Memory interpretation needed

[sportsguy]

Vista X64 Business
8 gigs ram, Bios set to use all of it. .

currently open:
windows task manager
resource monitor
ie 7, thee windows
windows explorer

windows task master says:
Memory graph - 1.55 GIGS used

Physical memory box
Total 8190
Cached 7119
Free 17

Resource monitor says
19% used, which would be 1.55

so why am i cahching so much memory? or is the cahced memory inaccrate calculation?

thanks

sportsguy

 

[H2SO4]

I'd suggest not worrying about memory usage statistics unless you're a developer tweaking your code or you're experiencing problems which you suspect could be related to (lack of) available memory.

The days when "used" and "free" memory were complimentary numbers which would add up to your total installed RAM are long gone. Even XP and Win2K no longer worked that way. To give you an example, in Task Manager parlance "available" means the memory is unassigned, or it is assigned but can be quickly repurposed, or it is assigned but is already in the process of being repurposed.

Vista also adds "superfetch" which attempts to move stuff into memory proactively based on your past usage patterns - portions of an app may already be occupying memory because the OS suspects you're about to use them.

If there's no perceptible problem, don't worry about the numbers.

 

[sportsguy]

thanks. . . everything seems to be working at the moment. . . though I am beginning to suspect a memory issue. . . which is why i asked. .

sportsguy

 

[archie123]

thanks. . . everything seems to be working at the moment. . . though I am beginning to suspect a memory issue. . . which is why i asked. .

sportsguy

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/superfetch.aspx

If you need any of that ram Vista will free it up faster than you can say "i have a memory issue"