Is this RAM usage normal for Windows 8?

rowanphilip

New Member
Messages
1
Below is a screenshot showing my RAM usage when nothing much is running. It shows that I am using 2 GB with 1.9GB cached. What does this mean exactly and does this reduce the amount of RAM available to other programs to 2GB out of the 4? Thanks.
Screenshot.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64 bit

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    iBUYPOWER
    CPU
    AMD 8320
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon 7850
    Screen Resolution
    1024x768
    Case
    Azza Solaris
    Internet Speed
    50MBps download/10MBps upload
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes PRO
Quite normal. Here is what mine presently looks like:

Capture.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Everything looks very good, about as close to the ideal as to not matter.

The 2 GB in use might seem high but that is only because there is currently no better use for it. The memory manager always maintains control over memory usage, always with the goal of maximizing overall system performance. If you were to run a large application the current usage would be trimmed back as necessary. This is all very complex and usually works very well.

It is normal and good to have a large value for Cached memory. In this case almost all of cached memory is on what is called the standby list. This memory serves a dual role. It is available to any application that needs it but until that happens it holds useful data. This is superior to free memory in every way. Caching has a long and distinguished history in computer systems and Windows 8 has a highly advanced version.

Please understand that all of this is very complex. There is much going on that would be very time consuming to describe.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I have 6GB and mine is always within a few percent of 50% also. This remains the same no matter how many programs I have running. I think this display is bogus, just giving us numbers that look good so we won't bother MS support. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 consumer 64 bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire M5 481PT-6644
    CPU
    Intel Core I5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Hard Drives
    Spinning/SSD hybrid 500GB/20GB
    Mouse
    ELAN Trackpad
    Internet Speed
    18mbs/5mbs
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
I have 6GB and mine is always within a few percent of 50% also. This remains the same no matter how many programs I have running. I think this display is bogus, just giving us numbers that look good so we won't bother MS support. :)
It depends on how much you have running at any given time. The more programs you use the more memory required to keep your computer running smoothly.

I.e. I do a fairly good bit of heavy program running at all times as I work with videos and such in my leisure so I sometimes can use up to around 11-12GB of memory easily. I have 16GB memory in my computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    iBUYPOWER
    CPU
    AMD 8320
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon 7850
    Screen Resolution
    1024x768
    Case
    Azza Solaris
    Internet Speed
    50MBps download/10MBps upload
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes PRO
One of the "secrets" Win 8 runs faster is that it keeps in RAM as much as it can, so it does not use much slower disk for that. Empty RAM is wasted RAM.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
One of the "secrets" Win 8 runs faster is that it keeps in RAM as much as it can, so it does not use much slower disk for that. Empty RAM is wasted RAM.

Very true.

And this isn't a new idea. In fact all modern operating systems do this and have done so for a long time. All versions of Windows released in the last 20 years (actually somewhat longer) follow this principle. It is just that Windows 8 does it more efficiently than older systems. The memory manager always tries to find some use for as much memory as possible, always with the goal of maximizing performance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
One of the "secrets" Win 8 runs faster is that it keeps in RAM as much as it can, so it does not use much slower disk for that. Empty RAM is wasted RAM.

Very true.

And this isn't a new idea. In fact all modern operating systems do this and have done so for a long time. All versions of Windows released in the last 20 years (actually somewhat longer) follow this principle. It is just that Windows 8 does it more efficiently than older systems. The memory manager always tries to find some use for as much memory as possible, always with the goal of maximizing performance.
Yeah, remember old "Unload DLLs" trick in XP and before ? Win7 did it much better but W8 manages them dynamically almost to perfection, excluding an occasional "Memory leak" that is difficult to diagnose and fix, caused by a bad program or driver. Some Intel network drivers seem to cause it a lot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Superfetch is way too overrated, it can actually slow down some application in order to start others, but you are not in control, you let Windows to decide, what you want, sometimes it is good, sometimes not.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo E525
    CPU
    AMD A4-3300M @ 2,0GHz
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6480G 512MB shared
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    WD 465GB
    Cooling
    Fusion Tweaker
    Keyboard
    Logitech K360
    Mouse
    Logitech M705
    Internet Speed
    50/50 MBps
    Browser
    Yandex
    Antivirus
    No AV & No Firewall
    Other Info
    Headphones: Sennheiser RS170
Superfetch is way too overrated, it can actually slow down some application in order to start others, but you are not in control, you let Windows to decide, what you want, sometimes it is good, sometimes not.
On SSD it works without any hindrance but on the other hand it's not really needed with it's speed etc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Yeah, remember old "Unload DLLs" trick in XP and before ?

I know it well. But it is nothing like what is claimed for it.
Just a few problems:
1. Not supported since Windows 2000.
2. Applied only to explorer extension DLLs, not DLLs in general.
3. Unloaded the DLLs from the process virtual address space but not from RAM.
4. As DLLs are a shared resource they are a prime candidate for caching. Unloading a DLL from RAM before the RAM is needed for other purposes is a crime against performance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Back
Top