Windows 7 using 950mb of memory at start up!

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rage3324

Gawd
Joined
Aug 1, 2002
Messages
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I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit the other day and to my surprise, @ start up the system is using 950mb of ram! I have heard somethings about disabling readyboost ( which I am not sure is actually a good idea) to free up the memory. So is it normal for Windows 7 to use this much memory?

At startup the only 3rd party apps running are AVG Free, TVersity Media server and 3 gadgets.

Specs of machine:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
AMD 5200 X2
Nvidia Geforce 8800GT 512mb
4gb Corsair DDR667
Soundblaster x-fi xtremegamer
 
ambientZ said:
Its wasting over 3GB of unused memory you paid good money for!
Click to expand...

If thats how you see it. Run Vista. That fat cow will suck up every last MB with shit you dont need running all the time - but if you see it as ram wasted, Vista is the OS for you! :rolleyes:
 
ambientZ said:
Its wasting over 3GB of unused memory you paid good money for!
Click to expand...

That's one way to look at it! But I am just shock it is using 950mb at startup with only a few small applications installed. XP used about 400mb at startup.

Is this typical for Windows 7?
 
Anyone else getting Deja Vu from 3-4 years ago?

...some people never learn...

XP used 300-400 MB of your 1GB of RAM back then....

Windows 7 using 1GB of my 8GB isn't exactly anything to get excited about. If you have been a member of this forum for any length of time you would understand that your memory isn't being wasted, its being used. This topic has been beaten to death here.

Now, go sit in a corner! XD
 
Could you be a bit more clear about what you are talking about?

Windows 7, along with Windows Vista, use a technology called SuperFetch which attempts to cache your most frequently used programs into ram for faster loading. This memory is given up immediately if it is actually needed by a program, so it is not ever going to be a situation where it is taking memory away from the programs that need it.

Under the task manager performance tab, "Free" represents memory that isn't being used by anything, including superfetch. "Available" includes both your free memory as well as the memory currently used by superfetch that can be freed up at any time automatically. This is the value you should be most concerned with.
 
GotNoRice said:
Could you be a bit more clear about what you are talking about?

Windows 7, along with Windows Vista, use a technology called SuperFetch which attempts to cache your most frequently used programs into ram for faster loading. This memory is given up immediately if it is actually needed by a program, so it is not ever going to be a situation where it is taking memory away from the programs that need it.

Under the task manager performance tab, "Free" represents memory that isn't being used by anything, including superfetch. "Available" includes both your free memory as well as the memory currently used by superfetch that can be freed up at any time automatically. This is the value you should be most concerned with.
Click to expand...

Right, thanks for the info. I just took a look:

Total: 4094
Cached: 988
Available: 2918
Free: 1986

This is at start up. If I understood correctly, it looks like 1gb worth of memory is being used somehow
 
Take out all but 1GB, then Windows 7 will use less than 500MB. You can again feel happy like you did with XP. The more you have, the more 7 uses.
 
gtg465x said:
Take out all but 1GB, then Windows 7 will use less than 500MB. You can again feel happy like you did with XP. The more you have, the more 7 uses.
Click to expand...

See, this is what I do not understand. Prior to today I only had 2gb of ram and Windows stil used 1gb at start up. Now I have 4gb and it still uses 1gb at start up.

Are you guys running 7? Do you see the same behavior. Just doing some google searches most people report around 500mb of usage
 
rage3324 said:
That's one way to look at it! But I am just shock it is using 950mb at startup with only a few small applications installed. XP used about 400mb at startup.

Is this typical for Windows 7?
Click to expand...
This is typical, yes.

People will mention caching, and Superfetch, and "Window is using your RAM!" type stuff. This is true. Past all that, Windows 7 (and Vista) simply takes a lot of RAM.

That said, a lot of the RAM used is in fact used for various caching. This can be seen on systems with smaller RAM footprints, as the RAM used on say, a 1GB machine, is far less than what you are seeing on a 4GB machine. Windows is loading more than it "needs" to on your system, by design.

Don't fear this. Windows uses some level of intelligence to figure out when it should and should not cache. If you open a lot of apps and push your RAM usage up past 3GB, Windows will start to jettison cached things to free up memory.

