J

JohnJ

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While running Windows 7 my desktop is constantly using 40% of my RAM (2GB RAM total). When I launch Battlefield 2 my RAM consumption jumps to a constant 90-95%. Is there anything I can do to lower the RAM usage? Or would my only option be to upgrade my RAM to 4GB?
 

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Radenight said:
That really sucks that you weren't able to figure out what's eating all your ram.. Did you try doing a reinstall (via clean install) to see if makes a difference?.. ;)
Click to expand...

I bought 4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM and installed it. I then reformatted and installed Windows 7 64-bit and I've been trouble-free ever since. :)
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loathe

loathe

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JohnJ said:
While running Windows 7 my desktop is constantly using 40% of my RAM (2GB RAM total). When I launch Battlefield 2 my RAM consumption jumps to a constant 90-95%. Is there anything I can do to lower the RAM usage? Or would my only option be to upgrade my RAM to 4GB?
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. Of course more RAM will help. Are you using 64bit? A cheaper option would be a USB stick that can do readyboost

Type services in the start menu and disable the superfetch service, should free up a bit more RAM, I always prefer it on though.
 

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JohnJ

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I'm running 32-bit. RAM consumption right now is 861MB, and I'm not running anything except Firefox...
 

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loathe

loathe

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JohnJ said:
I'm running 32-bit. RAM consumption right now is 861MB, and I'm not running anything except Firefox...
Click to expand...

Things like gadgets and aero use a lot of RAM. You could also type msconfig in the start menu and under the startup tab is all the things that startup with Windows. You can remove anything that your computer doesnt need to run from there, just dont remove your antivirus, firewall or the operating system one.

If it makes you feel better, my RAM usage is at 1800MB right not and Im only using Chrome.
 

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Radenight

Radenight

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Are there alot of things starting up when Windows starts up? That sounds too high.. One of my pc's has 2GB's of RAM in it and is also running the 32-bit version of the RC and at startup it only consumes about 18%.. When I launch Half Life 2 it still only consumes about 60-70%.. (Of course the amount a game consumes will differ depending on the game)

I always run msconfig and untick everything under the startup tab that isn't absolutely necessary.. That helps a bit.. ;)

Even on idle the PC I speak of only consumes about 18-24%.. :)

The numbers on my main pc are a little bit higher but that's to be expected due to the fact that I'm running alot more on it.. Though it has 8GB's so the high consumption numbers aren't a problem on that rig.... hehe :)
 

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JohnJ

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I turned superfetch off but it didn't change anything. Still using way too much RAM. This is rediculous. I can't even play a game because it lags so badly.
 

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Radenight

Radenight

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JohnJ said:
I turned superfetch off but it didn't change anything. Still using way too much RAM. This is rediculous. I can't even play a game because it lags so badly.
Click to expand...

There has to be a process running that's eating it up.. ;) Have you checked msconfig to see what all is starting up when you boot Win 7?
 

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confused

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cpu is probably a major factor. pentium 4 ect are a lot slower and freeze easier than say an intel or amd quad core for gaming.
 

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loathe

loathe

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Did you restart? Are you able to post us a screen of the processes tab of you task manager? Sorting them by memory will help us.
 

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JohnJ

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confused said:
cpu is probably a major factor. pentium 4 ect are a lot slower and freeze easier than say an intel or amd quad core for gaming.
Click to expand...

I'm running the following specs:

- AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3Ghz
- 2GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM
- NVIDIA 9800GTX+ 512MB DDR3

It's definitely not my CPU.
 

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Radenight

Radenight

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More ram certainly would be a good thing.. but there's definitely something more to this.. The numbers shouldn't be that high with 2GB's of RAM.. ;)
 

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JohnJ

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Well I plan to upgrade to the following:

- Phenom II X4 940 3.0Ghz
- 4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM

Quick question: should I remain using the 32-bit version of Windows 7 once I upgrade to 4GB or should I upgrade to the 64-bit edition?

Screenshots attached
 

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Radenight

Radenight

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That all depends on what you do with your pc in my opinion.. ;) It certainly can be worth the switch but like I said, depending on what you do it can also not be worth it at all for some people.. ;)

If your going to upgrade to 4GB's of ram though I'd suggest making the switch if for nothing else but being able to use the entire 4GB's of RAM.. :) Driver/Software compatibility has come a long way since Windows XP Pro 64-bit, and it's only getting better each day...
 

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JohnJ

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Radenight said:
That all depends on what you do with your pc in my opinion.. ;) It certainly can be worth the switch but like I said, depending on what you do it can also not be worth it at all for some people.. ;)
Click to expand...

I mainly use my PC for gaming, which is why I need all the resources I can get.
 

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loathe

loathe

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JohnJ said:
Well I plan to upgrade to the following:

- Phenom II X4 940 3.0Ghz
- 4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM

Quick question: should I remain using the 32-bit version of Windows 7 once I upgrade to 4GB or should I upgrade to the 64-bit edition?

Screenshots attached
Click to expand...

Those numbers still look fine to me, nothing obvious using heaps of RAM. You could also turn of search indexer I guess.

My usual answer to the x86/x64 question is, if your CPU supports x64 then yes you should use an x64 OS
 

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Radenight

Radenight

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JohnJ said:
I mainly use my PC for gaming, which is why I need all the resources I can get.
Click to expand...

Than yes I'd say go for it! Make the switch.. More and more games are starting to take advantage of a 64-bit OS.. ;)
 

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JohnJ

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So there's nothing I can do to lower the RAM usage? I never had this problem with XP. :(
 

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