Performance metrics for high-demand and upcoming titles
Performance metrics for high-demand and upcoming titles
I believe the issue lies in the fact that the app might ask the operating system to allocate even more RAM. Setting aside RAM is essentially treating it as if you're using more memory. Additionally, the page table size grows with more available memory, which appears to be designed to consume significantly more RAM in Windows.
If there is extra available memory, the operating system tends to be more flexible in assigning larger portions to applications. This means the app can always request more RAM if needed, depending on whether the OS considers it suitable. The 16GB system typically uses around half a gigabyte more than usual, while the 8GB system stays close to six gigabytes. It’s worth noting that frame rates remain consistent across these configurations, though minor variations exist in the lower percentages. The overall usage stays within reasonable limits—no more than about 6 gigabytes on the 8GB setup or 6.5 on the 16GB system. This behavior might explain why some users report high-end games using up to 12 gigabytes of RAM, while others see no significant impact on performance. It seems the difference often comes down to the type of graphics card used; a stronger GPU provides more video RAM, reducing dependence on system memory.
I don't know the answer to that question since I'm not privvy with how Windows likes to allocate memory to apps or what apps do when the ask for memory, other than the higher level mechanisms (if you can call it that) in play. It might be more lax, but there's no definite thing that says yes or no. It might have something to do with the fact that the page table increases in size if you install more physical RAM (there's a whole large article about Windows' memory system at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...d39b979938 ) Page tables are also built it seems for each process that gets launched to facilitate in virtual memory management ( https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askp...-overview/ ) As long as everything the application needs is in RAM and everything else is the same, the application won't suffer any performance issues. The only reason why an application would suffer performance issues is that there is not enough RAM available and anything the application needs is being swapped in or out. As far as less RAM usage is concerned, I'd be curious to know how they measured it. Measuring actual memory consumption of an application in Windows can be a bit tricky. In this case though, this can be resolved by lowering the resolution of various graphics settings, including screen size, textures, shadow quality, and if there's any MSAA or not.
Based on my limited notes, Windows 10 handles memory quite well, often using as much RAM as available. It predicts your usage and loads what you might need ahead of time. When an app demands more than it has, it swaps it to free space. I saw a Quora post where someone reported running on 1GB, 2GB, and even 4GB RAM devices—tablets included—and shared similar observations. It seems memory swapping between storage and RAM is common. An M.2 SSD likely improves this experience, especially in games. It appears 4GB should suffice for demanding titles today without DDR5 limits. I’d feel confident about having enough RAM for gaming in about two-thirds of the time.