine how much memory is available while running windows xp?

 

[Jerry]

Ctrl-Alt-Del which will open Windows Task Manager and select the Performance
tab.

 

[Guest]

That is slick. Thank you for your help.
Roberto

Ctrl-Alt-Del which will open Windows Task Manager and select the Performance
tab.

 

[Ron Martell]

How can I determine how much memory is available while running windows xp?

Do not place undo importance on the available memory figure that is
reported in Task Manager.

By design, Windows will always attempt to find some use, anything
whatever no matter how inconsequential, for every bit of the installed
memory rather than letting the memory sit there unused and going to
rot.

The most important memory related figure in terms of assessing
performance, at least in my opinion, is not even reported by Task
Manager. That is the figure for how much active memory content has
been relocated from RAM to the Page File so as to allow that RAM to be
used for other, currently more important tasks.

To check on this value get the free utility written by MVP Bill James
from http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm or from
http://billsway.com/notes_public/WinXP_Tweaks/

If that utility reports more than 40 mb of actual page file usage on a
regular basis then that is indicative of a significant level of paging
activity. Adding more RAM will reduce or maybe even eliminate, this
paging thereby improving overall performance.

Hope this is of some assistance.

Good luck



Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Guest]

Ron,
Thanks for your reply.
I installed that Pagefile Usage Program but I'm not sure of the
signification of the details reported.
I have 512MB RAM installed and and the program reports: Current usage 61MB,
Session peak usage 62MB, and Current pagefile size 768MB. This is when I am
on-line and my email open.
Is this a good or bad situation?
Thanks,
rschmitt

 

[Ron Martell]

Ron,
Thanks for your reply.
I installed that Pagefile Usage Program but I'm not sure of the
signification of the details reported.
I have 512MB RAM installed and and the program reports: Current usage 61MB,
Session peak usage 62MB, and Current pagefile size 768MB. This is when I am
on-line and my email open.
Is this a good or bad situation?
Thanks,
rschmitt

The report says that you had 62 mb of active memory content that had
been relocated from RAM to the pagefile so as to allow that RAM to be
used for other, more important tasks.

That figure (62 mb) is just slightly above the level at which I would
expect that a memory upgrade is going to provide some noticeable
improvements in overall performance because of the reduction in paging
file activity.

So I would suggest that you continue to check on the page file usage
periodically and if it starts to move up from these values then it is
definitely time to consider adding more RAM.

Your current page file size of 768 mb indicates to me that you
probably have that figure specified as the minimum size. I would
think that a minimum size of 150 to 200 mb would be more realistic
unless you have more than amount of RAM and you want to have the "full
memory dump" option available for system failure class errors. In
that case your pagefile minimum must be slightly larger than the total
installed RAM.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Alex Nichol]

How can I determine how much memory is available while running windows xp?

XP attempts to keep *all* of RAM in use - however trivially - at all
times. Measures like Task Manager's 'available Physical memory' are
misleading; it should be 'RAM for which there currently no conceivable
use'. Trivial uses - eg caching old files or code after program exit,
just in case it is wanted, will be dropped instantly when a real use
arises. Read more at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm - especially in How
big a page file, to see if more RAM *could* have benefit in *your* work
load

 

[Alex Nichol]

How can I determine how much memory is available while running windows xp?

Windows is trying to use all of RAM for something at all times - trivial
uses will drop the moment something more important turns up. So expect
it all to be in use. Measures of 'available physical memory' are
misleading - should be 'RAM for which currently there is no conceivable
use'.

