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Why Use Virtual Memory In Modern Systems?

Posted by timothy on from the virtually-useless dept.

Cyberhwk writes "I have a system with Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) installed on it, and it has 4GB of RAM. However when I've been watching system performance, my system seems to divide the work between the physical RAM and the virtual memory, so I have 2GB of data in the virtual memory and another 2GB in the physical memory. Is there a reason why my system should even be using the virtual memory anymore? I would think the computer would run better if it based everything off of RAM instead of virtual memory. Any thoughts on this matter or could you explain why the system is acting this way?"

7 of 983 comments (clear)

  1. Vista reserves 1 GB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Vista reserves 1 GB to itself, so your system will only ever have 3 GB available for processes.

    1. Re:Vista reserves 1 GB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      You can even install and run Vista on a computer with 1Gb ram and no page file. And run applications. So it doesn't reserve 1Gb for itself and thus, your myth is busted.

      No you can't. Microsoft doesn't even claim to support such a ridiculously limited configuration, and you've clearly never tried it yourself, and thus, your myth is busted.

      Take your astroturfing elsewhere.

  2. Re:Turn it off, then! by jon3k · · Score: -1, Troll

    Who said anything about a swapfile? We're talking about virtual memory.

    "Note that "virtual memory" is not just "using disk space to extend physical memory size"."

  3. Re:Only 4 GB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yah, it needs 4GB so that Firefox can hog up 1.5GB doing jack shit.

  4. Re:You mean physical memory right :-) by Creepy · · Score: 0, Troll

    You and grandparent obviously haven't worked tech support. The only time you really get angry is when you get your third call in a row for something like a full reinstall of Windows while management is monitoring your call times (and each takes 2-3 hours - so much for your 20 minute average).

    What you do realize is 99% of the human population is dumber than headless chickens. Then you gather up all the idiotic stories from the people you talked to that day and share them in the break room. The old jokes about the footpedal, drink holder, and trying to use the computer in a blackout? Not even scratching the surface of people I've talked to on tech support...

  5. Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    What is this Windows Vista Ultimate of which you speak?

  6. Bloathware by eiapoce · · Score: 0, Troll

    I have a system with Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) installed on it

    If you install this bloathware then you have to expect that 4Gb is not enought...