[SOLVED] High RAM usage on startup at idle

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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hey guys!
I built my PC not long ago and am wondering if this is normal. When I first built my PC the ram usage wasn't as high but over time it has gotten higher and higher at idle.
Task Manager
When I turn my PC on I am immediately using almost 7gb RAM. I have searched through the forum but haven't been able to find a solution. I have updated all of my drivers and updated the BIOS when I built the PC, windows is also up to date!
I have attached a photo from Task Manager to hopefully help identify the issue.

I have gone through my "Startup" apps and the only thing thats runs at startup are:
  • iCUE
  • NZXT CAM
  • "Delayed Launcher" ? not sure what that is
  • Intel Graphics Command Center Startup Task
  • RAM Cache III
  • Realtek HD audio Universal Service
  • Windows Security Notification Icon

my PC specs are :
  • Intel 10th Gen i7-10700k using Windows 10 64Bit Professional, (i opt'ed out of all the bloatware that windows recommends installing to avoid this exact situation im in haha!)
    Overclocked to 5.1ghz with XMP profile Enabled
  • Corsair Dom Plat 32GB RAM 2x16GB 3200mhz CL16 (iCUE uses alot of ram)
  • NZXT Kraken z73 AIO Cooler (NZXT CAM Software uses alot also)
  • ASUS Maximus Hero XII WiFi z490
  • Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB NVMe M.2 (for windows os)
  • Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB NVMe M.2
  • Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC 10gb Rev.2 LHR
  • Corsair Commander Pro/Lighting Node Pro
  • Corsair LL120 x6 Fans and 3x NZXT radiator fans
 
Solution
let it stay there until I don't know... a few hours. Until You sure its stuck as I wouldn't interrupt it.

any sign of hdd activity? it could be working - it can download files from internet

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Can you please state the BIOS version for your motherboard as well as the version(not edition) of the OS? Just curious, why do you need Ram Cache III on your platform? Are all your Samsung drives on the latest firmware updates?
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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Can you please state the BIOS version for your motherboard as well as the version(not edition) of the OS? Just curious, why do you need Ram Cache III on your platform? Are all your Samsung drives on the latest firmware updates?
BIOS Version: 0607 x64
Build Date 05/29/2020
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 21H2
Installed on ‎2/‎08/‎2020
OS build 19044.1620
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4170.0

im not sure if i need RAM cache, i just follow JayzTwoCents' video about what to do after building your PC, i just downloaded all of the drivers from the ASUS website so im not exactly sure what everything does as this is my first PC haha.
i have updated every driver on every piece of hardware on my computer, i right clicked windows and updated all the drivers through Device Manager
 
Last edited:
im not sure if i need RAM cache, i just follow JayzTwoCents' video about what to do after building your PC, i just downloaded all of the drivers from the ASUS website so im not exactly sure what everything does as this is my first PC haha
Did he say why you should do those things or did he just say do those things? Anyone who says "do these things" without explaining why should either be ignored or you should do more research as to what exactly the thing is for.

For instance, I would let CAM and iCUE pass if you use NZXT and Corsair stuff. RAM Cache? That sounds like something for an SSD to improve performance. That can be tossed because the 970s you have perform just fine without it.
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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Can you please state the BIOS version for your motherboard as well as the version(not edition) of the OS? Just curious, why do you need Ram Cache III on your platform? Are all your Samsung drives on the latest firmware updates?
after running the command sfc /scannow i got this message too.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
you have 32gb of ram, I can get about that at idle too...

closes Firefox. Oh look, 7gb
Xd3N4MP.jpg


Windows will use what it needs but at 7gb used, you still have 24gb free, mostly empty ram doing nothing. If you were to need it, windows 10 can run in less ram than all OS before it until you hit win xp. It will close things that are suspended mode and give you all thee ram you need. But while its not being used, it will use it to speed up processes.
When you close a program it compresses the data into ram, and only writes to drive IF you need that space or at shutdown. Its faster to decompress it if you use program again than it is to load it off drives.

