how to know amount of free/used RAM?

[Maurizio]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

 

[Big Steel]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

Task Manager/Performance tab

 

[Philip Herlihy]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

Stick with Process Explorer. I look at the Physical Memory value, and
compare that with the Commit Charge (Current and Peak). Broadly, Commit
Charge is the amount of memory the computer has allocated. In a machine
with inadequate Physical memory, CC will exceed PM, and the system will
slow down dramatically as it shifts memory "pages" to and from disk. If
CC Peak is always below the value for PM, then you don't need to add
more. If CC Current is below PM, but CC Peak is above, then the machine
will only slow down when heavily loaded, but if both are above PM then
it's gasping, and adding more memory will normally be a very cost-
effective upgrade. I understand Vista and above will do more than XP
did to make good use of available physical memory, so the raw figure for
"Available" PM isn't as useful an indicator.

 

[John Williamson]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

There's a Windows 7 desktop gadget available that gives you per-core CPU
usage and physical memory statistics.

It's called AllCPU Meter from addgadget.com. Current version is 3.7.

 

[Nil]

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

At the command line, type

SYSTEMINFO

It will give you more than you need, but near the top of the list
you'll see the fields "Total Physical Memory" and "Available Physical
Memory".

You can weed out the extra info by using the command:

systeminfo | findstr Memory

 

[Ken Blake]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

See the other replies you've gotten, but let me ask why you want to do
this. If you are trying to minimize the amount of RAM in use, wanting
to minimize the amount of memory Windows uses is a counterproductive
desire. Windows is designed to use all, or nearly all, of your memory,
all the time, and that's good not bad. Free memory is wasted memory.
You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any of it wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps almost all your memory working for you all the
time.

 

[SC Tom]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

You can use Nil's line in a batch file on your desktop:

systeminfo |findstr Memory
pause

The "pause" will keep the window open until you can read it. Press Enter and the window will then close.

 

[Paul]

See the other replies you've gotten, but let me ask why you want to do
this. If you are trying to minimize the amount of RAM in use, wanting
to minimize the amount of memory Windows uses is a counterproductive
desire. Windows is designed to use all, or nearly all, of your memory,
all the time, and that's good not bad. Free memory is wasted memory.
You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any of it wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps almost all your memory working for you all the
time.

What I've noticed on my Windows 7 laptop

1) About 1GB of memory is being used by the OS, for something.
That includes perhaps 300MB it really needs, plus some more.
2) When placed under memory pressure, this memory usage can be
squeezed down, to a fraction of that value.
3) Once the memory pressure is removed, the OS memory usage
slowly "re-inflates", so the squeezing in (2) is undone.
I didn't sit around to see whether it returned to the 1GB
mark or not. It is possible to issue a second command in a
command prompt window, while the OS is in it's minimal memory
usage state.

This was observed during my "chkdsk is eating all memory" series
of experiments. I was finding the memory usage of chkdsk changing,
from one run to the next, as a function of the "squeezing" process
and the second run of chkdsk then finding more free memory available
to (ab)use.

The Resource Monitor in Windows 7 is great for watching what
is going on. It's not the whole story, but it's good anyway.

Paul

 

[mechanic]

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps almost all your memory working for you all the
time.

Yes, amazing how some like to boast that their systems use 'only' a
couple of hundred MB, not realising that the system should use as
much memory as it can lay hands on.

 

[Rob]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

If you right click on the screen a window will pop up. Down the bottom
click - Gadgets. In there is a CPU meter - drag this to your desktop.
(CPU and RAM usage)

 

[BillW50]

In

See the other replies you've gotten, but let me ask why you want to do
this. If you are trying to minimize the amount of RAM in use, wanting
to minimize the amount of memory Windows uses is a counterproductive
desire. Windows is designed to use all, or nearly all, of your memory,
all the time, and that's good not bad. Free memory is wasted memory.
You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any of it wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps almost all your memory working for you all the
time.

