What is the difference between Total Physical memory and RAM ?
I believed both terminologies represent same thing however I see different values and makes me wonder is Total Physical Memory = RAM + something ?
Total Physical Memory output using-
"wmic ComputerSystem get TotalPhysicalMemory"
8458973184
RAM information from Windows System Page
I need to monitor RAM and other system related information like CPU so is "wmic" reliable or is there anything else which is good.
windows memory cmd.exe monitoring
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
add a comment |
I believed both terminologies represent same thing however I see different values and makes me wonder is Total Physical Memory = RAM + something ?
Total Physical Memory output using-
"wmic ComputerSystem get TotalPhysicalMemory"
8458973184
RAM information from Windows System Page
I need to monitor RAM and other system related information like CPU so is "wmic" reliable or is there anything else which is good.
windows memory cmd.exe monitoring
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43
add a comment |
I believed both terminologies represent same thing however I see different values and makes me wonder is Total Physical Memory = RAM + something ?
Total Physical Memory output using-
"wmic ComputerSystem get TotalPhysicalMemory"
8458973184
RAM information from Windows System Page
I need to monitor RAM and other system related information like CPU so is "wmic" reliable or is there anything else which is good.
windows memory cmd.exe monitoring
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
I believed both terminologies represent same thing however I see different values and makes me wonder is Total Physical Memory = RAM + something ?
Total Physical Memory output using-
"wmic ComputerSystem get TotalPhysicalMemory"
8458973184
RAM information from Windows System Page
I need to monitor RAM and other system related information like CPU so is "wmic" reliable or is there anything else which is good.
windows memory cmd.exe monitoring
windows memory cmd.exe monitoring
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
asked Jan 1 at 6:56
gadhvigadhvi
25116
25116
I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43
add a comment |
I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43
I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43
I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Microsoft programmers are not very strong on math:
8 GB = 8 589 934 592
7.88 GB = 8 461 085 573
TotalPhysicalMemory = 8 458 973 184
8 GB - TotalPhysicalMemory = 8589934592 - 8458973184 = 130 961 408
What we see here is that the Microsoft programmer that issued the 7.88 GB
figure rounded it up, thereby creating about 130 MB of memory that
simply does not exist, because this is a fraction of a very large number,
the gigabyte.
It would have been more correct to round it down, which would be safer
for calculations and better mathematics, or even to add more decimal places
which would have reduced the rounding error.
You could run the command systeminfo | findstr Memory to get even more numbers.
The
TotalPhysicalMemory description
says:
Total size of physical memory. Be aware that, under some circumstances, this property may not return an accurate value for the physical memory. For example, it is not accurate if the BIOS is using some of the physical memory. For an accurate value, use the Capacity property in Win32_PhysicalMemory instead.
So you may use wmic, but it's really unclear what you are getting.
At least, TotalPhysicalMemory seems to be the smallest number among all those
that I found, so it might be safe to use.
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
|
show 9 more comments
The WMIC counter "TotalPhysicalMemory" is the subset of the installed RAM that is usable by Windows as ordinary RAM. In other words, this is the number against which you should evaluate numbers like the working set of a process. It is also one contributor to the system commit limit (the other being the current pagefile size).
It excludes what Task Manager calls "hardware reserved". This is mostly RAM that cannot be accessed because its addresses conflict with those of firmware, of "register space" defined by I/O devices, and similar. That is the reason for most of the discrepancy between the 8 GiB you bought and installed vs. WMIC's reported "Total".
Since in your comment you mentioned "free", I should mention that the WMIC counter Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory corresponds to Task Manager's "Available" display. This is the amount of RAM that is immediately available for use to satisfy hard page faults for new allocations, without taking it from a process that's using it and without having to copy any old contents out to e.g. a pagefile or a mapped file first. It is the sum of what Resource Monitor shows as "Standby" and "Free". (Yes, their terminology is inconsistent - I would say inexcusably so.)
You can get the amount "used" simply by subtracting Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory from Win32_computersystem.TotalPhysicalMemory.
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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Microsoft programmers are not very strong on math:
8 GB = 8 589 934 592
7.88 GB = 8 461 085 573
TotalPhysicalMemory = 8 458 973 184
8 GB - TotalPhysicalMemory = 8589934592 - 8458973184 = 130 961 408
What we see here is that the Microsoft programmer that issued the 7.88 GB
figure rounded it up, thereby creating about 130 MB of memory that
simply does not exist, because this is a fraction of a very large number,
the gigabyte.
It would have been more correct to round it down, which would be safer
for calculations and better mathematics, or even to add more decimal places
which would have reduced the rounding error.
You could run the command systeminfo | findstr Memory to get even more numbers.
The
TotalPhysicalMemory description
says:
Total size of physical memory. Be aware that, under some circumstances, this property may not return an accurate value for the physical memory. For example, it is not accurate if the BIOS is using some of the physical memory. For an accurate value, use the Capacity property in Win32_PhysicalMemory instead.
