Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Serenity on May 25, 2009, 03:23:11 AM

Title: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 25, 2009, 03:23:11 AM
Just curious here. Prior to playing Aces High, I am in the habit of hitting control-alt-delete, and closing all unnecessary processes. An interesting thing I have noticed is that both at the beginning and ending, every day, I have the exact same processes running, (That is to say the beginning processes are the same every day, and the end processes are the same every day) and yet from day to day my physical memory usage ranges from 30% to 40% with the same processes running. Anyone know why this may be?
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on May 25, 2009, 04:12:11 AM
processes have dynamic memory allocation, they use altering amounts of memory depending on what you / they do
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Vulcan on May 25, 2009, 04:40:25 AM
To understand windows memory use requires a deep understanding of quantum physics, string theory, and wormhole mechanics.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 25, 2009, 06:14:53 AM
processes have dynamic memory allocation, they use altering amounts of memory depending on what you / they do

But if I am doing the same thing every time, they might still vary their memory usage?
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on May 25, 2009, 07:18:26 AM
But if I am doing the same thing every time, they might still vary their memory usage?

Unfortunately it's impossible to give a comprehensive answer to this question without fully researching your whole system configuration and user actions up to the point where you open the process list.

So I'm just going to advice you to leave it alone if the computer works.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 25, 2009, 07:28:52 AM
Unfortunately it's impossible to give a comprehensive answer to this question without fully researching your whole system configuration and user actions up to the point where you open the process list.

So I'm just going to advice you to leave it alone if the computer works.

cool, thanks. I was just curious anyway.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Getback on May 25, 2009, 09:47:37 AM
Is that at idle? If so you need to do some checking up on those processes. You should be using between 0 and 2% at desktop.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: BaldEagl on May 25, 2009, 09:49:55 AM
Is that at idle? If so you need to do some checking up on those processes. You should be using between 0 and 2% at desktop.

0-2% CPU useage.  My memory use is always in the 7-14% range just because Windows is loaded.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Getback on May 25, 2009, 09:59:01 AM
0-2% CPU useage.  My memory use is always in the 7-14% range just because Windows is loaded.

Well then something isn't right Baldeagle. Too many background processes.


Addendum: I was using between 4 and 7%. Then one day I went through the list of programs I had under "Add/Delete". Deleted a few programs that I never used and voila, back to 0 - 2% usage. Took me a long time to figure out what was causing that.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Denholm on May 25, 2009, 10:55:50 AM
Getback. The 0 - 2% rule is on the processor, not the memory usage.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Getback on May 25, 2009, 11:14:01 AM
Getback. The 0 - 2% rule is on the processor, not the memory usage.

RGR, still, he referenced "Windows task manager" with the "control alt delete command. So that lead me to believe he was talking about cpu usage. Other than maybe calculating memory usage in your head how would you know the memory %?
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: BaldEagl on May 25, 2009, 01:11:18 PM
RGR, still, he referenced "Windows task manager" with the "control alt delete command. So that lead me to believe he was talking about cpu usage. Other than maybe calculating memory usage in your head how would you know the memory %?

I use the memory monitor on my desktop.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 25, 2009, 08:43:51 PM
(http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc74/Serene_One/Untitled-5.jpg)

Note the physical memory percentage on the bottom right.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Getback on May 25, 2009, 09:04:29 PM
(http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc74/Serene_One/Untitled-5.jpg)

Note the physical memory percentage on the bottom right.

I have xp, physical memory usage isn't displayed as a percent.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: OOZ662 on May 26, 2009, 12:26:57 AM
I have xp, physical memory usage isn't displayed as a percent.

Then use a calculator. Windows comes with one even!  :P
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: BaldEagl on May 26, 2009, 01:05:35 AM
Serenity, 73 processes and 5% CPU useage is way too much.  Got to blackviper.com, click the left nav bar for your operating system and service pack and go down the list with services open from control panel/adminitsrative tools.  I use the average of the default/safe/trimmed settings. 

You should be able to trim about 20+ processes safely.  It a process isn't listed on the site then it's not a default windows process but rather something you installed, in which case you should be able to recognize what it is and make a decision on it.  Normally, I'd turn off all auto updaters but you might want to leave your security software enabled.

