Microsoft is switching RAM speed units in Task Manager — finally moving to the more technically correct MT/s
RAM can be confusing enough already.
Microsoft is beginning to roll out a change to how Task Manager reports RAM speeds, updating its units from MHz to MT/s (mega transfers per second). This is in line with industry moves away from using MHz for measuring DDR speeds, as the actual clock frequencies are much lower than the effective speeds.
According to the Windows Insider blog, Microsoft is rolling out this change gradually to its beta users beginning with build 22635.3570. Windows Insiders who want the updated lingo sooner can jump on the most current update by selecting the "Get the latest updates as they are available" toggle in Settings > Windows Update. If you're champing at the bit for the change but don't want to take on the risks of Windows Beta releases, you'll need to wait a little longer for the change to propagate to non-Insider builds.
Microsoft's shift away from using MHz to describe RAM speeds follows an industry-wide shift away from what has become an inaccurate way of advertising memory speeds — and it hasn't been since the early 2000s. In the 1990s, all consumer RAM was SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), so called because its operations synced with the clock speeds of the module. Back then, RAM would make one transfer per memory cycle, and as an example a speed of 100 MHz would equal 100 MT/s. But when DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM was introduced in the early 2000s, RAM modules could perform two transfers per cycle. Now a 100 MHz clock speed would actual equate to performance of 200 MT/s.
RAM manufacturers moved to using the larger numbers for branding but kept the MHz unit to avoid consumer confusion. This means that RAM advertised today as running at speeds of DDR5 6000 MHz actually clocks at 3000 MHz but performs 6000 MT/s. Even worse, GDDR5X and later memory solutions (including GDDR6) found on graphics cards can now use QDR, or Quad Data Rate. Using MHz or GHz thus becomes even more incorrect for describing graphics card's memory speeds.
Today, RAM manufacturers are moving to the simpler DDR5-6000 (no units) or the less common DDR5 6000 MT/s for advertising. It seems Microsoft will be on the earlier wave of adoption with its Task Manager update.
For the full list of updates to Task Manager's features outside of the unit change, check out the changelog from Windows Insider. Meanwhile, it seems the number of people who will see the update in action is dwindling, as Windows 11 market share continues to plummet — users are returning to 10 en masse, perhaps in response to the propagation of ads across the Windows 11 OS (which are thankfully easily removable).
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Dallin Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom's. From APUs to RGB, Dallin has a handle on all the latest tech news.
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If you're champing at the bit for the change but don't want to take on the risks of Windows Beta releases, you'll need to wait a little longer for the change to propagate to non-Insider builds.
Why wait ? Just give this a try. Warning, as this might sometimes cause a bit of instability.
Download ViVeTool and extract it to any folder of your choice. https://github.com/thebookisclosed/ViVe
Open the elevated command prompt, type this command and press ENTER key (make sure the path is changed to the extracted folder):
vivetool /enable /id:38476224,48380607
Might wanna reboot your Win 11 OS, if the Task Manager is not displaying MT/s.
Microsoft is beginning to roll out a change to how Task Manager reports RAM speeds, updating its units from MHz to MT/s (mega transfers per second) This is in line with industry moves away from using MHz for measuring DDR speeds, as the actual clock frequencies are much lower than the effective speeds.
It's more like MT/s represents millions of data transfers per second, and rather than focusing on state changes; it represents manipulation happening on both clock edges in DDR memory. -
Amdlova This is stupid. Who cares what says... Microsoft need to resolve all bugs windows 11 have.Reply -
RodroX Well... it only took them +20 years give or take to put the right unit there, no rush.Reply
Also @Amdlova, not sure Microsoft care too much about Win 11 bugs, as long as they still sell that piece of crap (this is my personal opinion) on new machines. After all Windows 12 should be coming later this year or early 2025.
I wonder how many new requirements will that new OS have.... guess time will tell, maybe it will require a new AI ready CPU, motherboard, ram and gpu? -
Alvar "Miles" Udell users are returning to 10 en masse, perhaps in response to the propagation of ads across the Windows 11 OS (which are thankfully easily removable).
I was about to say "Holy crap, a TomsHardware (freelance) writer actually spoke the truth!", but then the link is to a downloadable program that turns off Start menu ads and not the setting which has existed from the start to disable Start menu recommendations (ads). -
ekio Wooow. Windows updates really look like there is a guy working a couple of hours a month on it...Reply
Like the file properties window still using the Windows XP UI, when can we get an update ?
Also, an update for the UI of regedit.exe, run.exe, disk management tool, file explorer options, etc....
This OS is a trashcan made of totally heterogeneous code, it's incredible!! -
dmitche31958 Task Manager is a joke. If you are relying on it to determine how much CPU usage that an application is using you'll be 100% wrong. Microsoft knows that they broke Task Manager and their response was, "So what?" No one of importance would use that tool but use the resource monitor instead."Reply -
dmitche31958
How much money remains in your bank accounts? Answer that question and you'll find out.RodroX said:Well... it only took them +20 years give or take to put the right unit there, no rush.
Also @Amdlova, not sure Microsoft care too much about Win 11 bugs, as long as they still sell that piece of crap (this is my personal opinion) on new machines. After all Windows 12 should be coming later this year or early 2025.
I wonder how many new requirements will that new OS have.... guess time will tell, maybe it will require a new AI ready CPU, motherboard, ram and gpu?