If you need the RAM, you'll have it. If you don't need the RAM, Windows will happily use it for you.

Windows isn't the only modern OS that has a big memory footprint. Welcome to the future.
 
Thanks.. makes sense that Windows 7 is using the memory to make the overall experience faster. I suppose if I unpinned some programs, more memory would be freed up but in the end it doesn't matter as it will be cleared up if and when I need it
 
Having apps pinned to the task bar doesn't affect memory usage at all.
 
Wow, no one mentioned anything about AVG's bloated self. Move onto MSE or Avira and be happier! I moved off AVG about 6 months ago, couldn't be happier. Now using Microsoft Security Essentials.

As for ram with Windows 7 Pro X64 I usually have a bit over 1GB used at startup. Don't disable ReadyBoost, I think it still contains ReadyBoot which helps keep startup traces and boot times down. This is probably more important to Mechanical OS drives, no so much SSD drives.

Oh I used to love Windows XP tweaked to use around 128mb on startup on my old system.
 
criccio said:
Anyone else getting Deja Vu from 3-4 years ago?
Click to expand...
I am...I can't believe this is still asked, on an elite enthusiasts forum. I put 8 GB of memory in my system to use it....not to use as little of it as possible. I wouldn't go buy a new M3 to only try and use 60 hp out of it's 420 hp.
RogueTrip said:
Wow, no one mentioned anything about AVG's bloated self. Move onto MSE or Avira and be happier! I moved off AVG about 6 months ago, couldn't be happier. Now using Microsoft Security Essentials.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true. MSE is an awesome product, and light on resources.
RogueTrip said:
Don't disable ReadyBoost, I think it still contains ReadyBoot which helps keep startup traces and boot times down.
Click to expand...
Yeppers....more good advice.
 
rage3324 said:
That's one way to look at it! But I am just shock it is using 950mb at startup with only a few small applications installed. XP used about 400mb at startup.
Click to expand...

Windows 3.1 used ~2mb. Does that mean XP is a RAM-eating bloat monster?

As hardware progresses... software follows that will use it. it allows for more features.
 
ambientZ said:
Its wasting over 3GB of unused memory you paid good money for!
Click to expand...

Bingo!

You paid for 4 gigs of RAM...don't get pissed when your RAM gets used...that's why you purchased more RAM!

You can get some "zippiness" back in Win7 by dumping bloated useless AVG and using MSE or AntiVir instead. Both are much lighter..and even more importantly..far superior in detection and cleaning than AVG.
 
want free ram? take out a stick and lay it on your desk, there...it's free....why is this concept of a faster more efficient system using more ram so hard to conceive for people?

on a lighter note, i have been running a clean install of 7 Ult x64 on the rig in my sig with only 2 gigs of ram and initially it was using 900Mb-1Gb and now it only uses 600-800Mb's of ram....which means it must be done "learning" my habits and has become even more efficient, nice!

i also noticed if i really load it up hard like mounting an iso with a virtual drive and running several things at once the memory the os uses is actually reduced down to 400-500Mb's once i unmount it
 
criccio said:
Having apps pinned to the task bar doesn't affect memory usage at all.
Click to expand...
Inorrect.

Try pinning 50+ and you'll see a difference on a low RAM system. All those icons get cached somewhere....

-bZj
 
I am curious...

What is the hard drive footprint? Meaning, how much space does Windows 7 take up?
 
Here's how I understand it...

1) In Windows 7, Task Manager (or any other resource usage program) does not show you how much memory is actually "in use". To see this, go to the Performance tab in Task Manager, click on Resource Monitor near the bottom, and go to the Memory tab. You will see a Physical Memory section which you may need to expand. In this section it shows you how much memory is actually "in use". The memory percentage shown in Task Manager (and other resource usage programs) includes "modified" memory along with memory that is actually "in use", thus inflating how much memory you think is being used.

"Modified" memory is memory that has previously been accessed/modified but is no longer "in use". This "modified" memory will not likely be accessed again but Windows hasn't received explicit instructions to discard it, so Windows keeps it around for a while just in case. However, Windows will slowly (so as not to disturb you) move it to the page file.

