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I am running 64-bit Windows on an 2.2GHz 2nd generation i7 and 8GB of RAM.

When I first boot up, the RAM usage is 25-30%, which is reasonable, but after about two to four hours, it may go up to 70-80% with Firefox open, and then drop to about 65% when I close Firefox.

It won’t change even if I disconnect, only if I reboot. In the Task Manager, processes will add up to 1.3GB RAM used, but it will still show 65% used. This is not just a problem with the Task Manager; I can feel a distinct reduction in performance.

Synetech
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Alessandro Miotto
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  • Try restarting the `Desktop Window Manager Session Manager` service if you often have a lot of windows open, or the `Windows Audio` service if you have a soundcard made by Creative (i.e., a SoundBlaster); (the drivers for SoundBlasters has a *MAJOR* memory leak.) – Darth Android Aug 02 '12 at 22:35
  • still at 76% of RAM – Alessandro Miotto Aug 03 '12 at 22:02
  • Please take a look at the Resource Monitor's Memory page. It contains a graphic representation of what's using memory. It would be best to attach a screenshot of this page here. – Daniel B Feb 23 '14 at 22:40

1 Answers1

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There's nothing to resolve. Free memory is forever wasted. It's not like if you only use 6GB of RAM now, you can use 10GB of RAM later. If you want the system not to use RAM, take it out of the machine.

If your problem is poor performance, the last thing you want is to be using less RAM. We add RAM to improve performance so the system can use more RAM. If using less RAM made the system faster, we'd remove RAM to increase performance.

Free RAM, since it isn't doing anything, has no effect on performance.

David Schwartz
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    That’s not what he’s asking. He’s saying that the usage goes up but never comes back down, even after closing all of the programs that use memory. – Synetech Aug 02 '12 at 22:32
  • While people often misunderstand RAM usage, running on a system with lots of active memory pages and high eviction pressure does "degrade" as the system is unable to cache disk requests and other techniques it uses to "speed up" the system using "free" memory. Background processes can suck up large amounts of RAM for private caches, which aren't always the most helpful for non-realtime tasks. – Darth Android Aug 02 '12 at 22:33
  • @Synetech: I know that's what he's saying, and I explained why that's not a problem. The system leaves the memory used rather than making it free (when it's not under memory pressure). Making it free takes effort. And if the system wants to use the memory for something else, it can just change it from one use directly to another without going to the effort of making it free only to go to the effort of making it used again. Modern OSes only make memory free when they have absolutely no better choice. – David Schwartz Aug 02 '12 at 22:53
  • @DarthAndroid: There is no way to speed up the system using free memory except by making it not free anymore. So a reduction in free memory is a sign that the memory is being used to speed up the system. If the system made more memory free, it would have to stop using that memory to make the system faster. – David Schwartz Aug 02 '12 at 22:55
  • @DavidSchwartz I think we have differing definitions of 'free memory'. I'm talking about standby memory which is not allocated as private memory to running applications, and is available for the system to use as disk cache or SuperFetch. I agree wholly that truly "free" memory (as in, not allocated and not being used by the system in any way) is bad, but Windows will never let that get bigger than about 100MB unless you've been messing with the way it does disk caching. – Darth Android Aug 03 '12 at 18:03
  • @DarthAndroid: Ahh, okay. Then I agree with you. – David Schwartz Aug 03 '12 at 21:23
  • btw guys if u say that when RAM is used, the system uses it to speed up. why does my system underperforms? – Alessandro Miotto Aug 03 '12 at 22:10
  • @AlessandroMiotto See my post [here](http://superuser.com/a/457314/19841) on what David and I are talking about when we discuss "Used", "Standby", and "Free" memory, and your system using free memory to speed up a system. Your system will feel sluggish and underperform if there is very little standby memory. Note that in my previous comments, I have been referring to "standby" memory when I spoke about free memory (incorrectly or colloquially, take your pick). – Darth Android Aug 03 '12 at 22:30
  • @AlessandroMiotto: We don't know. What performance issues specifically you are having? And what's the history of the problem? (Did the system always underperform? Did it gradually get slower and slower?) Also, check the CPU temperature and make sure fans are working and there's no excessive dust. – David Schwartz Aug 03 '12 at 22:46
  • It suddenly happened one day and it keeps repeating. cpu temp is 65°and running at 3-5 %. fans are working. – Alessandro Miotto Aug 03 '12 at 23:40
  • @AlessandroMiotto: Is this a desktop or a laptop? If desktop, 65C during low use is high. – David Schwartz Aug 03 '12 at 23:49
  • @DarthAndroid so i re-formulate my initial question saying... why i have so little standby memory and too much free memory? im using: 5410mb, standby: 993mb, free: 1702mb – Alessandro Miotto Aug 03 '12 at 23:51
  • @DavidSchwartz laptop, plus im using a vent under it. – Alessandro Miotto Aug 03 '12 at 23:52
  • @AlessandroMiotto: Generally, when you have lots of free memory, it's because of one of two things: 1) The system hasn't been up long enough for the memory to get used. In this case, the free memory should keep decreasing with normal use. 2) Something recently released a lot of memory in a way that forced it to be free. For example, if a program with a lot private, modified resident pages terminates. Consistent high free memory indicates lots of memory "churn". (Or someone has tuned the system very badly. The defaults are good, but people screw things up.) – David Schwartz Aug 03 '12 at 23:56
  • @DavidSchwartz do u know any way to solve this? Cuz must important, ok i have loads of free memory but whats using the standby memory?? No program is by checking their memory use :s – Alessandro Miotto Aug 04 '12 at 00:02
  • @AlessandroMiotto: The operating system is using the standby memory to make your system run faster. That's what it does with memory that isn't needed for anything else. You really need to stop obsessing about microscopic details about OS memory use and work on figuring out why you have performance problems. – David Schwartz Aug 04 '12 at 00:02
  • @DavidSchwartz sorry. but i dont really know, why I have these performance problems. I only see them when my use of RAM is high and i cant justify why it is. Thats why im asking help on this website. – Alessandro Miotto Aug 04 '12 at 00:49
  • @AlessandroMiotto: Can you describe them in more detail? Are applications slow to launch? Are applications slow after switching applications? Are frame rates low? Are productivity or office applications slow? Do web pages take long to load? You really haven't told us any details about your performance problem. – David Schwartz Aug 04 '12 at 05:41
  • @DavidSchwartz firefox keeps "not responding", switching between applications is slow, some applications may not respond, in-game frame rates are low, web-pages dont take long, office applications keep "not responding" and "in execution" like firefox. – Alessandro Miotto Aug 04 '12 at 16:22
  • @AlessandroMiotto: Overheating CPU would be my first guess. Malware would be my second. An issue with Windows OS memory management wouldn't even be in my top 10. – David Schwartz Aug 04 '12 at 21:03