XP x64 - starved for RAM when handling large files?

[Guest Homer J. Simpson]

Hi all,

 

For the past couple of months, my XP x64 system (Athlon X2 4800 w/2GB RAM)

has been getting awfully slow when processing large files. For example,

burning multi-GB files (I alternate between Nero and ImgBurn), copying large

files across my LAN, extracting files with WinRAR or running a repair job

with QuickPar. The 'Available Physical Memory' figure under the Performance

tab in Task Manager can drop to 20MB or so (20,000--the value is expressed

in KB), and as soon as these operations stop, it'll jump right back up to

maybe 1.2GB, where it more typically hovers in day-to-day operations. The

pagefile usage graph typically stays at around maybe 1.2-1.6GB (even when it

gets bogged down like I've described), depending on what I'm doing.

 

It's only when I do these operations with large files that the available

physical memory figure drops down to nothing and then the hard drive starts

going nuts. I've seen it take upwards of 12-15 minutes (hard drive light

stays on solid) to extracting a 4GB RAR file--something that used to barely

take 2-3 minutes on that same machine, if that much.

 

The hardware configuration hasn't changed in a *very* long time. It's

difficult for me to blame the hardware, as this system used to fly and I

used to be able to multitask (doing these same tasks in the background while

I'm doing something else) without any problem. Nowadays when I burn a DVD

or extract a large RAR file, my system's completely unusable--a problem I

haven't seen on a system since the early Pentium days...

 

The pagefile and OS are on separate physical SATA drives, and even though

there's plenty of well known techniques to help alleviate bottlenecks, this

is the same configuration I've been using since long before this particular

problem has started appearing, so again, it's not like all of a sudden my

system is poorly configured.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if MS has changed the way file caching works in some

relatively recent hotfix. Am I the only one seeing this issue lately on XP

x64?

[Guest Colin Barnhorst]

Re: XP x64 - starved for RAM when handling large files?

 

XP Pro x64 SP2 still flies right along for me.

 

"Homer J. Simpson" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote in message

news:O5xupX8eIHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> Hi all,

>

> For the past couple of months, my XP x64 system (Athlon X2 4800 w/2GB RAM)

> has been getting awfully slow when processing large files. For example,

> burning multi-GB files (I alternate between Nero and ImgBurn), copying

> large files across my LAN, extracting files with WinRAR or running a

> repair job with QuickPar. The 'Available Physical Memory' figure under

> the Performance tab in Task Manager can drop to 20MB or so (20,000--the

> value is expressed in KB), and as soon as these operations stop, it'll

> jump right back up to maybe 1.2GB, where it more typically hovers in

> day-to-day operations. The pagefile usage graph typically stays at around

> maybe 1.2-1.6GB (even when it gets bogged down like I've described),

> depending on what I'm doing.

>

> It's only when I do these operations with large files that the available

> physical memory figure drops down to nothing and then the hard drive

> starts going nuts. I've seen it take upwards of 12-15 minutes (hard drive

> light stays on solid) to extracting a 4GB RAR file--something that used to

> barely take 2-3 minutes on that same machine, if that much.

>

> The hardware configuration hasn't changed in a *very* long time. It's

> difficult for me to blame the hardware, as this system used to fly and I

> used to be able to multitask (doing these same tasks in the background

> while I'm doing something else) without any problem. Nowadays when I burn

> a DVD or extract a large RAR file, my system's completely unusable--a

> problem I haven't seen on a system since the early Pentium days...

>

> The pagefile and OS are on separate physical SATA drives, and even though

> there's plenty of well known techniques to help alleviate bottlenecks,

> this is the same configuration I've been using since long before this

> particular problem has started appearing, so again, it's not like all of a

> sudden my system is poorly configured.

>

> I'm beginning to wonder if MS has changed the way file caching works in

> some relatively recent hotfix. Am I the only one seeing this issue lately

> on XP x64?

>

[Guest Homer J. Simpson]

Re: XP x64 - starved for RAM when handling large files?

 

Just as a follow-up, something that I should probably have mentioned in my

first post: It doesn't happen all the time.

 

Yesterday I burned a DVD and, as I've come to expect, couldn't use my system

a few minutes into it as the physical memory available dropped down to

nothing. This morning, I burned another (same program and everything), and

everything was fine--with available physical memory remaining steady

throughout at around 660MB.

 

"Colin Barnhorst" <c.barnhorst@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:C7052813-B25B-44A2-912E-9E648A79C882@microsoft.com...

> XP Pro x64 SP2 still flies right along for me.

>

> "Homer J. Simpson" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote in message

> news:O5xupX8eIHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>> Hi all,

>>

>> For the past couple of months, my XP x64 system (Athlon X2 4800 w/2GB

>> RAM) has been getting awfully slow when processing large files. For

>> example, burning multi-GB files (I alternate between Nero and ImgBurn),

>> copying large files across my LAN, extracting files with WinRAR or

>> running a repair job with QuickPar. The 'Available Physical Memory'

>> figure under the Performance tab in Task Manager can drop to 20MB or so

>> (20,000--the value is expressed in KB), and as soon as these operations

>> stop, it'll jump right back up to maybe 1.2GB, where it more typically

>> hovers in day-to-day operations. The pagefile usage graph typically

>> stays at around maybe 1.2-1.6GB (even when it gets bogged down like I've

>> described), depending on what I'm doing.

>>

>> It's only when I do these operations with large files that the available

>> physical memory figure drops down to nothing and then the hard drive

>> starts going nuts. I've seen it take upwards of 12-15 minutes (hard

>> drive light stays on solid) to extracting a 4GB RAR file--something that

>> used to barely take 2-3 minutes on that same machine, if that much.

>>

>> The hardware configuration hasn't changed in a *very* long time. It's

>> difficult for me to blame the hardware, as this system used to fly and I

>> used to be able to multitask (doing these same tasks in the background

>> while I'm doing something else) without any problem. Nowadays when I

>> burn a DVD or extract a large RAR file, my system's completely

>> unusable--a problem I haven't seen on a system since the early Pentium

>> days...

>>

>> The pagefile and OS are on separate physical SATA drives, and even though

>> there's plenty of well known techniques to help alleviate bottlenecks,

>> this is the same configuration I've been using since long before this

>> particular problem has started appearing, so again, it's not like all of

>> a sudden my system is poorly configured.

>>

>> I'm beginning to wonder if MS has changed the way file caching works in

>> some relatively recent hotfix. Am I the only one seeing this issue

>> lately on XP x64?

>>

>