You'll want to get around 50 processes max and 0-2% CPU useage at idle.  This will also bring memory useage down.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 26, 2009, 02:40:30 AM
Serenity, 73 processes and 5% CPU useage is way too much.  Got to blackviper.com, click the left nav bar for your operating system and service pack and go down the list with services open from control panel/adminitsrative tools.  I use the average of the default/safe/trimmed settings. 

You should be able to trim about 20+ processes safely.  It a process isn't listed on the site then it's not a default windows process but rather something you installed, in which case you should be able to recognize what it is and make a decision on it.  Normally, I'd turn off all auto updaters but you might want to leave your security software enabled.

You'll want to get around 50 processes max and 0-2% CPU useage at idle.  This will also bring memory useage down.

My problem is, of those 70, the ones you see in that screenshot are the only ones visible. There are only 20 I can see and thus close, and of those, (The ones in the screenshot) messenger, OpenOffice and Firefox are the only programs I can shut down without the computer crashing or something else failing. I determined that through the less-than-ideal process of trial and error.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on May 26, 2009, 09:36:32 AM
My problem is, of those 70, the ones you see in that screenshot are the only ones visible. There are only 20 I can see and thus close, and of those, (The ones in the screenshot) messenger, OpenOffice and Firefox are the only programs I can shut down without the computer crashing or something else failing. I determined that through the less-than-ideal process of trial and error.

Click the 'show processes for all users' tab to see the rest.

If even that won't show the rest of the processes you have hidden stuff running and that can only mean one thing basically.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: batch on May 26, 2009, 02:14:54 PM
73 processes running?  HOLY CRAP!

when I have AH running and including my stick software I have a total of 11 processes running

just from your visible list there are at least 10 that can be turned off without hurting anything........

Im sure if you went through each item you could easily get your running processes down very low and still have
everything you need to function
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: OOZ662 on May 26, 2009, 04:14:18 PM
Keep in mind that that's Vista...
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: AirFlyer on May 26, 2009, 05:25:29 PM
Basically, I had the same with problem with Win7, it's a bit tougher to trim down then XP is.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: BaldEagl on May 26, 2009, 07:45:52 PM
I'm not sure about Vista but you don't want to do this from the Task Manager.  Go to Start, Control Panal, Administrative Tools, Component Services, Services (local).
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 26, 2009, 08:30:39 PM
73 processes running?  HOLY CRAP!

when I have AH running and including my stick software I have a total of 11 processes running

just from your visible list there are at least 10 that can be turned off without hurting anything........

Im sure if you went through each item you could easily get your running processes down very low and still have
everything you need to function

Like I said, everything on that list other than messenger and firefox cannot be shut down without something failing to work properly on my computer. I have tried all of them to see what happens.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: OOZ662 on May 26, 2009, 09:07:12 PM
I can see ten proccesses in that screenshot that I would want to fail while I played.

You ought to use something like AlacrityPC.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on May 27, 2009, 08:25:12 AM
Ahh I missed the part with him having Vista..

In that case you should definately not mess with memory consumption things as Vista handles memory totally differently than XP. Also processes that could safely be turned off in XP may cause undesired effects in Vista.

My best advice is still to leave it _completely_ alone unless you have a problem with your performance. In which case install XP instead.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: Serenity on May 27, 2009, 08:08:19 PM
Ahh I missed the part with him having Vista..

In that case you should definately not mess with memory consumption things as Vista handles memory totally differently than XP. Also processes that could safely be turned off in XP may cause undesired effects in Vista.

My best advice is still to leave it _completely_ alone unless you have a problem with your performance. In which case install XP instead.

Performance is not at all an issue, I was just curious about the fluxuation.
Title: Re: Physical Memory Usage Question
Post by: batch on May 28, 2009, 05:20:59 AM
the fluctuation comes from having so many processes running....... any one of them might be doing something different each time (checking for an update, etc.) ...causing variations in the numbers

theres different methods for handling processes btw.... you can set them to manual rather than disabling them........ this way when a program needs them they will be opened but not before

whether you realize it or not that many processes does give you problems..... because they are always open and always doing their own thing.......... everytime you see a spike in the game or some lag....... first thought should be those processes