Free Memory Less with New Upgrade

[SuggieG]

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1764 that originally had 2 2GB memory cards. It shows 15GB free. I upgraded to 2 4GB memory cards and it now shows only 8 GB free. What is the problem? The specs show that the computer is reading the memory correctly.

 

[RealBeast]

Where are you determining your free memory, that sounds more like free hard disk space than free memory.

You had 4GB of memory and 15GB of free hard drive space. When you upgraded to 8GB memory your hard drive space dropped in part because of what windows would do to the paging file (increase it due to more memory).

 

[SuggieG]

Where are you determining your free memory, that sounds more like free hard disk space than free memory.

You had 4GB of memory and 15GB of free hard drive space. When you upgraded to 8GB memory your hard drive space dropped in part because of what windows would do to the paging file (increase it due to more memory).

You are correct. I am looking at the C:/ drive memory. It says that I have a total of 58.5 GB, but my free memory was dropping. That was why I was doing the upgrade. Would you please explain more about why the memory would drop? I am not tech savvy at all and would appreciate your help in understanding.

Thanks.

 

[RealBeast]

Windows automatically sets the size of the swap (or paging file) and it usually sets it equal to the amount of physical memory. So if you increase your physical memory by 4GB, Windows will increase the size of the paging file by at least 4GB -- although in reality you probably need less since you have more physical memory.

I would change the paging file size to a smaller amount: open the system control panel, select "advanced system settings," click the advanced tab, next to performance hit the settings button, choose the advanced tab. Where it says Virtual memory, click the button that says change. Highlight a drive that has a paging file. It will have system managed size chosen and you can see the amount. I would instead use custom and type 2048 in both the initial and maximum boxes, then click set and OK. This will reclaim some HDD space and you won't notice any difference.

edit: also if you do not hibernate your computer you can reclaim a bunch of space.

 

[SuggieG]

Windows automatically sets the size of the swap (or paging file) and it usually sets it equal to the amount of physical memory. So if you increase your physical memory by 4GB, Windows will increase the size of the paging file by at least 4GB -- although in reality you probably need less since you have more physical memory.

I would change the paging file size to a smaller amount: open the system control panel, select "advanced system settings," click the advanced tab, next to performance hit the settings button, choose the advanced tab. Where it says Virtual memory, click the button that says change. Highlight a drive that has a paging file. It will have system managed size chosen and you can see the amount. I would instead use custom and type 2048 in both the initial and maximum boxes, then click set and OK. This will reclaim some HDD space and you won't notice any difference.

edit: also if you do not hibernate your computer you can reclaim a bunch of space.

Thank you so much! As soon as I do a restart I will know how much space it added.

 

[Euseiov vasile]

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1764 that originally had 2 2GB memory cards. It shows 15GB free. I upgraded to 2 4GB memory cards and it now shows only 8 GB free. What is the problem? The specs show that the computer is reading the memory correctly.

 

[RealBeast]

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1764 that originally had 2 2GB memory cards. It shows 15GB free. I upgraded to 2 4GB memory cards and it now shows only 8 GB free. What is the problem? The specs show that the computer is reading the memory correctly.

Your added memory probably increased the size of the paging file -- do the same as the OP to decrease the size again.