I swear this always happens...
Nodsu said:
All proper operating systems always use (almost) all the RAM available!
What would be the point of having this super fast memory if you don't use it? Free RAM is wasted RAM and you should be happy that so much of it being used for good purposes.
God I hate when folks get all rude and indignant. I swear this happens on every forum site when you ask a question. The big shots come out of the woodwork and try to show how high and mighty they are. I asked a legitimate question, I didn't come and try and swing my **** around like you are now.
I happened to find an interesting article that explains what actually may be happening, as opposed to my friend Nodsu's simplistic claim that an OS will suck up all the memory that you could pile into a computer. When does it stop? 80 zillion gigs? It looks like 2GB is the magic number for good performance.
The contents of the article that is linked below demonstrate what would have been a nice answer that would have lacked the arrogant, demeaning tone that you relayed. It appears that the OS makes use of what memory it has access to in an effort to preload "application extensions into system memory."
So in conclusion,
Yes, my computer was not able to perform to its best ability due to inadequate RAM, and the heavier usage of memory after the upgrade is normal and not indicative of any problems.
Do me a favor. Please try to make an effort to be nicer to the people that come here seeking help. If you don't enjoy doing this, maybe you shouldn't?
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2163&page=1
"Windows Vista SuperFetch uses more memory than WindowsXP's version
Modern operating systems automatically load commonly used DLLs and programs into memory, so when decide to load an application you use frequently, it pops up faster. To make this happen, since Microsoft Windows 95, there has been a function called Prefetch which monitors user activity and preloads those application extensions into system memory.
In Microsoft Windows Vista it is called SuperFetch, and it reserves about 33-50% of system memory for this purpose. Essentially Windows Vista looks at how the computer user accesses application and data, and keeps the most often used applications and tasks loaded into cache memory. This makes loading applications quicker and is supposed to offer users a smoother ride. It does not take system memory away from the OS or applications, if memory demand his high SuperFetch will automatically adjust its size.
We're just trying to clear the common misconception that Microsoft Windows Vista is poor at memory management. Windows Vista seems to consume a lot of memory because its SuperFetch feature grabs memory for itself upon startup.
Vista Memory usage per version
Operating System
Fresh Install Memory Usage
Recommended Memory Size Installed System Memory
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 554MB 512MB 1GB
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 552MB 1GB 1GB
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 541MB 1GB 1GB
The above examples were done with a total of 1GB of system memory. With 2GB or 4GB of memory, Windows Vista (all versions) grabs ~800 MB. The more system memory installed, the more Vista will be able to cache programs, tasks and services."