Question Laptop ram vs pc ram

[smalltech]

Hi,

Q1. My Win 10 pro pc has 32gb ram and I use 68% Memory, 21.7gb In use, as seen in Task Manager

https://imgur.com/VoPiea2

View: https://i.imgur.com/VoPiea2.png
, does it mean if I have 16gb in my pc, my pc would hang/stuck or become very slow or browser crash auto close or not responding because 21.7gb has exceeded 16gb, am I correct?

Q2. If I want to buy a laptop and use the exact same software and same usage pattern like what I do in the pc, does it mean I would need 32gb ram for a laptop? I am not sure if laptop ram and pc ram performance are similar or not.

Thanks

 

[zinkles]

Hi,

Q1. My Win 10 pro pc has 32gb ram and I use 68% Memory, 21.7gb In use, as seen in Task Manager

https://imgur.com/VoPiea2

View: https://i.imgur.com/VoPiea2.png
, does it mean if I have 16gb in my pc, my pc would hang/stuck or become very slow or browser crash auto close because 21.7gb has exceed 16gb, am I correct?

Q2. If I want to buy a laptop and use the exact same software and same usage pattern like what I do in the pc, does it mean I would need 32gb ram for a laptop? I am not sure if laptop ram and pc ram performance are similar or not.

Thanks

1) The computer is unlikely to crash, but would become slow and laggy. (it might hang, in some cases)
Since the RAM is full it needs to use something called a page file, where, the content that's usually written to RAM is written to the storage device.
Also, since you're limited on RAM, the apps are forced to use as little RAM as possible, so things feel even slower.

2) Yes. for a specific workload on a given OS, there is a required amount of RAM. You can expect that required amount of RAM to be similar on both laptop and PC running the same Windows version. So, in short, you'll need a RAM capacity which is higher than your current workload for it to be properly functional.

 

[smalltech]

Since the RAM is full it needs to use something called a page file, where, the content that's usually written to RAM is written to the storage device.

Is the page file same as virtual memory?

I read https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-memory-low-heres-fix/

How much maximum virtual memory is allowed?

In my PC I see Virtual Memory Currently allocated: 18700MB screenshot

https://imgur.com/ncvKOpP

View: https://i.imgur.com/ncvKOpP.png


Does it mean if I have 16GB ram in my PC and the same PC needs 21.7gb In use, it will be able to cope because I guess 16GB Ram+18.7GB Virtual Memory=34.7GB means 34.7GB total memory is available?

 

[zinkles]

Is the page file same as virtual memory?

I read https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-memory-low-heres-fix/

How much maximum virtual memory is allowed?

In my PC I see Virtual Memory Currently allocated: 18700MB screenshot

https://imgur.com/ncvKOpP

View: https://i.imgur.com/ncvKOpP.png


Does it mean if I have 16GB ram in my PC and the same PC needs 21.7gb In use, it will be able to cope because I guess 16GB Ram+18.7GB Virtual Memory=34.7GB means 34.7GB total memory is available?

Technically, yes, but I cant assure it since I cant test it.

What is your storage device?
Since it depends on the storage, if its slow, the performance is gonna be extremely poor. Even if it's fast, I don't think performance will be smooth.

The max allowed virtual memory, as I read on other places, is in the terabyte range (?) can someone confirm? -----

 

[smalltech]

C drive (windows installed) is Samsung 990 Pro SSD, D drive (data files) is 3.5 inch 4GB WD Blue HDD

Does "storage device" mean Samsung 990 Pro SSD or 3.5 inch 4GB WD Blue HDD in my case?

 

[boju]

Pagefile is virtual memory, it's the file Windows creates if/when don't have enough ram. Pagefile ran off an SSD is much faster than HDDs albeit ram is always faster so get what you need.

Allowing Windows to self manage pagefile will auto compensate for lack of ram, though it's not perfect, the pagefile can still grow regardless if have enough ram. It's only a concern if worried about write endurance or lack of space on drive it's created on, that'll cause performance issues. It's recommended to keep at least 20% free on an SSD with Windows/ pagefile on it.

 

[geofelt]

Not to worry.

Every display of task master memory from any pc will show similar 68% use.
That is because windows keeps unused code in ram in anticipation of immediate reuse. It keeps a un allocated reserve of the remainder.

The test for sufficient ram is if windows needs to swap code in and out because of ram shortage.
Look at task monitor/resource monitor when under load.
Look at the memory tab and the hard page fault column.
If you see a persistent hard fault page rate of more than zero, you can use more ram.

 

[smalltech]

Not to worry.

Every display of task master memory from any pc will show similar 68% use.
That is because windows keeps unused code in ram in anticipation of immediate reuse. It keeps a un allocated reserve of the remainder.