So you may use wmic, but it's really unclear what you are getting.
At least, TotalPhysicalMemory seems to be the smallest number among all those
that I found, so it might be safe to use.
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
|
show 9 more comments
Microsoft programmers are not very strong on math:
8 GB = 8 589 934 592
7.88 GB = 8 461 085 573
TotalPhysicalMemory = 8 458 973 184
8 GB - TotalPhysicalMemory = 8589934592 - 8458973184 = 130 961 408
What we see here is that the Microsoft programmer that issued the 7.88 GB
figure rounded it up, thereby creating about 130 MB of memory that
simply does not exist, because this is a fraction of a very large number,
the gigabyte.
It would have been more correct to round it down, which would be safer
for calculations and better mathematics, or even to add more decimal places
which would have reduced the rounding error.
You could run the command systeminfo | findstr Memory to get even more numbers.
The
TotalPhysicalMemory description
says:
Total size of physical memory. Be aware that, under some circumstances, this property may not return an accurate value for the physical memory. For example, it is not accurate if the BIOS is using some of the physical memory. For an accurate value, use the Capacity property in Win32_PhysicalMemory instead.
So you may use wmic, but it's really unclear what you are getting.
At least, TotalPhysicalMemory seems to be the smallest number among all those
that I found, so it might be safe to use.
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
|
show 9 more comments
Microsoft programmers are not very strong on math:
8 GB = 8 589 934 592
7.88 GB = 8 461 085 573
TotalPhysicalMemory = 8 458 973 184
8 GB - TotalPhysicalMemory = 8589934592 - 8458973184 = 130 961 408
What we see here is that the Microsoft programmer that issued the 7.88 GB
figure rounded it up, thereby creating about 130 MB of memory that
simply does not exist, because this is a fraction of a very large number,
the gigabyte.
It would have been more correct to round it down, which would be safer
for calculations and better mathematics, or even to add more decimal places
which would have reduced the rounding error.
You could run the command systeminfo | findstr Memory to get even more numbers.
The
TotalPhysicalMemory description
says:
Total size of physical memory. Be aware that, under some circumstances, this property may not return an accurate value for the physical memory. For example, it is not accurate if the BIOS is using some of the physical memory. For an accurate value, use the Capacity property in Win32_PhysicalMemory instead.
So you may use wmic, but it's really unclear what you are getting.
At least, TotalPhysicalMemory seems to be the smallest number among all those
that I found, so it might be safe to use.
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
Microsoft programmers are not very strong on math:
8 GB = 8 589 934 592
7.88 GB = 8 461 085 573
TotalPhysicalMemory = 8 458 973 184
8 GB - TotalPhysicalMemory = 8589934592 - 8458973184 = 130 961 408
What we see here is that the Microsoft programmer that issued the 7.88 GB
figure rounded it up, thereby creating about 130 MB of memory that
simply does not exist, because this is a fraction of a very large number,
the gigabyte.
It would have been more correct to round it down, which would be safer
for calculations and better mathematics, or even to add more decimal places
which would have reduced the rounding error.
You could run the command systeminfo | findstr Memory to get even more numbers.
The
TotalPhysicalMemory description
says:
Total size of physical memory. Be aware that, under some circumstances, this property may not return an accurate value for the physical memory. For example, it is not accurate if the BIOS is using some of the physical memory. For an accurate value, use the Capacity property in Win32_PhysicalMemory instead.
So you may use wmic, but it's really unclear what you are getting.
At least, TotalPhysicalMemory seems to be the smallest number among all those
that I found, so it might be safe to use.
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
edited Jan 2 at 7:03
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
answered Jan 1 at 11:12
harrymcharrymc
255k14266566
255k14266566
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
|
show 9 more comments
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
2
2
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
Saying they are not strong on math is a bit harsh as 7.88 encompasses a wide range of values when you take rounding into account. It could be anything down to 7.876 (rounded to 7.88) which would be lower than the value shown by wmic. An approximate value is good enough for that sort of display and the only way to be 100% accurate would have been to (pointlessly) show the entire value.
– Mokubai♦
Jan 1 at 11:19
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
@Mokubai: It's a fact that every method in Windows of calculating the memory gives a different result, and it's never clearly defined why. If we are to believe wmic, I get here 7.878 instead, meaning that available memory is rounded up (!) to 7.88, which is really abominable when talking about fractions of gigabytes! Better not to expect mathematical precision here. As I said, TotalPhysicalMemory at least seems minimal, but what it means is unknown.
– harrymc
Jan 1 at 11:38
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Thanks this has cleared my doubts.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 12:41
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
Microsoft programmers use the same "math" as everyone else (e.g. the DIV instruction in the CPU). (rolling eyes here)
– Jamie Hanrahan
Jan 1 at 20:51
1
1
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
This post is entirely wrong (and a bit hard on Microsoft). The correct answer as to why there is a discrepancy between the usable and then installed is Jamie's answer.
