SQL Server 2005 uses 1GB of RAM Is this normal? To be exact it uses 1,068,000 KB. It occasionally shoots up to 1,400,000 if query takes too long.

My total system memory is 3GB and I am running WinXP. Is there a specific amount of RAM recommended for SQL Servers?

The reason I am asking this question, could our database have problem, if it uses this much RAM? We dont have a DBA here, just a programmer. Also


Does running multiple instances of SQL Servers affect performance?
Does running multiple databases hit peformance? We use only 1 but there are 5 databases running (old ones)


I am using SQL Server 2005 Express. It is not a huge database, just about 40,000 records
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is limited to 1GB of RAM for the buffer pool. Non-express editions, by default, will not be limited unless configured to set a max. In either case, the usage will typically not decrease unless memory pressure forces it, or the service is restarted.


Multiple instances will definitely impact performance, especially if their memory allocations exceed physical memory, and the I/O contention can slow things down for concurrent queries.
Inactive databases will have no impact, other than the disk space they consume.