Free up memory in Win 7

[daddog]

Anyone have a program they can suggest?
I would use it for the few games I play, but also with my video editing I do.

I have Windows 7 64bit
GeoForce GTX 260
4 GB Memory
Intel Core Duo E8500 3.16GHz

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Anyone have a program they can suggest?
I would use it for the few games I play, but also with my video editing I do.

I have Windows 7 64bit
GeoForce GTX 260
4 GB Memory
Intel Core Duo E8500 3.16GHz

You don't need any program for that. Win7 uses your memory as a ram cache but it releases the ram if you need it for other programs.

[gyrene81]

You don't need any program for that. Win7 uses your memory as a ram cache but it releases the ram if you need it for other programs.

  ya right, where do you come up with this stuff ripley?



daddog, how much physical memory do you have and how big is your paging file after a clean boot?

[Skuzzy]

You don't need any program for that. Win7 uses your memory as a ram cache but it releases the ram if you need it for other programs.

Windows has been doing that since Windows 98.  It just got more aggressive with the later versions.

Windows active processes stay resident.  Even the sleeping ones take up some system RAM.  The more you have running, the longer a context switch will take.  It is the nature of the beast.

[daddog]

Thanks gents,

So I gather the answer is I don't need one or they don't have one.

Gyrene81 forgive me. Rather ignorant to the tech end of things. I thought the 'physical' memory was your RAM, (mine is 4 Gigs). I don't know how to check my paging file after a boot. I will Google that and see what it is.

[daddog]

Ok, my virtual memory/paging file size (If I understand this correctly) is 4094 for all drives.

I read that it can help (speed) to increase it, but not sure how much I should increase it to. Also read that it could slow things down as it would be using the hard drive as memory as opposed to my RAM.

 

[gyrene81]

sorry daddog, i've developed a habit of using the term physical memory around here because those are the words used to identify how much ram the system has in the task manager and the system hardware information panel.

you have enough ram on that system unless you plan on running a lot of different programs while gaming. your paging file allocation size seems a bit low though. i think the general rule of thumb is min=1/2 physical memory and max=1.5 times physical memory, not absolutely sure about the numbers but you really do not want windows to manage the paging file allocation.

when you do a fresh boot, before doing anything else, run task manager and look at the performance tab...that will show you how much of your physical memory is being used before starting any programs. the memory usage should be less 900 megabytes or less after a fresh boot with your anti-virus turned off. to get it lower, you're going to have to disable some advanced services that most people don't use anyway. skuzzy has a decent list in the technical support section under "vista performance hints and tips", and there are several other respected sources on the web that will give you a full list with descriptions.

[daddog]

Will do.

Thanks again!

[MrRiplEy[H]]

  ya right, where do you come up with this stuff ripley?

Microsoft perhaps?

[morfiend]

Daddog,

  have you checked out AlacrityPC??



   http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/

  This program will help shutdown needless background stuff to free up memory and cpu cycles. I used to use his FSautostart program way back when and this is basically the same thing but updated for vista/win7 use.

  I know Skuzzy isnt a big fan of these types of programs but for your average user like you or I it will do exactly what your looking for.

  BTW,I've used this program to solve several players disco issues that were caused by either a background program updating or using too much cpu that AH was dropped.


    of course YMMV.



     

[guncrasher]

if you use the auto function in alacrity and don't know what it does or how to undo, you will mess up your system.  I tried it, tried to undo it and had to reinstall windows.

goto blackviper.com.  and figure out which processes you don't use and disable them.  just be careful about disabling some windows diagnostics them if youhave a problem connecting to the internet then you are on your own. windows won't auto fix your connection.

semp

[ink]

recently found this seems easy to use

http://home.comcast.net/~animl/xpgl.htm

[guncrasher]

i am with skuzzy on this one.  do it manually and remove processes you dont need instead of adding 1 or 2 more using a program just to get rid of a few.  main thing is there are  a few processed that dont need to run at all.  so game utilities are only a bandaid.  also there's some people that are educated enough to run ah with only a couple of processes, rest of us if we get it down to mid 30's (win7)  that is gold  .

or you can be like me, my computer is fast enough for me to only worry about processes that may be a security risk.  I play with eset, trakir, usb headset,  stick, pedals, youtube (music), fraps and about 40 proccesses and I get full 60 frames with everything maxed and shadows at 2k.  well my fps sometimes it goes down to 50 but that is due to a zillion planes flying around the cv ack  .

semp

[ink]

i am with skuzzy on this one.  do it manually and remove processes you dont need instead of adding 1 or 2 more using a program just to get rid of a few.  main thing is there are  a few processed that dont need to run at all.  so game utilities are only a bandaid.  also there's some people that are educated enough to run ah with only a couple of processes, rest of us if we get it down to mid 30's (win7)  that is gold  .

or you can be like me, my computer is fast enough for me to only worry about processes that may be a security risk.  I play with eset, trakir, usb headset,  stick, pedals, youtube (music), fraps and about 40 proccesses and I get full 60 frames with everything maxed and shadows at 2k.  well my fps sometimes it goes down to 50 but that is due to a zillion planes flying around the cv ack  .

semp

damn dude must be a sweet system

[MrRiplEy[H]]

damn dude must be a sweet system

A regular 1000 dollar setup can do that easy. I also play almost with 0 tweaking to win7 at full fps and my gaming computer atm has E8500 + 8 gigs of ram (cheap), Ati 5850hd...

Works like a charm, never had any performance problems. What should also be noted though is that the win7 is hand installed without any OEM crapware and the computer is used solely for gaming - no freeware crappolas etc. are installed on it. All my music work happens on mac, so is my office / graphics.