[Infowarrior] - Most Windows 7 PCs max out memory

[Richard Forno]

Most Windows 7 PCs max out memory
Most Windows 7 systems consume nearly all RAM; less than half of XP  
PCs do
Gregg Keizer

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9158258/Most_Windows_7_PCs_max_out_memory
February 17, 2010 (Computerworld) Most Windows 7 PCs max out their  
memory, resulting in performance bottlenecks, a researcher said today.

Citing data from Devil Mountain Software's community-based  
Exo.performance.network (XPnet), Craig Barth, the company's chief  
technology officer, said that new metrics reveal an unsettling trend.  
On average, 86% of Windows  7 machines in the XPnet pool are regularly  
consuming 90%-95% of their available RAM, resulting in slow-downs as  
the systems were forced to increasingly turn to disk-based virtual  
memory to handle tasks.

The 86% mark for Windows 7 is more than twice the average number of  
Windows XP machines that run at the memory "saturation" point, said  
Barth. The most recent snapshot of XPnet's 23,000-plus PCs -- taken  
yesterday -- pegs only 40% of XP systems as running low on memory.

"The vast majority of Windows 7 machines over the last several months  
are very heavily-memory saturated," said Barth today. "From a  
performance standpoint, that has an immediate impact on the machine."

The low-memory condition of most Windows 7 PCs is even more notable  
considering the amount of RAM in Windows 7 systems: According to  
XPnet's polling, Windows 7 PCs sport an average of 3.3GB of memory,  
compared to 1.7GB in the average Windows XP computer. (Machines  
running Windows Vista contain an average of 2.7GB.)

"Windows 7 machines have almost twice as much memory to work with,"  
said Barth, "but the numbers show just how much larger and more  
complex Windows 7 is than XP."

Barth acknowledged that XPnet's data couldn't determine whether the  
memory usage was by the operating system itself, or an increased  
number of applications, but said that Devil Mountain would start  
working on finding which is the dominant factor in increased memory use.

Other data that Devil Mountain collates as part of a new metric dubbed  
"Windows Composite Performance Index" (WCPI) quantifies peak processor  
workload and I/O performance. Both of those measurements are also  
higher for Windows 7 systems than for XP machines. While 85% of the  
former are running at peak I/O loads, only 36% of the latter do; the  
numbers for CPU workload are closer, as 44% of Windows 7 computers are  
running a computational backlog that delays processing tasks, compared  
to 36% of the XP systems.

"This is alarming," Barth said of Windows 7 machines' resource  
consumption. "For the OS to be pushing the hardware limits this  
quickly is amazing. Windows 7 is not the lean, mean version of Vista  
that you may think it is."

Long-time computer users are more familiar with the opposite: that  
hardware stays ahead of operating system requirements. "On current- 
generation hardware right out of the gate, Windows 7 is maxing out the  
resources. The old trend just isn't the case anymore. Now, everything  
that Intel giveth, Microsoft taketh away," Barth said.

"I think this is something that everyone in their gut knew, but now we  
have data," said Barth. "The metrics don't lie."

Users who want to compare their computers to the current WCPI numbers  
can do so by registering with XPnet and then installing the DMS  
Clarity Tracker Agent from Devil Mountain's site.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers  
and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg  
on Twitter at