Memory usage, PIII vs P4 or portable vs desktop, or ......

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi,

This is, I'm assuming, not a Dell question as such, but as both machines
happen to be Dells, here I am... ;-)

I have been monitoring memory usage on two PCs to gather info. re. a RAM
upgrade, and found discrepancies in the amount of memory amodule takes
on two PCs.

1) Dell Dimension 8300, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM
2) Dell Latitude CPxJ, PIII 750MHz, 512MB RAM

If I run task manager and look at the processes tab, on each machine,
they show that similar processes are using different amounts of memory.

Examples
avgcc.exe uses 10,860K on the Dimension, and 9,500K on the Latitude
zlclient.exe 3,196 2,820
services.exe 3,136 2,936
taskmgr.exe 4,396 3,548

avgcc.exe is part of the AVG anti-virus package and I'd assume that it
would use the same amount of memory on any machine. That assumption is
wrong, obviously, but why should that be?

Any thoughts?

Regards, John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Which operating systems are you running? Possibly AVG takes up more memory on
one OS version than the other. Possibly AVG configures itself to use more
memory when the system has more available.

If you want to experiment a bit, remove 512MB from the Dimension 8300 and see
how much memory AVG consumes... Ben Myers

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:14:35 GMT, John Fryatt <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>This is, I'm assuming, not a Dell question as such, but as both machines
>happen to be Dells, here I am... ;-)
>
>I have been monitoring memory usage on two PCs to gather info. re. a RAM
>upgrade, and found discrepancies in the amount of memory amodule takes
>on two PCs.
>
>1) Dell Dimension 8300, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM
>2) Dell Latitude CPxJ, PIII 750MHz, 512MB RAM
>
>If I run task manager and look at the processes tab, on each machine,
>they show that similar processes are using different amounts of memory.
>
>Examples
> avgcc.exe uses 10,860K on the Dimension, and 9,500K on the Latitude
> zlclient.exe 3,196 2,820
> services.exe 3,136 2,936
> taskmgr.exe 4,396 3,548
>
>avgcc.exe is part of the AVG anti-virus package and I'd assume that it
>would use the same amount of memory on any machine. That assumption is
>wrong, obviously, but why should that be?
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Regards, John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ah, yes good point. Both run Windows XP Pro.

I actually only gave AVG as an example - every process shown takes more
memory on the Dimension/P4 machine than the Latitude/PIII.

Unfortunately I can't take 512MB out of the Dimension. Memory has to be
installed in pairs of DImms and I have 2x 512MB.

John


Ben Myers wrote:
> Which operating systems are you running? Possibly AVG takes up more memory on
> one OS version than the other. Possibly AVG configures itself to use more
> memory when the system has more available.
>
> If you want to experiment a bit, remove 512MB from the Dimension 8300 and see
> how much memory AVG consumes... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:14:35 GMT, John Fryatt <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>This is, I'm assuming, not a Dell question as such, but as both machines
>>happen to be Dells, here I am... ;-)
>>
>>I have been monitoring memory usage on two PCs to gather info. re. a RAM
>>upgrade, and found discrepancies in the amount of memory amodule takes
>>on two PCs.
>>
>>1) Dell Dimension 8300, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM
>>2) Dell Latitude CPxJ, PIII 750MHz, 512MB RAM
>>
>>If I run task manager and look at the processes tab, on each machine,
>>they show that similar processes are using different amounts of memory.
>>
>>Examples
>> avgcc.exe uses 10,860K on the Dimension, and 9,500K on the Latitude
>> zlclient.exe 3,196 2,820
>> services.exe 3,136 2,936
>> taskmgr.exe 4,396 3,548
>>
>>avgcc.exe is part of the AVG anti-virus package and I'd assume that it
>>would use the same amount of memory on any machine. That assumption is
>>wrong, obviously, but why should that be?
>>
>>Any thoughts?
>>
>>Regards, John
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Work expands to fill the time available. Software expands to fill the memory
available. That's the way it is with Windows... Ben Myers

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:40:13 GMT, John Fryatt <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>Ah, yes good point. Both run Windows XP Pro.
>
>I actually only gave AVG as an example - every process shown takes more
>memory on the Dimension/P4 machine than the Latitude/PIII.
>
>Unfortunately I can't take 512MB out of the Dimension. Memory has to be
>installed in pairs of DImms and I have 2x 512MB.
>
>John
>
>
>Ben Myers wrote:
>> Which operating systems are you running? Possibly AVG takes up more memory on
>> one OS version than the other. Possibly AVG configures itself to use more
>> memory when the system has more available.
>>
>> If you want to experiment a bit, remove 512MB from the Dimension 8300 and see
>> how much memory AVG consumes... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:14:35 GMT, John Fryatt <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>This is, I'm assuming, not a Dell question as such, but as both machines
>>>happen to be Dells, here I am... ;-)
>>>
>>>I have been monitoring memory usage on two PCs to gather info. re. a RAM
>>>upgrade, and found discrepancies in the amount of memory amodule takes
>>>on two PCs.
>>>
>>>1) Dell Dimension 8300, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM
>>>2) Dell Latitude CPxJ, PIII 750MHz, 512MB RAM
>>>
>>>If I run task manager and look at the processes tab, on each machine,
>>>they show that similar processes are using different amounts of memory.
>>>
>>>Examples
>>> avgcc.exe uses 10,860K on the Dimension, and 9,500K on the Latitude
>>> zlclient.exe 3,196 2,820
>>> services.exe 3,136 2,936
>>> taskmgr.exe 4,396 3,548
>>>
>>>avgcc.exe is part of the AVG anti-virus package and I'd assume that it
>>>would use the same amount of memory on any machine. That assumption is
>>>wrong, obviously, but why should that be?
>>>
>>>Any thoughts?
>>>
>>>Regards, John
>>
>>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I don't remember the particulars, but I believe the difference is the
architecture of the P3 vs. the P4.

I seem to remember that the P4 forces applications to full word (32-bit)
boundaries as often as possible for the purpose of efficiency. I believe the
P3 does so less often. So, the P4 sacrifices memory for performance.

Tom
"John Fryatt" <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:hpoZd.843$nq3.827@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
> Ah, yes good point. Both run Windows XP Pro.
>
> I actually only gave AVG as an example - every process shown takes more
> memory on the Dimension/P4 machine than the Latitude/PIII.
>
> Unfortunately I can't take 512MB out of the Dimension. Memory has to be
> installed in pairs of DImms and I have 2x 512MB.
>
> John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I haven't found a definitive answer to this, but it seems to be tied in
to the amount of memory available and how Windows decides to allocate
memory to processes, page stuff in/out etc.
To really understand I think a lot more erading is needed, along with an
ice-pack for my brain, so I'll probably leave it there.

Tom Scales wrote:
> I don't remember the particulars, but I believe the difference is the
> architecture of the P3 vs. the P4.
>
> I seem to remember that the P4 forces applications to full word (32-bit)
> boundaries as often as possible for the purpose of efficiency. I believe the
> P3 does so less often. So, the P4 sacrifices memory for performance.
>
> Tom
> "John Fryatt" <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:hpoZd.843$nq3.827@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
>
>>Ah, yes good point. Both run Windows XP Pro.
>>
>>I actually only gave AVG as an example - every process shown takes more
>>memory on the Dimension/P4 machine than the Latitude/PIII.
>>
>>Unfortunately I can't take 512MB out of the Dimension. Memory has to be
>>installed in pairs of DImms and I have 2x 512MB.
>>
>>John
>
>
>