Several Windows users complain about the problem that pressing the "Instances"-button (Render buttons -> Performance) has no effect: Even when using many Objects with linked meshes only, the peak RAM usage is not reduced with the button active.
I tested and confirm it with r39307 on Windows Vista 32,
Two users confirmed it on Windows 7 64, r39307
On a linux version of r39307, the bug does not occur (which is why I categorized it as "Windows related").
Example file attached (or just take a Suzanne, Alt + D it as often as you want) - hit render twice: once with and once without instancing checked.
[Initial report in German Blender Forum: http://www.blendpolis.de/viewtopic.php?p=404972#p404972 ]
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Render instancing is only supported for dupliverts, duplifaces, dupligroups, dupliparticles. Object sharing mesh datablocks are not considered instances in Blender, they can have different modifiers. The system could be smarter about this, but it's working as intended when it was implemented.