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows
what is ram usage like now? if you want to reduce to this, need to stop all the start up programs.
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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you have 32gb of ram, I can get about that at idle too...

closes Firefox. Oh look, 7gb
Xd3N4MP.jpg


Windows will use what it needs but at 7gb used, you still have 24gb free, mostly empty ram doing nothing.

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows
what is ram usage like now? if you want to reduce to this, need to stop all the start up programs.
ill try it out thanks! im reading online that the new windows update 21h2 caused an increase in idle ram usage too so maybe that could be it, i did have a trojan on my PC not long ago but uninstalled the app so i was worried that maybe the trojan was doing it. i think a clean install and full wipe might be the way to go just to be safe. luckily i didnt download many games yet so the loss wont be too bad. thanks again
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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Did he say why you should do those things or did he just say do those things? Anyone who says "do these things" without explaining why should either be ignored or you should do more research as to what exactly the thing is for.

For instance, I would let CAM and iCUE pass if you use NZXT and Corsair stuff. RAM Cache? That sounds like something for an SSD to improve performance. That can be tossed because the 970s you have perform just fine without it.
i read online that RAM Cache helps load times with games using NVME so i thought i needed it, in the video he goes over what everything does but im still a noobie at this kinda stuff haha, so do you suggest i delete Ram Cache? i googled it and it says it really helps with NVME
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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As for SFC

right click start button

choose powershell (admin)

copy/paste this command into window:

Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth
and press enter

Then type SFC /scannow
and press enter


First command repairs the files SFC uses to clean files, and SFC fixes system files

SFC = System File Checker. First command runs DISM - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/what-is-dism?view=windows-11
PS C:\Windows\system32> Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth Repair-WindowsImage : The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.
At line:1 char:1
  • Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth
  • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: :)) [Repair-WindowsImage], COMException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Dism.Commands.RepairWindowsImageCommand

PS C:\Windows\system32> SFC/scannow
SFC/scannow : The term 'SFC/scannow' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable
program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
  • SFC/scannow
  • ~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (SFC/scannow:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
these are my results
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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lets try command prompt (admin)

the spacing is important
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I am thinking the spaces weren't right in last try
you had sfc /scannow without a gap too.
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19044.1620]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19044.1620

[===========================62.3%==== ]

it seems to have frozen at 62.3%
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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let it stay there until I don't know... a few hours. Until You sure its stuck as I wouldn't interrupt it.

any sign of hdd activity? it could be working - it can download files from internet
Alright ill see how i go, if all else fails ill just do a full wipe and reinstall, i dont have many files on here just 2 or 3 games i can redownload and some pictures haha, i really appreciate your help! Thanks
 
i read online that RAM Cache helps load times with games using NVME so i thought i needed it, in the video he goes over what everything does but im still a noobie at this kinda stuff haha, so do you suggest i delete Ram Cache? i googled it and it says it really helps with NVME
With regards to loading, any performance difference is not practically noticeable. NVMe's are have basically pushed loading performance more on the CPU than the storage itself (yes, the CPU is responsible for "loading" as well). You might be able to measure maybe a 1 second difference.

For saving things to storage, I'd argue RAM cache is redundant at best (your SSDs already have RAM to act as cache) and it makes the system more unreliable at worst (the data gets shuffled into RAM, then pushed to the SSD at some point, so it's another point of failure).
 

1stTimeBuildr

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Jul 26, 2020
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it helped on ssd but not on NVMe as the speed gained isn't that much.
Samsung used to offer it for SSD but it doesn't apply to Nvme or I would see it as an option in Magician.
https://www.windowscentral.com/samsung-ssd-rapid-mode
oh okay so its not really useful for me since i dont have any ssd's, ill uninstall it then since that has a high usage on startup! also that cmd prompt finished, running SFC /scannow now. Results below:


Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19044.1620]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19044.1620

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>SFC /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

C:\Windows\system32>

If i could hug you i would! you sir, are a legend!
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Samsung rapid ram cache advertised 2x speed of sata ssd.
Max of those is 550mb/s so double is 1100mb/s
Your NVMe does 3500mb/s so you already 2400mb'/s faster without it.
PCIe 4.0 NVMe are approaching same speed as ram, at least DDR4 ram.
So no advantage really.