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I recently upgraded a Windows 10 PC from 16 GB ram to 32 GB ram because I was often using the whole 16 GB and then the page file.

However, Windows doesn't seem to want to use more than 16 GB on this computer. Task Manager will usually show it using 15 GB. The other 17 is being used for cache - the ram can all be seen and used, this question is about how Windows is managing it.

If I'm using 15 GB and then I open a few memory hungry programs, ram use will peak at 17 GB or so, but then within a few seconds about 4 GB will be dumped to the page file, and the in-use ram will drop to 13-14 GB. It looks like there is a soft 16 GB limit somewhere that Windows is trying not to exceed.

Why would this happen, and how can I stop it so that I can make better use of my full 32 GB? I haven't seen "committed" memory go over 24 GB, so ideally all the data could be stored in ram and none in page.

Sir Adelaide
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    Why are you trying to avoid the page file? The use of the page file makes you system faster not slower. – Ramhound Apr 07 '20 at 13:53
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    Windows always starts to page at around 50% RAM usage. btw, I'm not keen on the opening paragraph of the first answer on that link [from 2012]. SSDs are perfectly capable of that these days – Tetsujin Apr 07 '20 at 13:57
  • I'm not trying to avoid the pagefile per se. I'd just like to see my ram usage go over 20 GB when I'm running programs that require that much ram. No point using the page file too early when there's still 16 GB ram free. – Sir Adelaide Apr 07 '20 at 13:58
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    I'm not sure you can 'fix' it on Windows. nix & Mac don't do the same, it's a Win thing. https://i.stack.imgur.com/l5mA1.png & that odd 150MB paged is actually quite rare, I must have really ramped up my RAM usage at some point in the past week or so. – Tetsujin Apr 07 '20 at 13:59
  • With that much RAM, why not disable the pagefile altogether? That way, you'd force Windows to use all your RAM. However RAM-hungry the programs you run may be, I doubt they'll gobble all of 32GB. You can also create a RAM disk for caching whatever content your applications need to be cached. Many people here will scold me for offering that advice, but it could work in your favor, if you point system caches and user profiles to the RAM disk, along with caches from the programs you use the most. I did that on my PC for Firefox, for example, plus my user profile temp folders, and it works great. –  Apr 07 '20 at 14:55
  • @Didier I'm considering it. But I was wondering first whether I could coax Windows to make use of the available hardware effectively first. – Sir Adelaide Apr 07 '20 at 16:34
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    Depends on what you mean by "effectively". If your system drive is an SSD, paging to it will only add to the wear it already has to endure, and shorten its life expectancy. Even if your factor in over-provisioning, it means that at some point, your drive will have to be replaced. No such problem with a RAM disk. If you've got a regular hard drive, and unless it's got a high spin rate, you'll trade longevity for speed, which, if I understand correctly, is something you value, so if I were you, I'd give it a try. I use ImDisk, which is free, and insanely easy to configure. –  Apr 07 '20 at 16:57
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    Additionally, if you've got an SSD, there's another freeware (the paid version only adds a couple options, the free one works fine as is) called Tweak-SSD that will fine-tune your SSD to lower the strain your system puts on it. I also use it, along with ImDisk, and I'm as happy a camper as can be in my neck of woods... –  Apr 07 '20 at 17:01
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    While you want it to behave a certain way there's no evidence that what you want is best or better than the default behavior already going on. – music2myear Apr 09 '20 at 04:54

1 Answers1

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In Powershell

type in

Clear-BCCache

This will delete all data in all cache files. If you want to you can turn this script into a task scheduler to make it run every so often or when you turn on the computer or what ever you would like.

Elder4Ever
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  • You should read the documentation on that cmdlet because it doesn't do what you think it does and it has precisely nothing to do with what OP asks. Clear-bccache clears the Branch Cache, which is used mostly in enterprise environments for staging updates and lowering WAN load. – music2myear Apr 09 '20 at 04:53