XP x64 - starved for RAM when handling large files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Homer J. Simpson
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Homer J. Simpson

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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?
 
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?
>
 
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?
>>
>
 
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