2) As you should know, many Windows services are set to be started "manually" (and it's not you that manually starts them, it's Windows). Search for and open services.msc from the start menu to see a list of services set to "manual". I have found that the more memory you have installed, the more of these services will be manually started, even if they are not needed or explicitly called. That way if you do happen to need them they will already be started and things will be accomplished quicker. *Note: This has nothing to do with SuperFetch.
 
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rage3324 said:
I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit the other day and to my surprise, @ start up the system is using 950mb of ram! I have heard somethings about disabling readyboost ( which I am not sure is actually a good idea) to free up the memory. So is it normal for Windows 7 to use this much memory?

At startup the only 3rd party apps running are AVG Free, TVersity Media server and 3 gadgets.
Click to expand...
What exactly is the complaint? Do you want the money you spent on ram to be wasted and have ram not used? Stuff loaded into ram = faster load times. Do you prefer slower load times?

BTW, AVG sucks ass compared to the other free AV's out there. If you want something less bloated that doesn't impact system performance, MSE ftw.
 
nobody_here said:
....why is this concept of a faster more efficient system using more ram so hard to conceive for people?

... initially it was using 900Mb-1Gb and now it only uses 600-800Mb's of ram....which means it must be done "learning" my habits and has become even more efficient, nice!
Click to expand...
heh, were you being sarcastic?
 
rage3324 said:
I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit the other day and to my surprise, @ start up the system is using 950mb of ram! I have heard somethings about disabling readyboost ( which I am not sure is actually a good idea) to free up the memory. So is it normal for Windows 7 to use this much memory?

At startup the only 3rd party apps running are AVG Free, TVersity Media server and 3 gadgets.

Specs of machine:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
AMD 5200 X2
Nvidia Geforce 8800GT 512mb
4gb Corsair DDR667
Soundblaster x-fi xtremegamer
Click to expand...

Don't disable superfetch. That would be stupid and slow your box down.
Disk cache never gets in the way of application memory. It is released immediately if needed by something else.

Why not just take all your ram out and send it over to me. I will send you a 512MB stick to use since you seem insistent to NOT use the ram you paid money for. A lot of good it does, empty.
 
"Modified" memory is memory that has previously been accessed/modified but is no longer "in use". This "modified" memory will not likely be accessed again but Windows hasn't received explicit instructions to discard it, so Windows keeps it around for a while just in case. However, Windows will slowly (so as not to disturb you) move it to the page file
Click to expand...

After a clean boot however, this number is pretty small, less than 100MB on both my Win7 systems.

My laptop with 2GB RAM uses about 600MB after a clean boot, my desktop system with 4GB about 1.1GB (both excluding "Modified" RAM). So I guess it kind of scales with the amount of total RAM you have since both systems have about the same types of background applications running.

If thats how you see it. Run Vista. That fat cow will suck up every last MB with shit you dont need running all the time
Click to expand...

Win7 is more memory intensive than Vista. Win7 requires 1GB minimum, Vista requires 512MB. However the task manager in Vista didn't have separate "Available" and "Free" rows, just one called "Free" which excluded any RAM Superfetch was using. This lead people to believe Vista was wasting a lot of RAM. Also many low-end systems sold at the time Vista launched still came with only 1GB of RAM. Had Vista launched today instead of in 2006, it would never have gotten a reputation of being "slow" or "bloated". Vista in a virtual machine with 2GB uses about 550MB of RAM. Aero would probably add another 50-100MB, so it's about the same as Win7.

...some people never learn...

XP used 300-400 MB of your 1GB of RAM back then....
Click to expand...

Actually, when XP shipped, many systems had 128MB of RAM. 256MB was considered the "sweet spot" (this later changed to 512MB, and finally 1GB at around the time Vista launched). My TinyXP installation uses about 54MB of RAM after a clean boot.
 
criccio said:
Anyone else getting Deja Vu from 3-4 years ago?

...some people never learn...

XP used 300-400 MB of your 1GB of RAM back then....