What are you running Ken, that Windows gobbles up all available memory?
As Windows becomes very unproductive if it is using all of it. As it
would be constantly swapping between RAM <-> swapfile all of the time
when it needed a bit more memory.

Oddly enough, both my XP and Windows 7 machines (all 32-bit OS) use
about the same amount of RAM most of the time. And for me they use
between 800MB to 1GB. Only when you use a program that eats up lots of
RAM, does it ever increase. And frankly I don't see a lot of them.

 

[mechanic]

What are you running Ken, that Windows gobbles up all available
memory? As Windows becomes very unproductive if it is using all
of it. As it would be constantly swapping between RAM <->
swapfile all of the time when it needed a bit more memory.

Read the earlier post above again. Memory management in Windows has
(we're told) improved version by version.

 

[BillW50]

Read the earlier post above again. Memory management in Windows has
(we're told) improved version by version.

I don't doubt that the memory management in Windows has been improving
all of the time. About the amount of memory in use by the OS hasn't
changed on my systems since XP. Right now this Windows 7 is using 843MB
of RAM with 684MB free. This is the same average that XP runs for me
too. Windows 2000 was different, that one ran around 450MB in use for me
most of the time. Even after SP4 installed. Btw, I did read the whole
thread. ;-)

 

[Maurizio]

hello:

is there a tiny executable that let me know just the amount of free
and/or used RAM?
(I'm using ProcessExplorer but there is too much options).

thanks

Thank you all, it's just for curiosity reasons, I have 4GB RAM and I
read advertisements from time to time for systems with 6 or even 8 GB
I just like to know if this is real advantage or an imaginary one (like
complex numbers).

thanks again

 

[Tim Slattery]

Thank you all, it's just for curiosity reasons, I have 4GB RAM and I
read advertisements from time to time for systems with 6 or even 8 GB
I just like to know if this is real advantage or an imaginary one (like
complex numbers).

In order to use that much RAM you have to be running a 64-bit
operating system.

Yes, it is an advantage if you are running ram-hungry programs or many
programs at once. That's true even if you are running 32-bit programs.

 

[Rob]

In order to use that much RAM you have to be running a 64-bit
operating system.

Yes, it is an advantage if you are running ram-hungry programs or many
programs at once. That's true even if you are running 32-bit programs.

Here's a little table for Photoshop as an example
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

How much RAM can Photoshop access?

version OS version Maximum amount of RAM that Photoshop can use

CS4, CS5, 32 bit Windows 32 bit 1.7 GB
CS4, CS5, 32 bit Windows 64 bit 3.2 GB
CS4, CS5, 64 bit* Windows 64 bit As much RAM as you can fit in

as you can see a 32 bit PS operating under W x64 enables it to access
more ram.

Even though I haven't seem any figures would say this would apply to
most 32 bit programmes run under W x64 and allow each program itself to
access all the 3.2Gb's provided you have sufficient ram.

 

[Paul]

Here's a little table for Photoshop as an example
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

How much RAM can Photoshop access?

version OS version Maximum amount of RAM that Photoshop can use

CS4, CS5, 32 bit Windows 32 bit 1.7 GB
CS4, CS5, 32 bit Windows 64 bit 3.2 GB
CS4, CS5, 64 bit* Windows 64 bit As much RAM as you can fit in

as you can see a 32 bit PS operating under W x64 enables it to access
more ram.

Even though I haven't seem any figures would say this would apply to
most 32 bit programmes run under W x64 and allow each program itself to
access all the 3.2Gb's provided you have sufficient ram.

The first table here "Memory and Address Space Limits",
gives much the same information. The difference would be, the
Adobe results are measured, rather than theoretical.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

Paul

 

[Rob]

The first table here "Memory and Address Space Limits",
gives much the same information. The difference would be, the
Adobe results are measured, rather than theoretical.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

Paul

yep have read that site before, very technical, Adobe put it in plain
english.