# RAM Caching and other uses for extra unused RAM



## DreamReaver (Nov 22, 2011)

Was reading a review on the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme and in the review they had a bit about Why do I want 32GB of Memory?

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...xtreme-socket-2011-motherboard-review-18.html

And they mentioned RAM caching and the results where apparently outstanding.

Anyone have experience with RAM caching or recommend any good RAM caching programs if you think its worth it, so far I am leaning to (SuperCache5).

I am curious about this and want to learn more since i will be having 32GB in my new system that i am building.

Any info, suggestions, opinions appreciated. And any other useful ways to use the spare RAM are welcome.


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## AsRock (Nov 22, 2011)

DreamReaver said:


> Was reading a review on the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme and in the review they had a bit about Why do I want 32GB of Memory?
> 
> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...xtreme-socket-2011-motherboard-review-18.html
> 
> ...



I like using a ramdrive with hardlinks
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152930&highlight=hardlinks

You could use it for temp folders browser cache as well.  Using hardlinks will allow you to pick which files from a folder and  the actual file on the ramdrive..  Might get away with doing it with Startup apps too never tried it and would of thought you would be able to as long as you turned them off before hardlinking them.


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## W1zzard (Nov 22, 2011)

disk cache comes included with windows:







i doubt you'll see any noticeable difference in normal computer usage with 8 or 32 gb ram


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## AsRock (Nov 22, 2011)

W1zzard said:


> disk cache comes included with windows:
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111122/Capture095.jpg
> 
> i doubt you'll see any noticeable difference in normal computer usage with 8 or 32 gb ram



But that's what windows whats to cache not what you want to cache.

True,  it's not worth getting 32GB of ram for it. 


That ramdrive program in my link has some nice options although if the image is to big it slows the bootup down how ever it is nice to have things load up instantly.

Helps with my dedi arma server when a lot of information is required it does it instantly meaning no lag during the time people are on it.  Some may know if they played the crazy domination or even the evo when a town has been taken over a load more shit spawns.

So there is uses but it's limited.


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## Dent1 (Nov 22, 2011)

The more RAM you have, the more Windows will use for caching. It's that simple.

It's like when people say "Windows only needs 2GBs of ram"  - NO! It's just that when you've got only 2GBs of ram windows caches less to become more efficient.

When I had for 4GBs of ram only about 1-1.5GBs was used when idle. However since upgrading to 16GBs of ram the computer happily uses 3-4GBs of ram when idle. Because it wants to cache more!


BTW, can someone link me a tutorial on creating a RAM Drive in Vista. Thank You.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 22, 2011)

Win 7 works fine on 2 GB of ram where Vista Chocked on it. I say when WIndows Memory Manager cant handle anymore ram thats when its enough lol


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## Dent1 (Nov 22, 2011)

eidairaman1 said:


> Win 7 works fine on 2 GB of ram where Vista Chocked on it. I say when WIndows Memory Manager cant handle anymore ram thats when its enough lol



Vista runs fine on 2GBs of ram too, thats what I'm getting at. Any modern version of Windows, whether Vista or Win 7 will scale down the caching to compensate for the low RAM capacity. 

You can probably stick in 1GB of ram, the OS will just cache less so it looks like the ram is unutilised. Secretly the OS is saying to itself "Damn install more ram so I can cache more you idiot!".


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## Dent1 (Nov 22, 2011)

Just took this screenshot just now. The computer is idle but noticed that windows has cached a redicious amount of files, 7,686  cached. 3.27GBs used.  It only cached so much because I have enough ram to back it up (16GBs).  Had I only had 2GBs or 4GB of RAM, the cached amount would of been <2,000 like in Wizards screenshot.


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## AsRock (Nov 22, 2011)

Dent1 said:


> Just took this screenshot just now. The computer is idle but noticed that windows has cached a redicious amount of files, 7,686  cached. 3.27GBs used.  It only cached so much because I have enough ram to back it up (16GBs).  Had I only had 2GBs or 4GB of RAM, the cached amount would of been <2,000 like in Wizards screenshot.
> 
> http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2645/23120433.jpg



Maybe in your case windows has hit that limit of caching for whats on your system. My other system has 12GB and windows will cache every single bit it can get hold off..  Although still  i can use a ramdrive and make what I want faster not what it decides.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 22, 2011)

be cool to be able to cache certain programs like games and leave the rest uncached, or for that matter when a game loads it caches those tasks and the game itself important to proper operation of the game and network itself. Plus stops all tasks not needed for the game, aka force stops them.

Tbh whens the last time anyone has had a major system infection from a worm, virus, bug, script. The last time anything major was going on was during the Days of Windows XP, other than that it seems that stuff has pretty much died off. and I still suspect that Antivirus/security companies are producing majority of the foul code just to test their own software.


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## Dent1 (Nov 22, 2011)

eidairaman1 said:


> be cool to be able to cache certain programs like games and leave the rest uncached, or for that matter when a game loads it caches those tasks and the game itself important to proper operation of the game and network itself. Plus stops all tasks not needed for the game, aka force stops them.



I would test it myself but I'm way too lazy. Plus only have 16GBs of ram, Battlefield 3 is like 11GBs alone for the installation - If someone can find a review on that I would love to read it.




eidairaman1 said:


> Tbh whens the last time anyone has had a major system infection from a worm, virus, bug, script. The last time anything major was going on was during the Days of Windows XP, other than that it seems that stuff has pretty much died off. and I still suspect that Antivirus/security companies are producing majority of the foul code just to test their own software.



Agreed!

Edit: found a video, if you look carefully they have Origin/BF3 installed directly on the RAM Drive! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf_nY2hpSH0


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 22, 2011)

what i was sayin is it necessary to have an AV anymore, seems the only major thing is spyware


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