[Slikkie]

Hey there,

I just installed a fresh copy of Vista Ultimate onto my PC. The first thing I noticed was that it uses up a significant amount of available physical memory, as well as CPU usage. I have 1GB memory on my PC, with a 128MB Graphics card that uses shared memory. Even on idle, with only the sidebar active, Vista consumes 60% of my RAM, with Aero turned off. If I turn it on, the usage increases to 70%. There is no way that I will be able to play any games if the OS alone demands so much RAM. Why is Vista using so much memory? What can I do to lower it a bit? I definitely don't want to revert back to XP after I've seen the eye candy that Vista has to offer.

Thanks in advance,
Slikkie

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Feed it more memory. 60% memory usage on a 1Gb memory is not unusual. Bear in mind Microsoft recommend 512Mb is a minimum (which is usable for people with the patience of a saint...)

[Neil Jones]

Feed it more memory. 60% memory usage on a 1Gb memory is not unusual. Bear in mind Microsoft recommend 512Mb is a minimum (which is usable for people with the patience of a saint...)

[Slikkie]

I'm actually thinking about buying an extra 1GB chip or so, but is that the only option? Is it possible for Vista to put so much strain on your RAM that it can break it?

Slikkie

[fstech]

Exactly what Neil has said. If I were you I'd put another GB of RAM in.

edit* you've got good timing btw, since your reply came as I was typing this message. I would say it is the only option. Vista won't break the ram, just make your computer like molasses in January without enough RAM.

Edited by fstech, 20 December 2007 - 03:59 PM.

[Slikkie]

Good to know that it won't actually break the RAM. Perhaps I should buy another gig and report back afterwards. Quick off topic question - What does break your RAM?

[PsychPosse]

My Vista Ultimate idles @ 32% (average) which is about 1GB of RAM
This is normal for Vista, there are some disucssion topics on it somewhere here.

Since you have Ultimate, which is the multimedia version, I would really suggest you cram the maximum RAM (4GB) in for best results.

I do play one game: OFP (Operation Flashpoint) which plays quite nicely on my laptop. (Vista Ultimate 64 Bit Intel Duo T7500 (2.2GB)17" Screen 4GB DDR2 memory (2DIMM) 511 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600m GS 320 GB Dual HD)

[fstech]

Good to know that it won't actually break the RAM. Perhaps I should buy another gig and report back afterwards. Quick off topic question - What does break your RAM?

RAM that breaks is ram that produces a lot of errors and bsod's. Usually not because an operating system was over using it but because it overheated or was cheap ram.

[Slikkie]

I couldn't resist the temptation and bought myself another 1GB of DDR2 667 RAM today. I must say, the performance improved quite a lot, and my memory usage is now at only 30%. It seems 1GB just isn't enough for Vista if you use alot of media and play games that require large amounts of memory.

[pyrocajun2707]

The usage is virtually unnoticable once you have more than 2Gb RAM. This is because of the way Vista feeds all memory resources into a virtual cache, allowing for smoother transitions between the main memory and the paging file. With 2Gb RAM, it will probably run almost as fast or faster than the same pc on XP.