Article: Most Windows 7 PCs max out memory [InfoWorld]

[LaughingCrow]

Found on SlashDot from an article on ComputerWorld

Title: Most Windows 7 PCs max out memory

“Most Windows 7 PCs max out their memory, resulting in performance bottlenecks, a researcher said today. Citing data from Devil Mountain Software's community-based Exo.performance.network (XPnet), Craig Barth, the company's chief technology officer, said that new metrics reveal an unsettling trend. On average, 86% of Windows 7 machines in the XPnet pool are regularly consuming 90%-95% of their available RAM, resulting in slow-downs as the systems were forced to increasingly turn to disk-based virtual memory to handle tasks.”



Link: Most Windows 7 PCs max out memory

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I have 8 gigs memory with i7-860, Win 7 Home Premium; using Resource Monitor, Memory Tab, shows:

5 MB Hardware
1507 MB in use
97 MB Modified
1016 MB standby
5517 free

Other than the Windows 7 processes, I have Firefox, HWMonitor, Wacom Tablet, Blink Firewall/Anti-Virus, plus some processes I can't identify as Windows

I haven't yet compared this system vs. my old Pentium 4 with 1 gig memory, XP Pro and also running a tablet and the same security software.

According to the article, the machines in the test had an average of 3.3 gigs of memory from a pool of 23,000 PCs.

Just watching my HD light and checking Disk in the Resource Monitor, I can see Windows is accessing the drive frequently, but I don't know if that's normal or excessive.

Has anyone participated and tried any of the monitoring tools that are mentioned in the article?

exo.performance.network - widgets

[enaberif]

"This is alarming," Barth said of Windows 7 machines' resource consumption. "For the OS to be pushing the hardware limits this quickly is amazing. Windows 7 is not the lean, mean version of Vista that you may think it is."

Oh I so agree.

Windows 7 is just more bloated than Vista but perhaps more stable.

XP 4 Lyfe.

[BT!]

i only have 4gb's and i haven't ever seen it maxed out.

[Linus]

buy moar RAM?

NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Great Technology, Service and Selection.

:p

[Eldonko]

I moved from 4GB to 8 GB on my w7 setup and I find there is a difference. It's not an issue of the OS using up the ram, I just like to do lots of stuff at once. I wouldnt worry about in unless you only have 2Gb though

[martin_metal_88]

Originally Posted by Linus

buy moar RAM?

NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Great Technology, Service and Selection.

:p

Ah Linus you are unstoppable. I don't know if this study is even reliable but I have notice that my seven some time go on 90% for about 5 second then it come down back again, I can't find the process doing that but if they take that in consideration then the study suck. I would really like tho know the circumstance of all that.

[Iphikratous]

Its called superfetch.

[chrisk]

Wow. I have 3 Win7 rigs, and all have at least 4GB of ram. The most I have ever seen used is about 2.5GB (unless I am running a bigadv folding vmware rig, in which I have 4Gb allotted to). Even my main rig, with 4GB dedicated to folding, sits at 90% and it does all kinds of things at once.

[geokilla]

What? Seems that I got tons of RAM left, and I'm a folder too... To use up 4GB of RAM you need to have quite a bit of programs installed and running. I'm thinking that the article tested people who buy PCs from OEM, which as we know comes filled with bloatware and programs that are utterly useless.

[LaughingCrow]

Originally Posted by geokilla

What? Seems that I got tons of RAM left, and I'm a folder too... To use up 4GB of RAM you need to have quite a bit of programs installed and running. I'm thinking that the article tested people who buy PCs from OEM, which as we know comes filled with bloatware and programs that are utterly useless.

exo.performance.network - widgets

In my original post, I noted the link where you can participate by downloading the monitoring programs. I wondered if anyone here had tried them.

So, I'd presume that with 23,000 + machines (supposedly) participating, there would be a wide variety of systems, not just office systems.