Memory Sizing Guidance for Windows 7
Updated: July 16, 2009
This paper provides an approach that information technology (IT) professionals and system builders can use to determine how much memory is required to successfully run a set of programs. It explores how the choices in machine architecture, hardware devices, driver version, and memory configuration affect the amount of memory that is available to users’ programs. This paper covers:
| • | How Windows 7 categorizes memory usage and what each category means. |
| • | How to determine the size of the different memory categories and how to measure the amount of memory that is available to applications. |
| • | Factors that affect the amount of memory that is available to applications. |
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), IT professionals, and enthusiasts can use this information to understand how Windows uses memory and determine the optimal memory size when they configure a PC to run Windows 7.
This information applies to the Windows 7 operating system.
Included in this white paper:
| • | Memory Usage |
| • | Results of Memory Use Analysis on Sample Systems |
| • | Determining the Required Memory for a Configuration |
