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PC performance is a great market for placebo and snake oil. Lots of myths, lots of lack of understanding. And very little actual measurements to verify any claims.
One of my friends insists that he must vacuum clean his PC regularly, to keep it from slowing down. He also has a theory to explain it: Dust accumulates on the fans making them less effective, so the CPU lowers the clock speed to avoid overheating. I once challenged him to do some real speed measurements before and after the spring clean: Of course there was no measurable difference. Seeing the results, he claimed that this time, the fans were far less dusty than they use to be; he couldn't explain why. But that must be The Explanation for measurements not supporting his subjective feeling of higher PC performance after vacuuming.
History has seen numerous similar reports. The first lengthy quarrel I remember is from back in the days of 286 / 386sx, where floating point arithmetic was delivered as a separate chip (287 / 387): This guy who had upgraded his PC with a 387 an insisted stubbornly that boot-up now was much faster. Guys from MS shook their heads: No. The boot process, or Windows in general, makes no use of floating point whatsoever, so adding a 387 will in no way affect the speed of any Windows code! (Maybe Windows today uses FP - at that time, it didn't.)
When hearing statements like "I have a feeling that the PC is now a lot faster", I usually just nod and make no further comment. If there is an undisputable speedup, I would like to investigate the entire machine, both before and after the upgrade/modification: You may claim some explanation that turns out not to be the real reason. Say, if your VM software actually manages to utilize all eight cores fully, while the setup of the non-virtualized machine for all practical purposes run everything on a single core, then 64 GByte of RAM may not be the real reason for speedup. Maybe the speed would be the same with 32 GByte shared RAM (not statically distributed among the cores).
But again: As I said in my first posting, computing center experts will know how to monitor and balance resources. I am not talking about those users. If you on your PC have 8 VMs, each running some heavy server, then you are halfway to a computing center. You are far beyond that single-user desktop PC and some non-computer-professional (or one who essentially knows application programming, not system tuning) who has been told that his PC will perform so much better if he doubles the RAM. There are a hundred times as many users in that group as those who knows how to use system monitoring and tuning tools.
Finally: From your description, it looks like you used to run 8 VMs each requiring 8 Gbyte. Today you run the same 8 tasks, with an average of half a GByte for each, and you have the same performance. Did you ever consider that maybe the Windows performance might have been the same with far less RAM? Did you ever reduce the amount of RAM to, say, half as much, watching paging go through the ceiling? Most PCs have a LED flashing up when a physical disk transfer is made. If it flashes up every now and then, you do not have excessive paging. (When you start a new application, there is of course disc activity to get the code and data segments into memory!)
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I first read that as "flushing to toilet". I had to read it 3 more times before I saw "paging disk".
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If you provide the phone number of your shrink, we may call him to suggest where your problems may be seated ...
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Agreed. The secret is having enough when you need it that you don't do anything that lands you on CNN.
Software Zen: delete this;
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On the more serious side: Throw in the seeds from a cardamom fruit when you grind the coffee beans. Do not use two fruits, or so much that you notice it as cardamom; it should just modify the taste, not be the taste.
Adding ground cardamom to the beans after grinding is a cheap trick that won't give the true aroma of the freshly ground cardamom seeds, ground with the coffee beans.
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I've brewed coffee onto (whole) star anise[^] for years - takes the bitter edge off of it if it's not such great coffee and makes it taste very full. Stars are reusable for many cups/pots, depending upon how you perk it because, due to their woody nature only a fraction of the essence is removed.
Now - if you're really intent on grinding stuff in with the coffee, cardamon [^] is popular in the middle east but you need not extend your search for coffee brighteners that far: anise seed [^] (not related to star anise at all) can be ground in for a similar enriching and smoothing effect, or, if you really like it, add a bunch for anise flavoring. Both of the others seem to be much less expensive than cardamon.
Probably many other variations on these are known.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I prefer coffee to be black and bitter -- it sets the proper tone for my work day.
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You, perhaps, need a position with more job satisfaction. Let's see:
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief; Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief, Policeman; Gigolo.
Well - there's lots to choose from to brighten your day and sweeten your coffee.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: Well - there's lots to choose from to brighten your day and sweeten your coffee.
Nahhh ... IT works for me!
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BryanFazekas wrote: Nahhh ... IT works for me!
Gigolo works for she.
- just sayin' .
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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From my profile:
"Member since Sat 11 Dec 2010
(10 years, 1 month)"
I've passed the ten years mark! 
It's been a real pleasure, too!
Here's to the next ten years ![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif)
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Yay! Keep on codin'! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Now you are a bit decade-nt 
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Sander Rossel wrote: It's been a real pleasure, too!
It's been a pleasure hanging out with you! 
Also, allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your contributions here...articles, qa, sotw, and lounge content. Keep up the good work!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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Congratulations!
I had my 30th anniversary at work last fall, and I'll reach the 20 year mark on CP in March of this year. Egads, I'm an old ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Happy "aniversary"
I am soon getting the 15th.
I hope CP reaches the 100 and that we can see it and celebrate together
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: I am soon getting the 15th.
Just did that yesterday.
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Congratulations
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I’ve been here for 11 years and 7 months. Time flies.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Such as that novel: "Hole in the mattress", by Mr. Completely.
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Egads!
First, I missed my fifth anniversary.
Then I my tenth anniversary.
And since then, I realized I missed my fifteenth anniversary, as well.
Well, all that's left is looking forward to posting how I missed my twentieth and twenty-fifth, as well.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Epic is giving "Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration edition" (adventure, shooter) for free through Jan. 21st
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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