What matters is if there is actual overflow into the page file. Go to
www.dougknox.com and in the XP utilities get the page file monitor. Run
it when you have been loaded up as far as normal, and see - if there is
more than 50 MB or so actual use (there is always a little by way of
precaution) then more RAM might help, though I would want more use than
that before spending on it

 

[Guest]

Ron,
Thanks for your detailed explanation pagefile and Ram.
rschmitt

 

[Guest]

Alex'
Thank you for your insight into the use of pagefile and windows use of RAM.
rschmitt

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi Ron,

You and I had a thread about RAM and pagefile.sys about 2 years ago
.. . . to be honest I am still confused. I am running 2GB of RAM on
my HP Pavilion zd7010us laptop. I have the pagefile set to be
managed by Windows. When I run the pagefile program, it reports:

Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 53 MB
Session Peak Usage: 84 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 1536 MB

Why with the amount of RAM that I have is this occurring? I do have
a lot of utilities in the system tray, but when I add up there
usage, they only account for 108MB of RAM used. When I get the
previously detailed report, the only applications I have running are
Mozilla (browser & e-mail client) and jetAudio.

With as much RAM as I have, why isn't everything in RAM? Why is
there a need to put anything in the pagefile?

A couple of years ago, you told me that I should use the pagefile
rather than just do everything in RAM. I'm again beginning to wonder
if that is the best way to go. I haven't turned off the pagefile
since I got the extra 1GB of RAM, but I might give it a go to see
what kind of performance I get.

You told me that RAM managers are snake oil. When I used them with
1GB of RAM, I noticed a performance increase (unfortunately I also
noticed more unexplained crashes).

I am probably wrong, but it seems to me that there *should* be a way
to get the maximum usage of my RAM.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

That which a man buys too cheaply . . .
He esteems too lightly

The report says that you had 62 mb of active memory content that had
been relocated from RAM to the pagefile so as to allow that RAM to be
used for other, more important tasks.

That figure (62 mb) is just slightly above the level at which I would
expect that a memory upgrade is going to provide some noticeable
improvements in overall performance because of the reduction in paging
file activity.

So I would suggest that you continue to check on the page file usage
periodically and if it starts to move up from these values then it is
definitely time to consider adding more RAM.

Your current page file size of 768 mb indicates to me that you
probably have that figure specified as the minimum size. I would
think that a minimum size of 150 to 200 mb would be more realistic
unless you have more than amount of RAM and you want to have the "full
memory dump" option available for system failure class errors. In
that case your pagefile minimum must be slightly larger than the total
installed RAM.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

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[Ron Martell]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi Ron,

You and I had a thread about RAM and pagefile.sys about 2 years ago
. . . to be honest I am still confused. I am running 2GB of RAM on
my HP Pavilion zd7010us laptop. I have the pagefile set to be
managed by Windows. When I run the pagefile program, it reports:

Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 53 MB
Session Peak Usage: 84 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 1536 MB

Why with the amount of RAM that I have is this occurring? I do have
a lot of utilities in the system tray, but when I add up there
usage, they only account for 108MB of RAM used. When I get the
previously detailed report, the only applications I have running are
Mozilla (browser & e-mail client) and jetAudio.

With as much RAM as I have, why isn't everything in RAM? Why is
there a need to put anything in the pagefile?

A couple of years ago, you told me that I should use the pagefile
rather than just do everything in RAM. I'm again beginning to wonder
if that is the best way to go. I haven't turned off the pagefile
since I got the extra 1GB of RAM, but I might give it a go to see
what kind of performance I get.

You told me that RAM managers are snake oil. When I used them with
1GB of RAM, I noticed a performance increase (unfortunately I also
noticed more unexplained crashes).

I am probably wrong, but it seems to me that there *should* be a way
to get the maximum usage of my RAM.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

Hi Joseph.

That 53 mb of actual pagefile usage is probably just "housekeeping"
stuff - mostly Windows components that are loaded at startup and which
are kept in RAM because there is some possibility that they could be
used again, but which in reality very seldom are.

When you incur a momentary peak in memory usage for any reason the
memory manager will assess the need to either drop some items from
RAM, such as the code from recently closed applications (which it
tries to retain if possible because experience has shown that closed
applications are very frequently launched again) and/or by recucing
the size of the disk cache. It might also be possible to move some
totally inactive components from RAM to the pagefile, especially if
they have not been used at all since the computer started up. That
latter item is what I suspect is happening on your computer. And
unless those items are somehow needed again there is zero harm in
having them in the pagefile.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."