Windows 7 using 1GB of my 8GB isn't exactly anything to get excited about. If you have been a member of this forum for any length of time you would understand that your memory isn't being wasted, its being used. This topic has been beaten to death here.

Now, go sit in a corner! XD
Click to expand...

exactly :) it's nothing to be alarmed about. The ram being used is benefiting your system in overall performance

edit: there is absolutely NO downside to it
 
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Like others have said, it's superfetch/readyboost working to load commonly used stuff in RAM for quicker access. Windows frees up any of that cache as needed when a program calls for it. No worries, it's normal, and speeds up your system. This is like deja vu, though...when Vista came out, EVERYONE was freaking out because they thought it was eating RAM alive. W7 and Vista do use a pretty hefty amount of memory to run, even when not counting superfetch - but, unless someone is seriously not with the times, then that OS memory usage is a non-issue.
 
JaguarSKX said:
I am curious...

What is the hard drive footprint? Meaning, how much space does Windows 7 take up?
Click to expand...

My 'Windows' folder is up to 17.5 GB for my Windows 7 RC install but I have had this installed for months now. I bet a fresh install would be smaller but I would allow for 20 GB at the very minimum.
 
I was able to reduce it to something like 720MB idle memory usage just to see how low it can go, I didn’t turn off everything though so I think it can be less, now it’s 1.4GB idle (Rainmeter, CD Art View and some gadgets).

around 4 months ago when I was bored at work and decided to install it (the 64bit version) on my old P4 1GB memory machine it ran really smooth and I think it used something like 550MB.
 
rage3324 said:
I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit the other day and to my surprise, @ start up the system is using 950mb of ram! I have heard somethings about disabling readyboost ( which I am not sure is actually a good idea) to free up the memory. So is it normal for Windows 7 to use this much memory?

At startup the only 3rd party apps running are AVG Free, TVersity Media server and 3 gadgets.
Click to expand...


ReadyBoost is only worth it for systems with less than 2 GB of RAM. Otherwise, don't bother. I think what you mean to talk about is SuperFetch, and it is actually a good thing. Read more about it here.

Then uninstall that bloated piece of crap AVG and install Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira.
 
I'm looking forward to when Microsoft releases SuperClock. It's like I paid good money for this CPU, yet it sits there only at 1-5% usage ALL the time. I can't wait until it's filled with programs running in the background that I'm not actually using!
 
bonsai said:
I'm looking forward to when Microsoft releases SuperClock. It's like I paid good money for this CPU, yet it sits there only at 1-5% usage ALL the time. I can't wait until it's filled with programs running in the background that I'm not actually using!
Click to expand...
I detect a twinge of sarcasm, but many people on this forum are into Folding, and I got scolded by at least one friend for having several computers and not doing any Folding.
 
#1RAGE said:
My 'Windows' folder is up to 17.5 GB for my Windows 7 RC install but I have had this installed for months now. I bet a fresh install would be smaller but I would allow for 20 GB at the very minimum.
Click to expand...

It's actually not that big. If you just view the properties on it you will be counting the size of many files twice. (Because of the WinSxS folder) It actually is probably closer to 10GB of actual space.

bonsai said:
I'm looking forward to when Microsoft releases SuperClock. It's like I paid good money for this CPU, yet it sits there only at 1-5% usage ALL the time. I can't wait until it's filled with programs running in the background that I'm not actually using!
Click to expand...

Go ahead, keep proving your complete lack of understanding.
 
bonsai said:
I'm looking forward to when Microsoft releases SuperClock. It's like I paid good money for this CPU, yet it sits there only at 1-5% usage ALL the time. I can't wait until it's filled with programs running in the background that I'm not actually using!
Click to expand...

I would love to know what your OS of choice is.
 
bonsai said:
I'm looking forward to when Microsoft releases SuperClock. It's like I paid good money for this CPU, yet it sits there only at 1-5% usage ALL the time. I can't wait until it's filled with programs running in the background that I'm not actually using!
Click to expand...

Running up your electric bill by pegging the cpu all the time would have bad effects (on your wallet), loading programs/data into unused ram uses no or very little extra electricity or any other resources. Apples and oranges, and troll fail.
 
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