Is Windows XP a RAM Hog

[lee_norrie]

Hi All,
I finally figured out the problem with my FPS. It is the RAM. At the beggining of each flight i get 30fps with all sliders maxed out but after a while i start getting stutters as i believe FS2002 or Win XP are slowly sucking my RAM away. I have seen the pattern in a ram program called cacheman that i downloaded. Does anyone know a remedie for this problem apart from buying more RAM? I am running 256mb of RDRAM or whatever its called.
Thanks!
Regards: Lee Norrie

[DanielParrott]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-23-02 AT 08:57AM (EDT)[p]XP is happy bunny with 512 if you can afford it.

D

[piano]

Just a thought. I am not a FS/RAM expert, but I've read in this forum that FS will use up 180mb of RAM. I assume this does not include extra running modules such as FSNavigator, etc.

Try to determine how much RAM is being used by your OS after boot. Take that figure and add 180mb to it. (more if you run addon modules) In theory that should give you the RAM you need to run FS without the OS "stealing" what FS needs.

I've also read that any system will "lose" available RAM as programs run. I would pad the 180mb figure to 256mb to give you a little "extra".

Regards, Al

[ahmedmumeni]

I got an AMD Athlon 1.4ghz with 256mb DDR and the problem is, Windows XP automatically restarts itself, its ticking me off, Im gonna try to get another stick of 256mb DDR.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c8fd84555ce6dbf.jpg

[adlion944]

My system seems to have been significantly boosted with the move from 256MB of RDRAM to 512MB in my P4 1.9 with WinXP.

Best $130 I've spent. Much better than buying a GeForce 4 to replace my GeForce 2 MX 400.

Dave

[sputnik04]

The other guys are right,512MB RAM is the way to go-I have a P3 1gz,G-force 3 Ti,and have XP Pro.I have 512mb RAM installed and get 15-25 fps(locked at 20fps)By the way,XP manages RAM very efficiently,it's based on the NT/2000 architecture and not to be confused with 98/ME.I have tried to bring my system to it's knees by opening every program that I could find(43!),an internet connection,with KaZaa running,and then FS2K2.In the task manager I saw that the system was using 390mb,despite the system load!Get another stick of RAM,forget about all the Ram management programs,they were made for 98/ME,programs that are very careless with Ram management,in XP they're unnessary and can even cause system problems.Hope this helps,
regards Grahame EDHL :-wave

[JETninja]

WinXP manages memory light years better then Win98/ME....but it has to have enough to manage. It does take a larger footprint once it's loaded. If you have 256Mb to start, after WinXP loads (and takes 70-120Mb or more) what ever is left is what FS2K2 will try to use...and since its most likely not enough, it will be accessing the HD for data, and the HD is significantly slower then Ram.

I built my system with 512Mb right off the bat. After 4 months a stick went bad. I noticed lots of problems with my sims...back to 512 and problems went away. I now run 768Mb quite happly.

And I do not turn off anything....unlike Win98 all those so called processes are not taking resources unless they get asked to...which doesn't happen when Simming. I have 30+ processes going, uncluding Office crap, Norton, etc...no problems. WinXP (and Win2k, WinNT) manages memory awesome. My NT desktop at work more often then not has 15 windows open....never has a problem, never needs a reboot. Great code....

[Hyestar]

So far with my P3 1 Ghz system I am running really good with 384 Meg of RDRAM. I have a Geforce 2 MX Pro (or something like that :) ) and get anywhere from 12 to 35 FPS depending on where I am. On average about 25 FPS.

I just bought a GeForce 3 Ti500 (64 Meg) and may up the ram to 512 or more later this year just to see if it helps more.

Corey

[VeNoM]

I use a program called "MPower", it's a small utility I use all the time. This small utility runs in my computer's system tray all day long and it really recovers all unused RAM in my computer in real time. For example, If you are using a heavy graphics program in your computer, it obviously will use up a lot of RAM, but the problem is, whenever you close the program, windows doesn't recover the RAM used by the program. This utility recovers all the RAM immediately after I close a program and therefore I don't have the need to re-start my computer all the time. I run this little utility even with FS2002 and it never stutters since this little utility recovers RAM dumped by FS2002 in real time.

I really recommend this utility for those of you who use programs or games that need a lot of RAM, such as FS2002 or GTA 3.

Gone are the days of re-starting the computer because of low RAM in my system!

You can download this utility from this link: http://download.com.com/3000-2086-4499909.html?tag=lst-0-1

This is the description of the program and what it does:

"As you work with your computer, its system memory becomes fragmented. This means that you have a decreasing amount of RAM available to your applications as you work. Executables and DLLs often remain in memory long after they are closed, until something forces them out. MPower is a tool that defragments your PC, and frees your RAM to give more stability. This yields more speed to your system, avoiding needless use of swap files. This powerful application will also benchmark (speed test) your hard disk drives and your CPU load. CPU load and memory status may also be displayed on an active window title bar or on a tray icon."

[Link383]

The problem of Windows not giving back your ram is non-existent in Windows 2000/NT/XP. If you have Windows 9x, you could try one of those programs, its not going to help that much, I would suggest upgrading to a newer operating system.

Varmuzhko Kyznetsov
Obninsk, Russia

[cascadesss]

Varmuzhko is right on the money.

Most of these 'memory' programs cause nothing but problems.

Rick - KPDX - Private Pilot
http://www.iqthost.com/orpcax/images/PSA.jpg
Dual XP1800's..1G RAM..MSI Ti-4600
4-SCSI Drives w/Raid 0... WinXP

[JETninja]

Venom...not for WinXP. Win98 maybe....but XP has great memory management...those things screw it up. Another nice thing it does is driver installs....leaves no old bits around and cleans registry. Clean install everytime....I didn't believe until I did it a few times. I'll never work on a Win9X code machine again....