The test for sufficient ram is if windows needs to swap code in and out because of ram shortage.
Look at task monitor/resource monitor when under load.
Look at the memory tab and the hard page fault column.
If you see a persistent hard fault page rate of more than zero, you can use more ram.

Task monitor/resource monitor, memory tab, hard page fault column, where can I see these items?

 

[rgd1101]

how many browser tab do you have open?

 

[smalltech]

how many browser tab do you have open?

A few hundreds, it depends, not fixed, maybe sometimes near to 100 or sometimes near to 900.

 

[geofelt]

Press alt/Cntrl/delete at the same time and you will open task manager.
At the bottom of the task manager display, click on resource monitor.
Select the memory tab.
look at the hard faults/sec column.

Google is a ram hog.
Hundreds of open tabs is going to be a problem.
If the contents of a tab go unused for a while, it will be swapped out to the page file. Hopefully on a ssd.
When you access that tab again later, it will need to be swapped in.
I would expect your ssd/page file to be exceptionally busy.

Edited for typo (Alt/cntl/del)

 

[boju]

A few hundreds, it depends, not fixed, maybe sometimes near to 100 or sometimes near to 900.

I seen high memory usage with your browsers and assumed for productivity reasons but 900 tabs? How do you fit all of that on screen, they be like a millimetre in width wouldn't they to keep with in aspect ratio? How would you know what's what with so many lol? There is a favorites feature you know lol.

 

[smalltech]

Press alt/tab/delete at the same time and you will open task manager.
At the bottom of the task manager display, click on resource monitor.
Select the memory tab.
look at the hard faults/sec column.

Google is a ram hog.
Hundreds of open tabs is going to be a problem.
If the contents of a tab go unused for a while, it will be swapped out to the page file. Hopefully on a ssd.
When you access that tab again later, it will need to be swapped in.
I would expect your ssd/page file to be exceptionally busy.

I think alt+tab+delete is a typo error, it does not open task manager.
I press ctrl+shift+esc key at the same time to open task manager, click performance tab, at the bottom click open resource manager, click memory tab, look at hard faults/sec column, i see only msedge.exe row has number 2 or 1, other rows are 0, What does 2 or 1 or 0 mean?

C drive (windows 10 installed here) is Samsung 990 Pro SSD, D drive (store data files) is 3.5 inch 4GB WD Blue HDD, is my page file on C drive or D drive?

screenshot

https://imgur.com/YRtdwHy

View: https://i.imgur.com/YRtdwHy.png

 

[smalltech]

I seen high memory usage with your browsers and assumed for productivity reasons but 900 tabs? How do you fit all of that on screen, they be like a millimetre in width wouldn't they to keep with in aspect ratio? How would you know what's what with so many lol? There is a favorites feature you know lol.

I do not look at all tabs at the same time, most of the tabs are left opened but untouched (tab contents not displayed on screen. only the top of the tab can be seen on top tabs bar) because I need to refer to while I do research. It will waste time if I need to reopen them from favourites, I will need to scroll to look for the correct article I viewed previously and I need to click a few tabs to open a few urls in favourites because they might have similar titles and need time for them to load. If the articles are already opened tabs I can quickly just click once to see if the opened tab is the correct article I need, just a few clicks I can get back to the article I want.

Some articles/forums/videos tabs I leave it aside because I have no time to read them all at that moment or I need to refer to it later. For example, I am researching for a new pc, I search for sn770 vs sn850x hard disk, opened some tabs with articles/forum/video, some of them need too much time to read so I just leave it aside first, while reading I read about sn770 no dram so i search for sn770 no dram problem and open some tabs opened some tabs with articles/forum/video, some of them need too much time to read so I just leave it aside first, while reading I read about samsung 980 pro and samsung 990 pro are better with dram so I search for samsung 980 pro vs samsung 990 pro some of them need too much time to read so I just leave it aside first, while reading I read about samsung 980 pro and samsung 990 pro has firmware problems so I search for are the samsung 980 pro and samsung 990 pro issues fixed today. There are a lot of tabs opened just to research for hard disk, then I might open another window to research other components. I need time to think about stuff and check prices etc so a lot of tabs are opened while I do research.

 

[boju]

Fair enough

You are R-man
Research man

 

[geofelt]

I think alt+tab+delete is a typo error, it does not open task manager.
I press ctrl+shift+esc key at the same time to open task manager, click performance tab, at the bottom click open resource manager, click memory tab, look at hard faults/sec column, i see only msedge.exe row has number 2 or 1, other rows are 0, screenshot

https://imgur.com/YRtdwHy

View: https://i.imgur.com/YRtdwHy.png


C drive (windows 10 installed here) is Samsung 990 Pro SSD, D drive (store data files) is 3.5 inch 4GB WD Blue HDD, is my page file on C drive or D drive?

You are correct, alt/cntl/delete opens task manager.