Physical Memory...

[cj]

I have on 512 mbs of DDR ram on my computer and my system
runs at approx 374 mb of available physical memory. Is
the above normal and if not is their a way of increasing
the available memory?

 

[Paul B T Hodges]

Hey CJ,

If you are quoting the Available Memory from the Task Manager/Performance
Screen, that is Available Now, memory which is currently not in use. The
difference between the total and available figures is the amount of memory
currently being used by windows xp and programs.

Paul

 

[Guest]

That sounds about average for xp. Check and see if your
computer has an open slot for more memory. Make sure your
graphics card has its own "on board" memory and
not "shared" with your computer. If you really want to
free up memory go to Black Vipers web site
www.blkviper.com and check out his XP Services section.

 

[Guest]

also check to see how many programs are set to start with
Windows. Most do not need to always be running in the
background and taking up memory.

 

[Nick Burns]

512 is plenty..! of ram, why free up more, you already have 374 megs not
doing anything.

 

[Ron Martell]

I have on 512 mbs of DDR ram on my computer and my system
runs at approx 374 mb of available physical memory. Is
the above normal and if not is their a way of increasing
the available memory?

I agree with Nick Burns.

"Available Physical Memory" should be more accurately described as
*Useless* Physical Memory because that is what it actually represents
- memory for which Windows has so far been totally unable to find any
potentially beneficial use for.

In other words, this is a healthy condition. Your computer is running
quite comfortably with the present amount of RAM and you should be
able to run additional applications without the performance being
seriously affected because of shortages of physical 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."

 

[Paul B T Hodges]

Hey Ron,

I'm afraid I have to disagree with the term *useless*, I think its
misleading. Is the money in your bank account useless, because you haven't
spent it yet ? No, its money which is *available* to spend in the future.

Useless implies it would never get used, and you've wasted your money buying
it. It'll get used by the system cache, if nothing else.

Paul

 

[Ron Martell]

Hey Ron,

I'm afraid I have to disagree with the term *useless*, I think its
misleading. Is the money in your bank account useless, because you haven't
spent it yet ? No, its money which is *available* to spend in the future.

Useless implies it would never get used, and you've wasted your money buying
it. It'll get used by the system cache, if nothing else.

You may have a point.

I use the "useless memory" reference mostly to counteract the mistaken
impression that there is some virtue or value in having a substantial
amount of unused RAM in the computer.

This is the bogus philosophy expounded by the "snake oil" type memory
freeing progroms such as MemTurbo, CacheMan, and a myriad of others,
and I always try to counteract any assertions about the purported
value of having free memory.


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."

 

[Paul B T Hodges]

Hey Ron,

I'm with you all the way on those memory freeing programs. Complete waste of
money.
They do more harm than good, paging out required items in order to create a
false impression of the amount of available memory, only for xp to have to
page it back in, costing addtional cpu and i/o usage.

Paul