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What should my RAM usage run at?
Hi:
I have a new XPS720, Q6600 quad-core with 4 gigs of RAM, Vista (32-bit), and I'm just wondering what my RAM usage should be running at while I'm just doing basic internet surfing, desktop work, word processing, etc. When I first bought the machine, it hovered at around 45 percent, but I've turned off most of my startup programs, and now my RAM is sitting idle at about 28 percent. Can someone tell me if this is normal and / or ideal? Or should I be working to bring that percentage down?
Thanks in advance!
Ken A. Dienne
ronss
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April 22nd, 2008 08:00
i would not worry about your ram usuage, dosen,t look that bad,....go to msconfig and see what processes are running.......might download hjackthis and see if there are any unwanted software loaded on your computer......me 2 cents is that your rig is okay.
tasone
182 Posts
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April 22nd, 2008 08:00
Hi,
I have a Dell XPS 420, and with just windows and running nothing more (other then the programs that dell has installed), my ram is 30%, CPU 25%.
and hard drive runing all the time!
And yes thinking of putting XP onto the machine.
Andy
ThePreacher
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April 23rd, 2008 07:00
Dont worry about it. So many people who dont understand vista assume the memory usage is bad.
Vista is just being smarter about things. When vista is idle you will find the disk starts to trash about. this is 'Superfetch' doing its thing. Run a program like process monitor and you will see files relating to your favorite applications are being read into memory. This is so when you load them they are already half loaded and work faster.
When you start to use your machine and require more ram it will free this up again. so when you run your favorite game you will find loads of memory suddenly appears and then gets allocated to the game.
If you stop the superfetch service this will give the appearance of more ram but in truth your doing yourself an injustice.
Vista simply makes better use of the memory you have.
You have to think different with vista, too many people think Windows 2000 and how that works.