Microsoft Windows 10 Memory (Ram) Minimum Requirements.

The bottom line is more is typically better.  More GHZ processor is faster, More GB memory is like a bigger house, just more room to move around.

However, if we are talking about a 32-bit operating system:

MY SUGGESTED WINDOWS 10 MINIMUM SPECS:
RAM: 6.0 GB for 32-bit system.

This is wrong.  A 32-bit operating system CAN NOT address memory above 4 GB.  Anything more than 4 GB is essentially wasted.  The only ways to improve performance on a 32-bit operating system is to install a faster processor or replace the hard disk with a faster one, like an SSD.  Any operating system that is memory constrained will benefit greatly if its swap file is on an SSD, even more so than a faster processor.

When purchasing a new computer with 4GB RAM or less, you need to know what OS is installed; 32 or 64 bit.  Many 4GB RAM or less systems come with 32-bit OS's loaded even though the hardware can take more RAM.  Adding any amount of RAM above 4GB on a 32-bit OS is will not improve performance.

Tony

MY SUGGESTED WINDOWS 10 MINIMUM SPECS:
RAM: 6.0 GB for 32-bit system.
RAM: 8.0 GB for 64-bit system.

You do know that 32 Bit operating systems are (mathematically) limited to using a maximum of 4gb of RAM, and you won't even get to use all of that 4Gb because the computer will need to use addresses for hardware devices first. I've seen plenty of 32 bit Windows computers with 4Gb installed and only 3.25 or 3.5 is available for use.

H1000

I just add gobs of memory, and the fastest processor, SSD, and video that I can justify.  The end result is a speedy system.   One of the biggest boosts to your Windows system you can add is a nice SSD, and the prices are really low nowadays.  My primary computer has a 512gb SSD for all the commonly used disk memory with an automated network backup of all the data regularly, critical data is daily and also a cloud based backup.

Boy, at one point I did this stuff for a living (computer performance from desktops to mainframes, networks, and all peripheral equipment). But it's been a while.

Windows operating systems do paging, task switching, and run multiple processes. I doubt anyone's home computer is ever running only one process.
A 32 bit OS can use more than 4 GB.
Here is an explanation:

"Although 32-bit CPU's only support 4Gb of memory per process, it can address up to 64Gb of RAM when using Physical Address Extension. This allows process A to use the first 4Gb of memory, while process B uses the next 4Gb. In total, more than 4Gb of physical memory is used, but the total amount of memory a single process uses is still capped at 4Gb."

However, Windows, at least up to and including Windows 10, can't use more than 4gb for the 32 bit version.  I doubt many folks here are running the Datacenter versions.

John,

Where did you find that table?

Thanks. I see the same sort of information on Microsoft's own site.

It was originally from Microsoft, but I found the convenient table on Wikipedia first.  I wrestled for years with older computers and the 4g maximum limitation, and I even installed Win10 on one that wouldn't do 64-bit, same limitations.

Billy D posted:

Microsoft Windows 10 Memory (Ram) Minimum Requirements.

WINDOWS 10 MINIMUM SPECS:
Here are the official minimum recommended specs for a Windows 10 machine, as provided by Microsoft:
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display: 1024 x 600 or above

 

First of all, I do not trust Microsoft Windows minimum memory RAM requirements as stated above for Windows 10.
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 gigabyte (GB) for 64-bit.

My old homemade powerful computer at the time, was a 32-bit system with 4.0 GB Ram, using Windows 7.
Microsoft Windows 7 update constantly kept dumping many files into my Windows application/system files.
This caused my Windows 7 (Boot Configuration Data File) to become very large and even sucking up more memory.
I also used (x2) very large computer security programs against anti-virus and malware.
Eventually the computer motherboard could no longer handle all of these new requirements and kept locking up.

As per Gunrunnerjohn's Microsoft Windows chart.
This chart is only for a 32-bit system.
For Windows 7 (Other editions) (32-bit) = 4.0 GB Ram
But my old Windows 7 (32-bit) system with 4.0 GB Ram kept locking up.

When going from a 32-bit system to 64-bit system usually requires twice as much RAM.
My sons laptop using Windows 8, is a 64-bit system using 6.0 GB RAM and is very slow.
Even this motherboard with a slow CPU clock speed, requires 6.0 GB RAM to operate Windows 8.

