31 GB memory usage, screenshots of resourcemonitor / taskmngr included.

[quence27]

So my system likes to eat up 31 of the 32 GB of RAM it has. I would like to know why.

SOMETIMES, it can make the pc really laggy (at 100% usage). In a game or on desktop - does not matter.
Most of the time it is not a threat, though, and I heard from other sources having high RAM usage is not a problem, since RAM you don't use is lost RAM, right?

But I still feel like mine is too high. You can check my screenshots here: http://imgur.com/a/MkdbC

As you can see, the processes connected to my user add up to about 0.7 GB of RAM. Memory claims to be at 97% with 31 GB in use. I know that there are some processes that are not shown as processes because they do not belong to my windows user, but how on earth is that 30 GB?

Notes:
- The problem has existed for longer than my current RAM, I upgraded to 32 GB for this very reason - kind of
- No malware found, the problem even exists since I have the new pc with Windows 10
- I am using F-Secure

System:
- Windows 10 EDU 64-bit (duh)
- MSI Z170A Gaming M3
- Intel Core i5-6600K
- 32 GB RAM 3000Mhz (listed to work with my board)
- Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium



I am thankful for any help!

 

[Alabalcho]

With system at 31GB - close and kill all Chrome windows, wait couple of minutes - how much memory is in use?

 

[Colif]

Download Process explorer and run it as admin (it comes from Microsoft so its safe) - its an op version of task manager and should help more figuring this out

the default view is tree structure meaning like your task manager screen, it will show what processes are under local host, but unlike the other one, it shows the ram usage of each part so you can see what is eating your ram

Private bytes = actual ram usage
Working set = Ram + page file usage

This page shows what all the colours and headings mean, link at bottom of it shows how to use it to find problems. You can right click headers and run an av scan from within the program.

 

[quence27]

@Alabalcho Closing and waiting a few minutes just makes it go to 94%

@Colif I added a new screenshot to the album that I linked in the original post. Sorting by the working set thingy still gives me a hard time finding more than 2GB. K is kilo byte, right?

 

[Colif]

k = kb, yes.

Memory compression is the process win 10 uses to store previously closed programs. When you close a program on win 10, instead of dumping it all to hdd right away, it compresses it in ram as if you decide to reopen it, its much faster out of ram than off hdd or even ssd. Win 10 will empty it if/when you need the space. Its usage isn't that big really, 495 mb. IT doesn't explain where your ram is going, as the 495mb includes page file and is only actually using 1.8mb of ram (Private bytes = ram)

Sort the view by private bytes and it will show you whats using the ram. Are you running it as admin? it will see more if you do

 

[quence27]

Ok, so this time it is private bytes that I sorted by. I added the screenshot.

Sadly, I still do not know where my RAM is going. I added up all processes' private bytes from the highest to 30 MB and I am still not over 2.8 GB of RAM in use. The system information on memory still states 31.1 GB of physical memory in use.

I am pressing right klick and then 'run as administrator'. I tried it with both, the procexp and the procexp64 executable. It did not change anything, I think. My most RAM hungry process seems to be my F-Secure using 338 MB at the moment.

 

[Colif]

what is it like after a restart? with nothing running?

it feels like memory leek, possibly an old driver. Have you run live update 6 (find it here)
and checked you have latest motherboard drivers? Might need a bios update.

try a clean boot and see if its one of your start up programs: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/929135

run an anti virus scan

in the performance tab of task manager, ram tab, what does it say your Hardware reserved is? 40.. what?

 

[quence27]

Let me just say how much I appreciate your help, mate!

I tried the clean boot as described and it brought my usage down to 2 GB. I added the screenshot again.

This Hardware reserved thingy is at 40.0 MB, yes. What is that?

The funny thing is, even after rebooting with startup settings put back to normal I now have 4 GB of RAM in use with Chrome open. When I restarted earlier today it was at 94% usage. Not 12%.

What am I supposed to do now? Could the reboot have helped me out in the long run or am I supposed to uninstall my antivirus to let this live update 6 do its magic? I never did this before, no.

 

[quence27]

Fun fact: Even after hours of gaming, streaming, watching youtube, having about 20 chrome tabs opened as I usually do, I am back to 9 GB usage of RAM, now. Which is reasonable given the fact that Windows tries to keep stuff in the physical memory I might want to use later on.

The problem is I cannot really believe clean booting and then returning to "normal" booting can cure problems, can it?

 

[Colif]

Your hardware reserved is smaller than mine which is nice. Hardware reserved can be a small amount of ram set aside for possibly your GPU, I know if you had an integrated GPU (I know you don't), for example, it would set aside ram in here for its memory usage. Its so small its not worth worrying about, I thought it might have been higher.

9gb is high but since you played a game its likely a lot of it is compressed to ram still (Should show in brackets how much is compressed after the in use total in task manager) and you have 20 tabs open and I saw some of those can be over 155mb so it soon adds up. I only just started up and using 2.9gb but only have 2 tabs open and nothing else apart from chrome.

All a clean boot does is stops all services not associated with windows and all programs apart from Windows based ones from running at boot. Its possible you had additional services running that were consuming 29gb of ram, and the resetting of the services turned them off or released the ram back to empty.

If it happens again, redo the clean boot but slowly add the start up processes, not all at once. Need to figure out which of them is causing the problem to happen.

Its always possible its a driver leak still, did you run live update 6? check if your USB devices have latest drivers as well. DOn't suppose you have an Occulus as their drivers were causing leaks a few weeks ago.

 

[quence27]

No, I don't have that fancy stuff. Also, I did not yet run live update 6 since the instruction says I have to uninstall F-Secure and I am in too much of a hassle right now to do all that stuff. Plus I am scared it is going to mess with the BIOS settings the PC guys set to let my RAM run on 3000 Mhz. Another thing I would possibly need to find out about how it works.

It is obviously the first thing I am going to do when the problem returns. After that, turning off start ups...

I think that is a solid solution fo now. Thank you 😀

 

[Colif]

The live update program lets you choose what to install, so just don't install the bios updates and they will stay as set.

Strange it needs you to remove anti virus to run. IT could be it adds Ethernet drivers and sometimes AV see that as a threat and block the install (I have had this happen and it froze PC). That was my fault though.

Glad to help