– Allen Howard
Jan 2 at 20:18
|
show 9 more comments
The WMIC counter "TotalPhysicalMemory" is the subset of the installed RAM that is usable by Windows as ordinary RAM. In other words, this is the number against which you should evaluate numbers like the working set of a process. It is also one contributor to the system commit limit (the other being the current pagefile size).
It excludes what Task Manager calls "hardware reserved". This is mostly RAM that cannot be accessed because its addresses conflict with those of firmware, of "register space" defined by I/O devices, and similar. That is the reason for most of the discrepancy between the 8 GiB you bought and installed vs. WMIC's reported "Total".
Since in your comment you mentioned "free", I should mention that the WMIC counter Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory corresponds to Task Manager's "Available" display. This is the amount of RAM that is immediately available for use to satisfy hard page faults for new allocations, without taking it from a process that's using it and without having to copy any old contents out to e.g. a pagefile or a mapped file first. It is the sum of what Resource Monitor shows as "Standby" and "Free". (Yes, their terminology is inconsistent - I would say inexcusably so.)
You can get the amount "used" simply by subtracting Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory from Win32_computersystem.TotalPhysicalMemory.
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
add a comment |
The WMIC counter "TotalPhysicalMemory" is the subset of the installed RAM that is usable by Windows as ordinary RAM. In other words, this is the number against which you should evaluate numbers like the working set of a process. It is also one contributor to the system commit limit (the other being the current pagefile size).
It excludes what Task Manager calls "hardware reserved". This is mostly RAM that cannot be accessed because its addresses conflict with those of firmware, of "register space" defined by I/O devices, and similar. That is the reason for most of the discrepancy between the 8 GiB you bought and installed vs. WMIC's reported "Total".
Since in your comment you mentioned "free", I should mention that the WMIC counter Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory corresponds to Task Manager's "Available" display. This is the amount of RAM that is immediately available for use to satisfy hard page faults for new allocations, without taking it from a process that's using it and without having to copy any old contents out to e.g. a pagefile or a mapped file first. It is the sum of what Resource Monitor shows as "Standby" and "Free". (Yes, their terminology is inconsistent - I would say inexcusably so.)
You can get the amount "used" simply by subtracting Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory from Win32_computersystem.TotalPhysicalMemory.
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
add a comment |
The WMIC counter "TotalPhysicalMemory" is the subset of the installed RAM that is usable by Windows as ordinary RAM. In other words, this is the number against which you should evaluate numbers like the working set of a process. It is also one contributor to the system commit limit (the other being the current pagefile size).
It excludes what Task Manager calls "hardware reserved". This is mostly RAM that cannot be accessed because its addresses conflict with those of firmware, of "register space" defined by I/O devices, and similar. That is the reason for most of the discrepancy between the 8 GiB you bought and installed vs. WMIC's reported "Total".
Since in your comment you mentioned "free", I should mention that the WMIC counter Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory corresponds to Task Manager's "Available" display. This is the amount of RAM that is immediately available for use to satisfy hard page faults for new allocations, without taking it from a process that's using it and without having to copy any old contents out to e.g. a pagefile or a mapped file first. It is the sum of what Resource Monitor shows as "Standby" and "Free". (Yes, their terminology is inconsistent - I would say inexcusably so.)
You can get the amount "used" simply by subtracting Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory from Win32_computersystem.TotalPhysicalMemory.
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
The WMIC counter "TotalPhysicalMemory" is the subset of the installed RAM that is usable by Windows as ordinary RAM. In other words, this is the number against which you should evaluate numbers like the working set of a process. It is also one contributor to the system commit limit (the other being the current pagefile size).
It excludes what Task Manager calls "hardware reserved". This is mostly RAM that cannot be accessed because its addresses conflict with those of firmware, of "register space" defined by I/O devices, and similar. That is the reason for most of the discrepancy between the 8 GiB you bought and installed vs. WMIC's reported "Total".
Since in your comment you mentioned "free", I should mention that the WMIC counter Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory corresponds to Task Manager's "Available" display. This is the amount of RAM that is immediately available for use to satisfy hard page faults for new allocations, without taking it from a process that's using it and without having to copy any old contents out to e.g. a pagefile or a mapped file first. It is the sum of what Resource Monitor shows as "Standby" and "Free". (Yes, their terminology is inconsistent - I would say inexcusably so.)
You can get the amount "used" simply by subtracting Win32_operatingsystem.FreePhysicalMemory from Win32_computersystem.TotalPhysicalMemory.
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
edited Jan 2 at 21:23
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
answered Jan 2 at 19:55
Jamie HanrahanJamie Hanrahan
17.9k34078
17.9k34078
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
add a comment |
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
1
1
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
Thankyou for detailed explanation.
– gadhvi
Jan 3 at 9:34
add a comment |
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I really can't understand why this question was down voted. We can clearly see the difference in both output.
– gadhvi
Jan 1 at 7:43