Can upgrading to Win7 64bit without RAM upgrade solve crashing/lockups/BSODs?

[DoTheBIM]

We're having issues with Revit and all the other software we need to run and computer freezes, BSOD's, etc. I've given the solution to management to upgrade to win7 and more RAM... based on what I can gather from these groups and personal experience. So the IT dept(guy)... wants to see the problem. so he looks at the task manager and sees something like 1,442,352 available under physical memory section... and says (and I quote) "it's not even using all the memory." Now I'm no IT educated degree... but it's my understanding that physical memory available is irrelevant if xp is hitting it's virtual ceiling... (virtual total at any given time is Total Commit Charge... correct?). So here is a snapshot of my task manager currently. I have 3GB switch on tweaked to 2500... So based on what I'm seeing Win7 by itself is not really going to solve our problems is it?

[iru69]

This is hard to gauge unless you have a good handle on what to look for... but the very first thing I looked for was under the "Commit Charge (K)", the "Peak", which is the highest amount of memory your computer was using at any given time during your session, which if you look at the number is more than your physical RAM (under 32 bit Windows, only about ~3.3GB of RAM will be available). So, you are most certainly running out of RAM.

The "Limit" is RAM + VM, but really isn't a number to pay attention to... a computer will generally grind to a halt in a fit of thrashing as soon as you get much beyond available RAM, let alone 6GB worth of VM.

However, as you allude to, it's not just (physical) RAM or even VM, it's addressable memory. Revit 32-bit can only use 2GB of memory (3GB with the 3GB switch you've enabled) - you can see how much memory Revit is using at any given time by looking at the Processes tab in WTM. You can add a column to Processes when in the Processes tab by going to View > Select Columns > Memory - Peak Working Set. This will allow you to see the peak memory usage of Revit during a session.

The stability problems may be because Windows is running out of RAM and/or memory (due to the 3GB switch and/or too much virtual memory usage) and/or Revit is running out of memory, or even incompatible settings with the 3GB switch.

Bottom line is that it appears you need more RAM. Simply upgrading to W7 64bit without getting more RAM may save you from a crash or two when things get tight, but what you really need is W7 64bit and more RAM. It's possible there's more to it than that (you may be having video card or other issues intermingled as well), but based just on that single screen shot, and the fact you're still using the 3GB switch, I'd suggest W7 64 + more RAM.

[ron.sanpedro]

We're having issues with Revit and all the other software we need to run and computer freezes, BSOD's, etc. I've given the solution to management to upgrade to win7 and more RAM... based on what I can gather from these groups and personal experience. So the IT dept(guy)... wants to see the problem. so he looks at the task manager and sees something like 1,442,352 available under physical memory section... and says (and I quote) "it's not even using all the memory." Now I'm no IT educated degree... but it's my understanding that physical memory available is irrelevant if xp is hitting it's virtual ceiling... (virtual total at any given time is Total Commit Charge... correct?). So here is a snapshot of my task manager currently. I have 3GB switch on tweaked to 2500... So based on what I'm seeing Win7 by itself is not really going to solve our problems is it?

One other thing to consider is how much graphics RAM you have. If your graphics card has 1GB of RAM, you could be running out of kernel address space (due to the 3Gb switch and USERVA limiting you to 1.5GB). In 64 bit Windows all graphics RAM is mapped well beyond any physical RAM, and kernel address space is basically never the bottleneck. If you have a 256MB graphics card, this really shouldn't be the issue without some horribly written graphics driver to account for it. What I am not sure of is how to test kernel address space in XP to verify.

Gordon

[DoTheBIM]

Thanks for the replies. We are at 256Mb of graphic memory. and nvidia fx 570 with driver ver. 6.14.12.5849. Slightly reducing or prolonging crashes was what I figured with just a win7 upgrade. oh well, guess someone has to learn the hard way.

[btrusty]

winxp
3gb physical memory
256mb video memory
3gb switch

what are your BSOD based on?

if you have a machine that has winxp installed for 3 years on it, even a clean winxp install (wipe and fresh install) can be helpful.

[DoTheBIM]

...what are your BSOD based on?
if you have a machine that has winxp installed for 3 years on it, even a clean winxp install (wipe and fresh install) can be helpful.

I really don't know. It's other users that are getting them. and then they just restart and not call anyone (in their defense, I wouldn't call either... you get tired of the default IT response, "if it happens again call me" and then they're never at the office when it happens....),.... uh where was I... I veered off the subject a bit.... oh yeah... then complain about the computer crashing all the time. While I'm sure a fresh install would help temporarily that's about 10 hours per machine down the tubes, granted we only have 3 machines, but ya know... it's only so much fun setting up a machine over and over.