memory question

[Schemer]

Hello,

Dell Inspiron 5150. WinXP sp2.
Control Panel->System shows 2gb of RAM.

However, in the Task Manager Perforamnce tab, Physical Memory looks like
this:
Total 2096488
Available 1327840
System Cache 1534424

The Available amount rarely drops below 1300000.
Does this mean only a small portion of the 2gb is being used for
applications?
(I'm compiling two different projects right now.)

Is there a way optimise memory usage?

TIA for suggestions.

 

[VanguardLH]

Hello,

Dell Inspiron 5150. WinXP sp2.
Control Panel->System shows 2gb of RAM.

However, in the Task Manager Perforamnce tab, Physical Memory looks
like this:
Total 2096488
Available 1327840
System Cache 1534424

The Available amount rarely drops below 1300000.
Does this mean only a small portion of the 2gb is being used for
applications?
(I'm compiling two different projects right now.)

Is there a way optimise memory usage?

It means the applications that you have loaded don't need more memory.
Just because your sink holds so many gallons of water doesn't mean you
need to fill it to the brim when washing dishes.

The apps will request a minimum memory size (to even run) and a
maximum size. They will also still use pagefile space because a large
percentage of their program isn't need at the time and can be paged
in. That's how the app was coded. If every app loaded into physical
memory everything then needed regardless of how little they needed it
then you would run out of memory in probably just one app.

Read http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm.