Vista - Vista Taskmanager

Why is "System Cache" in Physical Memory so large, and "Free" memory so small?

Is there a way to throttle "System Cache"

"John" <John@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:39EE8C91-859B-4553-9FF9-E66F605F2D23@microsoft.com...
> Why is "System Cache" in Physical Memory so large, and "Free" memory so
> small?
>
> Is there a way to throttle "System Cache"

Cache is freed up as more memory is required for applications so you do not
need to do anything,
This is by design to ensure the maximum cache is used where ever possible.
(Think about it - why have free memory when you can use it for the running
apps then if they start more apps reduce the system cache for those new
running apps etc)
For example my x64 system with 4GB of RAM and only 4 apps open has only 7MB
of free memory but 2GB of system cache - but as I open more applications the
system cache reduces, so my free memory is usually close to zero but cache
shrinks as needed.

--

Mike Brannigan

Mike Brannigan wrote:
> "John" <John@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:39EE8C91-859B-4553-9FF9-E66F605F2D23@microsoft.com...
>> Why is "System Cache" in Physical Memory so large, and "Free" memory
>> so small?
>>
>> Is there a way to throttle "System Cache"
>
> Cache is freed up as more memory is required for applications so you do
> not need to do anything,
> This is by design to ensure the maximum cache is used where ever possible.
> (Think about it - why have free memory when you can use it for the
> running apps then if they start more apps reduce the system cache for
> those new running apps etc)
> For example my x64 system with 4GB of RAM and only 4 apps open has only
> 7MB of free memory but 2GB of system cache - but as I open more
> applications the system cache reduces, so my free memory is usually
> close to zero but cache shrinks as needed.
>

John - Mike Brannigan has given you an elegant, thorough answer. Here's
another, blunter one:
The days of DOS and Win9x/ME are over. With modern operating systems
unused memory is wasted memory. So tinker with something else. ;-)

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User