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OS Memory Footprint

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by zemar84 1 view

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Hi,
I've been trying to find some kind of reputable reference or document on
the memory and cpu footprints of various operating systems but can't
seem to find any but a few people's random comments that vary
considerably. Does anyone know of the typical RAM/CPU usage by
operating systems such as XP, Debian, OS X .. etc when idle?

Thanks

5 replies

by older mycroft

Because you're NEVER going to know how much of the Pagefile is occupied when the system is idle - unless you activate the system!

Why do you want to know anyway?

by zemar84

Well forget idle, is there some kind of official specification
that says windows uses 128MB of memory for its own
processes(that is the minimum recommended requirement
from microsoft for XP ) or something of the sort? I need to
make a comparison of OSes use of hardware(out of the box)
and how much of the physical machine they leave for
external applications to run.

by jdclyde

that after you load your AV, Malware scanner, and a firewall, it will take between 190 and 220 Megs of ram to turn it on. If your using McAfees security suite, it jumps up to around 400 to turn it on.

First thing I check when someone says their system is running slow and/or crashing. look at how much ram is in use at bootup to get an idea if you have an infection.

Sorry, I can't speak for the other OS's.

by thechas

While not definitive, I would compare the published minimum system requirements.

We all know that Windows "almost" runs on a minimum system. So the minimum requirements is a pretty good guide there.

But, that is only part of the story. Windows in particular will use more resources as you increase the available resources.

Chas

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