Billy D posted:

Microsoft Windows 10 Memory (Ram) Minimum Requirements.

 

Check to see how your actual memory (Ram) GB operates.
This is the only location to report actual computer memory (Ram) GB operations.
This is an example of my Windows 10 set up.
Windows Start Menu.
[W]
Windows Administrative Tools
--> System Information
Installed Physical Memory (Ram) 12.0 GB.
Total Physical Memory (Ram) 11.9 GB.
Available Physical Memory (Ram) 9.09 GB.
My bare bones stripped down Windows 10, requires 2.81 (3.0) GB minimum.

 

Check your own actual Windows 10 usage of memory (Ram), before doing any software applications.

How much memory (Ram) is your computer using (Windows 10), while in an idle state?

The 64 bit systems don't use nearly twice the memory, they use a small percentage more, primarily because they still have to provide compatibility with 32 bit applications.  I've run the 64 bit Windows 10 on a 4gb system with no performance issues at all.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I just add gobs of memory, and the fastest processor, SSD, and video that I can justify.  The end result is a speedy system.   One of the biggest boosts to your Windows system you can add is a nice SSD, and the prices are really low nowadays.  My primary computer has a 512gb SSD for all the commonly used disk memory with an automated network backup of all the data regularly, critical data is daily and also a cloud based backup.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The 64 bit systems don't use nearly twice the memory, they use a small percentage more, primarily because they still have to provide compatibility with 32 bit applications.  I've run the 64 bit Windows 10 on a 4gb system with no performance issues at all.

Hello Gunrunnerjohn;
Where is your posted video that you can justify showing us your actual internal computer set up?
You also stated that you added gobs of memory.

You also stated that a 64 bit Windows 10 can operate on a 4. GB memory (Ram) system system.
My bare bones stripped down software Windows 10 computer software,
requires 3.0 GB minimum memory (Ram) just to operate in idle mode.
That only allows for 1.0 GB memory (Ram) to operate many other computer applications.

How much memory GB (Ram) are you presently using to operate your Windows 10?
I am presently using 12 GB memory (Ram) to operate my Windows 10?

A computer motherboard is rated by CPU clock speed, or clock rate and is measured in gigahertz (GHz).
What is your computer GHz speed?
My computer operates at 3.2 GHz speed.

Every time you (Update) your Windows 10, you will be adding more application/system/protection/ Windows 10 files.
Each time the Windows 10 (Updates), it will add more files to your Windows 10 (Boot Configuration Data File).
As the (Boot Configuration Data File) gets larger, it will also require more "Boot Up" memory (RAM).

Video?  I don't have video, why would I.  I'm not going to start a ****ing contest about Windows, I'll run my way and you run yours.  If you really think that the 64 bit versions doubles the memory requirement, buy more memory.

Here's one of the many references on memory use of 32-bit vs 64-bit Windows, most say a similar thing, and it's also what I've experienced here.  If you really need twice the memory, I'd think you may want to review your configuration.

Q: Does the 64-bit version of an OS use more memory than the 32-bit version of the same OS?

A: You now have the choice to use the 32-bit or 64-bit version of most Windows OSs today (except for the latest server OS, Windows Server 2008 R2, which is now exclusively 64-bit). The reasons to go 64-bit include greater access to memory for 64-bit applications, access to more than 4GB of physical RAM (although often systems only see around 3GB because other devices use up the memory address space), and improved security capabilities. However, a common question is, does the 64-bit version actually use more memory than the 32-bit counterpart?

The answer is yes, but it’s generally only a small difference, maybe 100MB of extra memory space. That’s not a huge price to pay for the advantages of the 64-bit platform, providing you actually are taking advantage of the 64-bit benefits.

The logical next question is WHY does the 64-bit version use up more memory?

It uses up more memory for several reasons. First, you can run 32-bit applications on a 64-bit OS, which means a 64-bit OS has to load some 32-bit libraries into memory in addition to its native 64-bit libraries, which is the bulk of the memory difference.

Additionally we use 64-bit memory addresses instead of 32-bit memory addresses. This means each pointer to memory takes up 8 bytes instead of 4 bytes, causing some additional memory use there as well. However, that’s unlikely to be a huge factor.

This is not a computer forum. It's a model train forum. If you have questions about Windoze , ask them on a Windoze forum somewhere.

I have closed this thread.