# Cached RAM



## kookooshortman55

I have 3GB of PC-5300 RAM. In my task manager it says I am only using 1.08GB of RAM, but I only have a couple megabytes of free physical memory (PB). Does this mean I need to get more RAM. I was considering getting 4GB of PC-6400 RAM but I am confused because my task manager says I'm only using 1/3 of my RAM, but I need more.


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## The_Other_One

Well first off, you can't use more than about 3.25GB unless you upgrade to a 64-bit OS.  If you right-click on my computer and go to properties, how much RAM does it show there?  If it doesn't show 3GB, check your BIOS and/or the RAM on your motherboard.  Be sure it's inserted correctly and it's all working properly.


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## kookooshortman55

It says I have 3GB of RAM. I was just wondering what the Physical Memory was in the Task Manager. It says 

Total: 3069
Cached: ~2350
Free: ~20

I was wondering what the free physical memory was and whether or not it was good to have it all cached. Well since my mobo supports PC-6400, would it be a worthy upgrade? Even if Vista can only use 3.5GB, the increased speed would help wouldn't it?


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## TrainTrackHack

If I were you I'd disable the pagefile.


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## kookooshortman55

What is that and what does that do? Haha will it make my computer go faster?


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## TrainTrackHack

> What is that and what does that do? Haha will it make my computer go faster?


Pagefile is what will be used when you run out of memory, but since hard drives are much slower than actual RAM using pagefiles rather than real RAM slows the computer down. You probably won't see a lot of, if any, performance increase but it saves HD space and at least you can be sure that the pagefile isn't being used - makes me feel a lot better, at least. 3GB is plenty of RAM, you shouldn't need a pagefile.


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## kookooshortman55

Oh okay well thanks for the info. How do I go about disabling this? And would I benefit from faster RAM? Or benefit much. PC-6400 RAM goes on sale all the time at Fry's Electronics. I've seen 4GB packs for $60 and 2GB packs for $25.


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## TrainTrackHack

Faster RAM is only going to give you marginal performance gains, if any at all, and even if it does you won't notice it. What sticks do you have? If you have 2x1GB and 2x512MB then it's not worth buying new memory since you can have these in dual-channel, but if you have 3 1GB sticks you could buy a set of identical sticks for dual-channel, though it still isn't going to give any significant performance gains.
To disable pagefiles,
1. Go to system properties
2. Go to "Advanced" tab
3. Under the "Performance" section, click "Settings"
4. Go to "Advanced" tab
5. Under the "Virtual Memory" section, click "Change"
6. For all drives that have a page file on them, check "No Paging File" and click "Set"
7. Press OK, Reboot, and you should be set

This is the procedure for XP Pro but if I remember correctly it's pretty much the same for Vista.


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## kookooshortman55

Okay I disabled page file. My computer freaked out saying it's dangerous but it worked. Haha, and those steps work for Vista too. I have 3x1GB sticks. Here's my mobo specs.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01080282&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3623529&lang=en


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## TrainTrackHack

If I were you, I'd just get a single 1GB stick so you can run your current memory in dual-channel, that gives you a tiny bit of performance increase due to having double the memory bandwidth, and the extra few hundred megabytes of capacity it can utilize may also help a little.


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## kookooshortman55

Okay thanks! That is definitely cheaper! Haha


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## kookooshortman55

Okay I have a new problem. I was playing Battlefield 2 and the game crashed. A while later system said that the computer had run out of memory and had to close the game. I know enabling the page file would give more RAM but it would be slow. I basically have two options. Buy 4GB of faster RAM PC-6400, or complete the dual channel RAM and get one more GB of PC-5300. Regardless of price, which would give the better performance impact. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a new gfx card, the 8800GT. It would give a bit more dedicated graphics memory.


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## TrainTrackHack

Now that sounds weird... try opening the Task Manager and go to the performance tab. How much memory does it report being used? Don't close the task manager, but start gaming and see if it crashes again. If it does, see if memory usage REALLY went up to 3GB.

As for the performance increase, the PC-6400 kit would, of course, be faster, but isn't going to give any real-life performance increase. Having your memory in dual channel already doubles the memory bandwidth, the little extra bandwidth a little faster kit would provide would be comparably small and won't be needed. 

Of course, knowing the latencies of the RAM you're considering buying and the sticks you already have could help.


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## kookooshortman55

I don't know anything about latency. I was about to look at the thread on this site, but it was like a page long so I didn't. However when I got CPU-Z to check stats, I noticed it was at 5-5-5-15. Right now, total memory used is 1.43GB. Still 2 MB of Free Physical memory. 

I think I know what the issue is. It's in a post called Dedicated Memory. My computer set my unused RAM as video memory. I now have 1.5GB of RAM on my 8600GT. I remember there was a setting to change the dedicated memory back though. I just can't remember where. I'm sure that is my problem. That would apparently free up another GB of RAM, and I will also look into buying one more GB.


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## kookooshortman55

During gameplay my Memory usage went up from 1.33GB to 2.33GB. When I minimized the game I noticed the warning saying the computer needs to shut down BF2 to make more memory, but it didn't shut the game down. If anyone knows how to undedicate system RAM please let me know. Or at least let me know if you know what I'm talking about.


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## TrainTrackHack

OK those latencies could certainly be better, but they aren't too bad. IMO you'd be better off with a single 1GB stick - but considering how cheap RAM is, if you have the money, you may as well buy a new 4GB set of PC2-6400. Just make sure that the latencies of the new RAM (if you're buying, that is) are no higher than 5-5-5-15, 4-4-4-15 or 4-4-4-12 would be even better. This because lower latency=faster speed and it's not really worth buying higher-latency RAM as it's going to give very little performance increse and ain't worth it. But again, IMO a single 1GB stick would be better - just get the cheapest you can find.


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## kookooshortman55

Okay I found 1GB of the exact same RAM for $20 on NewEgg. 

This is the cheapest I could find the 4GB of 6400 for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220267

So per GB, the 6400 RAM is the same price, I would just have to replace all of mine. And how do I re enable the page file? I disabled it and now all of my games keep freezing. I went back to the page file and it asks for an initial and a maximum. Oh and that RAM in the link that I provided has 4-4-4-12 timing. For the money, would that be better than just completing the 4GB of 5300?


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