Does clearing/trimming/purging standby memory/RAM actually help?

[Coldblackice]

Regarding the function of purging/cleaning standby list/cache/RAM --

I noticed this function was added to the latest beta, i.e.: GUI: Add new function 'Options / Memory / Purge Standby List and System File Cache now'

First, is this function basically the functionality of this tool here?

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/content/intelligent-standby-list-cleaner-v1000-released

And then most pertinent, does this function of purging/cleaning/clearing RAM/standby/cache actually help? I'm not well versed on the subject, but I wonder if it's in the same vein as the old "RAM cleaner" type programs, which actually would do more harm than good because unused RAM is more or less "wasted" RAM (and performance would suffer after using these cleaners as the OS + programs would have to waste cycles loading things back into memory).

My hunch is that it comes down to a matter of balance -- you want RAM used, but not so much of it used that it starves the system and/or other programs (correct me if I'm wrong).

Who would best benefit utilizing this function? When would you want to run it and/or automate its running? Is it possible that it could instead have a negative (temporary) impact on system performance?

I'm not criticizing this, just trying to better understand this subject myself!

[edkiefer]

Regarding the function of purging/cleaning standby list/cache/RAM --

I noticed this function was added to the latest beta, i.e.: GUI: Add new function 'Options / Memory / Purge Standby List and System File Cache now'

First, is this function basically the functionality of this tool here?

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/content/intelligent-standby-list-cleaner-v1000-released

And then most pertinent, does this function of purging/cleaning/clearing RAM/standby/cache actually help? I'm not well versed on the subject, but I wonder if it's in the same vein as the old "RAM cleaner" type programs, which actually would do more harm than good because unused RAM is more or less "wasted" RAM (and performance would suffer after using these cleaners as the OS + programs would have to waste cycles loading things back into memory).

My hunch is that it comes down to a matter of balance -- you want RAM used, but not so much of it used that it starves the system and/or other programs (correct me if I'm wrong).

Who would best benefit utilizing this function? When would you want to run it and/or automate its running? Is it possible that it could instead have a negative (temporary) impact on system performance?

I'm not criticizing this, just trying to better understand this subject myself!

Hi, The main user base for that function is gamers and yes it basically does the same as what ISLC does.
As far as what it does is to clear standby list memory but the reason can vary but the short of it is around Win10 1809 some games would start to stutter after a while and clearing the standby list would help fix this.
Now for me It only happened after a long time of gaming in a single game map and around Win10 1909 I don't really see the issue but you will get different answers there it seems to depend on the game and system.
If you don't suffer from stuttering after a while then no need to enable it, due note stuttering can be happening because of low free memory too.

[Coldblackice]

Hi, The main user base for that function is gamers and yes it basically does the same as what ISLC does.
As far as what it does is to clear standby list memory but the reason can vary but the short of it is around Win10 1809 some games would start to stutter after a while and clearing the standby list would help fix this.
Now for me It only happened after a long time of gaming in a single game map and around Win10 1909 I don't really see the issue but you will get different answers there it seems to depend on the game and system.
If you don't suffer from stuttering after a while then no need to enable it, due note stuttering can be happening because of low free memory too.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Now that you mention, there is a game I play that after time it starts to get stuttery. I just assumed it was poor programming on the game's part (not to say that isn't the case) and the game or system needed to be restarted. I'll try this next time it happens to see if it clears it up.

How come Windows doesn't do this itself, a basic garbage-collection of standby memory routine? Are there any costs to doing it, like will other apps that have stuff in standby memory see performance hits as they each have to use resources to reload things into memory?

Do you still use this function (despite not seeing it since 1909)? Would there by any downside or cost to having this set to run automatically/routinely? TIA

[edkiefer]

Interesting, thanks for the info. Now that you mention, there is a game I play that after time it starts to get stuttery. I just assumed it was poor programming on the game's part (not to say that isn't the case) and the game or system needed to be restarted. I'll try this next time it happens to see if it clears it up.

How come Windows doesn't do this itself, a basic garbage-collection of standby memory routine? Are there any costs to doing it, like will other apps that have stuff in standby memory see performance hits as they each have to use resources to reload things into memory?

Do you still use this function (despite not seeing it since 1909)? Would there by any downside or cost to having this set to run automatically/routinely? TIA

Windows has a very good memory management system, the idea behind the Standby list is to use it by windows (let if fill) so that if you run something again it is in the cache. As soon as you run a new application if standby is full it should free from the standby list whatever is needed and it seems when it's right on this edge that some games and apps get the stutter.
So you can try it, also know you can enable just standby clearing w/o SmartTrim too.

PS: For me it went away in Win10 1909+ versions.

[Jeremy Collake]

How come Windows doesn't do this itself, a basic garbage-collection of standby memory routine? Are there any costs to doing it, like will other apps that have stuff in standby memory see performance hits as they each have to use resources to reload things into memory?

Windows does try to manage this cache (standby list) already, removing less frequently referenced data. There is a penalty to flushing the cache, but it is usually short-lived.

I don't recommend casual use of this function, and most people should not use it.

Is it beneficial? Well, maybe there is sometimes a performance problem with this cache that is resolved when it is purged.

In any event, gamers wanted it, so I added it .

[Coldblackice]

Windows has a very good memory management system, the idea behind the Standby list is to use it by windows (let if fill) so that if you run something again it is in the cache. As soon as you run a new application if standby is full it should free from the standby list whatever is needed and it seems when it's right on this edge that some games and apps get the stutter.
So you can try it, also know you can enable just standby clearing w/o SmartTrim too.

PS: For me it went away in Win10 1909+ versions.

Windows does try to manage this cache (standby list) already, removing less frequently referenced data. There is a penalty to flushing the cache, but it is usually short-lived.

I don't recommend casual use of this function, and most people should not use it.

Is it beneficial? Well, maybe there is sometimes a performance problem with this cache that is resolved when it is purged.

In any event, gamers wanted it, so I added it .

Gotcha, thanks guys. Makes sense about it being a gamer's request, lots of snake oil tweaks spread around the gaming community alright

[kalyl]

When the system runs out of free memory, it may start paging (swapping data to and from the Hard disk), which can slow down performance significantly.