Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Vista's memory management


This is just the basic thing, which shows two new features ...Superfetch and Readyboost.

Superfetch - Reminds me of OS
Superfetch keeps track of applications dat you execute often and even in a sequence..Suppose everytime you start up your system and run an application,say the messenger, what superfetch does is, it keeps a track of this and puts these applications into the main memory the next time you boot up.. So what this basically translates is to start a chat session with your friend faster ..nd if Vista is reaaaly intelligent, it may even keep track of the users u chat to often which again translates even faster conversations.
Windows will not give Superfetch priority over a task that requests memory. Since the reader is well versed in Operating system and memory management, its very clear that data is preferably kept in memory(RAM) than in a slow hard drive (don't say 'my hard drive is fast', any hard drive is SLOW compared to RAM, contact rj for more info). The pic shows a normal PC, CPU->RAM->HDD.

Maybe this is why Vista needs so much RAM !!!
Superfetch needs certain amount of RAM memory of its own...so u run Vista(superfetch) and some 3-4 applications and ur 512MB of RAM is over. There is no more space to cache application data, so all the hype and advantages mentioned above is almost useless on ur 512MB of ram.. 1 GB will be enough to better performance frm XP, by using Superfetch....but to see the total potential 2GB will be enough (yeah, ENOUGH, not enough and more).
Most of our systems have 512 or 1GB ram, so MS ppl found a way to expand RAM without having us to buy more RAM chips.

Readyboost - It's just using what we always had with us ,but we just threw it around on the table, the bed and all other places.

Its the memory stick. The thing you connect to ur USB ports(pen drive,USB drive, whatever you call it). The thing is simple - instead of using 1 GB RAM, use the 1 GB flash memory that was simply lying on your bed. Flash memories dont have high data transfer rates, but what they have is quick access times. So memory expansion using flash drives does help...and its easy.. Just plug in your USB stick and the 'autoplay' window comes up(the one with options for opening da folder, play in media player nd all)..all u need is a click of a button which almost translates to more RAM....compare that with installing more RAM chips onto ur system...the easiness is obvious(i.e. if you have ever tried adding more RAM to ur mother board).






















If you gotta 1GB USB drive, you can either allot the whole 1GB or a part of it for Readyboost.
(in the pic, chk out wat Windows jusst RECOMMENDS).

The graphs
If you have read anything uptil now, the graph can be understood easily..and if you are the see-thru-the-pics kind of person...here's what it means... THE MORE OFTEN YOU RUN A PROGRAM, THE FASTER IT STARTS UP..hence lesser time, hence the length of the bars is lesser (the high-res pic cant b uploaded it seems,had to scale it, so poor image quality..sorry abt dat.)

In the end...
Below 1 GB ram, no need to upgrade to Vista..or rather superfetch doesnt work in its true colours
1 GB means sufficient
2 GB means your dad is quite rich.
>2 GB, don't waste time studying, you can live your entire life on your dad's money

On a more serious note, Superfetch asks for memory, Readyboost gives it using ur USB 2.0 pen drives..simple as that..next time somone asks you about memory management, make sure you dont say anything short of the memory management in Vista...cheers nd if they ask anything else regarding memory management.

*-*-PeAcE-*-*

Refernce: www.tomshardware.com

8 comments:

Rajiv Nair said...

didnt knw about ready boost...........brand new info dat is. Still i feel vista is a bit overpriced at 200+ USD for a basic edition. I dont think there still is a compelling reason to by more hardware and move to vista when xp or linux is doing the job pretty fine. Even for gaming DirectX 10 games hit the market late 2007 and i can only imagine about the prices for a DX10 video card. And if its just the user interface(aero) which is compelling you to move, XGL+linux is THE way to go:)

shadow said...

pretty good post!!

kartoos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kartoos said...

really coooool post..dint get bored at all :-)

sk said...

@rj - u speak as if u buy authentic software....hope microsoft dint read dat :d

@asb nd indu -danx

@the person whose post is said to have been 'removed by the author' : i dint do anything, either u deleted it urslf or rj is playin God here ;)

Rajiv Nair said...

no i dont buy authentic software:D. But as far as ive read maintain a pirated vista can turn to be quite a nightmare compared to XP. Its coz vista goes into the so called "reduced functionality mode" if it fails a check or something. And no i am not playing GOD here. It clearly says the comment was removed by the "author".

Rajiv Nair said...

author of the comment i.e

kartoos said...

poor rj...lt him live peacefully with his amd...it was me who deleted..coz of a spllin mistake or smethin n i cmmented again den :-)