[Sydzy]

So I was talking to some of my mates the other day, they asked what rig I got now, told em, and they mentioned something about vista whoring my ram needlessly for "extra" graphics capabilities, they really don't like vista eh!? But I went home and checked it out, also read up on it on other forums too, (don't worry, i love tech-forums.net the best), and I am pretty sure vista is just doing a turbocache on my ***, stealing the equivalent of w/e my graphics card's ram is, and taking that out of my normal ram too.

So I only got 2gb of ram, and a 8800GTX. So basically, it is stealing like 1/3 of my ram, just for [SNIPPED] and giggles, when I'm SURE that it aint helping, cause 8800GTX can run just about anything for now without a problem, lol. Therefore, Vista is just stealing my ram without even asking, and I can't find a way to disable that. Any ideas all you tech-genius-prodigies?

Tyty,
Sydz

P.S. Vista Ultimate 64bit, and you can find the info when you go to the display settings > advanced > adapter.

[Preacher]

I think that OS's use the CPU for GUI but i dunno about linux the people who know what they are doing unlike me use it. Google your problem.

[saltynay]

vista is supposed to use ram more effectively by preloading programs you are most likely to open like a cache for the cpu. So even if you add more memory it will use the same percentage as it uses around 40% of max ram for preloading

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

...Yep. Windows SuperFetch significantly enhances the performance of your PC by caching files intelligently to the RAM, as rightly saltynay explained.

Originally Posted by Sydzy

...they mentioned something about vista whoring my ram needlessly for "extra" graphics capabilities, they really don't like vista eh!? ...

So, your friends are right in saying that vista is 'whoring' your RAM, but wrong in saying that it's doing it needlessly and for 'extra graphics capabilities'. Though, more RAM will increase performance especially if Windows Aero UI is enabled.

A lot of people think that when RAM starts getting used up to the point where there's little memory left, there's something wrong. But what is actually wrong is the operating system not utilising spare system memory, because it means that a large proportion of RAM is being wasted. The matter isn't how much RAM the OS is using, but rather what it is using it for and whether it is being used effectively.

For a comparison, think how your processor would perform if only a small proportion of CPU L2 cache would ever be used. This would be insane! Because L2 cache is a high speed memory store, it would be a complete waste of resources if the full amount were to never be used. The same goes for RAM.

Originally Posted by Sydzy

...it is stealing like 1/3 of my ram, just for [SNIPPED] and giggles, when I'm SURE that it aint helping...

So, it is a good thing that Vista is using up your RAM, because it means it is using the resource effectively, to give you better performance. You don't have anything to worry about.

More detailed information about Windows SuperFetch here: Windows Vista: SuperFetch & ReadyBoost » D’ Technology Weblog: Technology News & Reviews

[Riznarf]

From my experiences, vista stole an additional (approximately) 100MB of RAM when compared to running my rig in XP Pro. Most of the features the ram is used for is the Aero feature, which, is:

a) worthless, and
b) trying to be like Linux.

I couldn't be less of an advocate for Vista. Stay away from it at all costs until absolutely necessary. Amen.

[Nitestick]

Alvin.C i like some of your views but i have to disagree. it's not a bad thing in itself that a high percentage of memory is being used, the issue is that it is being used at idle. while some of this is precaching from what i've seen of Vista some of it is also memory leaks and just pure windows bloat.

Riznarf, welcome to TF i think i'm going to like you. i installed Vista on my secondary PC two days ago, mainly to get a feel for it so that i can troubleshoot any PC that may have it installed. since then media centre has tried to give me a seizure (by strobing between a dark blue and a white screen), i had a BSOD, windows detected neither of my NICs, media centre has crashed randomly 5 times and worst of all i almost smashed my 21" Trinitron in frustration when i found that the power button icon (of course used to access the shutdown menu in XP) now automatically puts the PC in a standby state.

afterthought: it also took me approximately 30 seconds before i had had enough of windows confirming whether or not i would like to use a windows process :mad:

[vernong1992]

lol are u gonna trash do this to the cd:

YouTube - Vista install in 2 minutes

i did it and it felt awesome!!

but i think u may have corrupt ram try and rum memtest

[Riznarf]

Haha, thanks nitestick. Here's an afterthought on Vista for all you wonderchildren out there: (did I just use wonderchildren in a tech forum?)

Ok, so I had vista...for about a month. And here's a more detailed version of my view for all those thinking of "upgrading", although I'm sure most of you have already formulated your own opinions.

Main point: Vista is at best, OK. It doe's steal away about 100MB of ram, as i posted above in an idle state when compared to XP Pro. You might want to get MemTurbo to help out with that. Also, the aero feature they hype up, which gives your desktop, among other things a 3D feel is...cool, but kind of useless since alot of things don't support it. Another con is the added crappy security. Let's not lie folks, if you're reading this, then you probably know a thing or two about computer security. Get AntiVirus, firewall, antispyware/malware. Don't be stupid...the new Vista security features are a neusience. In order to get complete functionality out of some programs you'll need to 'Run as Administrator' or, confirm with Vista about three thousand times, that, yes you actually do want to open firefox. The right third party programs, ZoneAlarm, McAfee, etc... can do a far better job at protecting your computer than Vista can.

Alright, here's a good thing. DirectX 10. I know theres alot of hype up aboot it, mainly that nothing really supports it yet, (although I think the geforce 8 series do...don't quote me on that) but many games to come will start featuring DX10.

Heres the gist:

In my opinion at least, Vista's cons far outweigh its pros, and is not even worth the time needed to install it. Stay away from Vista until you can't find a copy of XP around anymore or they come out with a better version. (on that note, save your XP Cd's.) If you MUST have vista, disable the sec'y features, get some good, reliable third party programs, and get ready to be frustrated. Good luck...you're gonna need it.

[Riznarf]

oh yeah, and alot of hardware is not compatible with vista. but ill admit everyones working hard to get that all fixed.

in the end, we all need to stop being woosies and switch to linux.........cus that pwns.

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Originally Posted by nitestick

...Alvin.C i like some of your views but i have to disagree. it's not a bad thing in itself that a high percentage of memory is being used, the issue is that it is being used at idle...

But what's wrong with Vista using RAM when the system is idle? Because if the system is idle, the user is not at the PC using any applications. It is a cache, not a resource. On average, RAM is 37x faster than the HDD. It would be a complete waste if RAM was not being used for a cause during idle.

An extract from codinghorror.com 'Why Does Vista Use All My Memory?' article:

You have to stop thinking of system memory as a resource and start thinking of it as a a cache. Just like the level 1 and level 2 cache on your CPU, system memory is yet another type of high-speed cache that sits between your computer and the disk drive. And the most important rule of cache design is that empty cache memory is wasted cache memory. Empty cache isn't doing you any good. It's expensive, high-speed memory sucking down power for zero benefit. The primary mission in the life of every cache is to populate itself as quickly as possible with the data that's most likely to be needed

I understand your view nitestick, but I also have to disagree . The issue isn't that a high percentage of memory is being used at idle, the issue is what Vista is using the RAM for during idle states. And the answer to that is SuperFetch.

A main feature of SuperFetch is that it intuitively caches data to the RAM when the system is idle, so that when you return to the PC to run an application, it will load quicker.

Still I share your concern, and some users have reported sluggish performance during initial gameplay of a memory hungry game while SuperFetch frees up the memory.

If you prefer to have a Windows XP style prefetcher in Vista, SuperFetch can be turned off by typing services in the 'Start Search' field of the Start Menu, and hitting enter.



The Services window will appear, and from there you right click the Superfetch service, click properties, and set 'Startup type' to Disabled.