[SOLVED] Im always at 100% ram usage and I want to upgrade what are my options?

Neostarwcc

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Im currently using a g.skill trident-x 3200 mhz 32gb kit with a ASUS z390-a prime motherboard and a i7 9700k. My motherboard can go up to 64 gbs of 4000 mhz ram but if I wanted to upgrade to 128 gbs so that my ram isnt so maxed and taxed all the time what are my options? Because not only when you buy a 64gb kit are they virtually the same price as a 128 gb kit


The only motherboards that I found supporting the lga 1151 socket and 128 gbs of ram had only 4 ram slots. Ive yet to find a good 128gb kit of 4 sticks theyre all 8. So what are my options? Upgrade to a better processor and motherboard? Which ones should I get?
 
Solution
If you're barely pushing 32GB I doubt you'll ever get close to 64GB in the lifetime of that system. 64GB is much easier and cheaper to obtain. Remember the golden rule of memory - unused RAM is wasted RAM.

From the screenshots I've seen you still have 8-10GB free with 32GB in your system. Is this the highest use case? If yes, there's nothing wrong here. Your computer is just as fast as if you had 64GB with about 40GB free or 128GB with 104GB free. It's only when your system's memory usage gets VERY close to the max (the last couple GB) that it starts using memory differently which may (not a definite) affect performance. Up until that point your computer will be just as fast as if it had 128GB of RAM.
Are you sure you are actually using close to 32GBs? Remember that Windows loves to 'cache' stuff to memory - even when you aren't using said 'stuff'. (Superfetch/Sysmain anyone?)

I am also interested in what you are doing so as to require 64GB+ of memory. Download and run RAMMap - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rammap to see how much memory you are REALLY using. Don't rely on Task Manager.


Edit - There are a few 128GB/4-stick kits on the market but they're expensive. If you want more memory slots you'll have to upgrade to the X299 (or X299G) chipsets at an even greater expense. Or, you could wait for the next gen Intel CPUs and 490 chipsets coming out in a few months, or have a look at the AMD camp...
 
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Neostarwcc

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What are you doing exactly that max out your 32GB? Are you doing editing and such?


Strangely? It's just Chrome and World of Warcraft mostly that uses up a majority of my ram. Sometimes when I'm at 100% I'll have a couple of games open and whatnot. Or I'll stream some of those games (that really eats it I can only have WoW or a video game open most of the time when I'm streaming) I like to multitask


the strange part is, most of the time my CPU and ram aren't taxed at all. I've never seen my processor go over 30% usage and I built this rig way back in August. (But then again I'm using an i7 9700k it's a powerful processor.)

But right now I'm almost at 19 GB ram usage and I only have WoW and Chrome open which those two programs alone are using up almost 6 GBs of it. I can't figure out why my games always use up so much of my ram. And where the other 13GBs is coming from. I mean, windows 10 itself cannot use 13GBs of your ram can it?

p.png
 
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Neostarwcc

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Are you sure you are actually using close to 32GBs? Remember that Windows loves to 'cache' stuff to memory - even when you aren't using said 'stuff'. (Superfetch/Sysmain anyone?)

I am also interested in what you are doing so as to require 64GB+ of memory. Download and run RAMMap - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rammap to see how much memory you are REALLY using. Don't rely on Task Manager.


Edit - There are a few 128GB/4-stick kits on the market but they're expensive. If you want more memory slots you'll have to upgrade to the X299 (or X299G) chipsets at an even greater expense. Or, you could wait for the next gen Intel CPUs and 490 chipsets coming out in a few months, or have a look at the AMD camp...

Yeah, rammap says the same. It says I'm using close to 19GBs of ram right now and it's mostly between Chrome and WoW. If I went into full on multitasker mode and actually use my computer the way I want to, i'd use all of it or mostly all. Especially if I started streaming my games. I'm mostly confused as to why just two programs use up so much ram that no other programs come even close to using up.

If I do have to upgrade, I don't mind waiting for a new chipset to come out. Especially if I'm going to have to spend $500 on a ram kit. But, honestly I shouldn't have to.

p.png
 

Neostarwcc

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oh okay! I wasn't sure what that was srry for that! I'm not savvy with all of the features of windows 10. I found it though! I couldn't get it to 100% from regular computer usage this morning because most of the time when I get 100% usage I'm either raiding and streaming (I don't have a raid until Saturday >< but I'll try to provide a screenshot then.) or when I'm running 2+ games at once. Games just eat my RAM up for some reason. I recently formatted my hard drive as well so I don't see why just a browser and loading up 1 game should take almost 20 GBs of my ram. I either need more ram or there's something seriously wrong here.

But there's also the fact of if I doubled my ram my ram usage would still be 40-50% when I'm streaming it's... idk... but maybe you need a beast of a computer to stream. Dunno.

Anyway, here's the screenshot I barely have anything open atm.

View: https://imgur.com/Na1h9TN
 
If you're barely pushing 32GB I doubt you'll ever get close to 64GB in the lifetime of that system. 64GB is much easier and cheaper to obtain. Remember the golden rule of memory - unused RAM is wasted RAM.

From the screenshots I've seen you still have 8-10GB free with 32GB in your system. Is this the highest use case? If yes, there's nothing wrong here. Your computer is just as fast as if you had 64GB with about 40GB free or 128GB with 104GB free. It's only when your system's memory usage gets VERY close to the max (the last couple GB) that it starts using memory differently which may (not a definite) affect performance. Up until that point your computer will be just as fast as if it had 128GB of RAM.
 
Solution

Neostarwcc

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You can see it yourself -
one instance of wow eats ~7GB of ram;
chrome eats at least 6GB (Probably more. Your screenshot doesn't show full list of processes.)

Couple more wow instances and you run out of ram. Seems normal.


So that's normal? Okay I wasn't sure. So it's normal then to hit all 32GBs when i'm raid streaming? I just thought it was kind of odd to be using over 20GBs pretty much just out of two major programs. True, I run WoW on max settings but does that really influence it's ram usage? Never knew. I mean also does Chrome really use all that ram? If it does is there another browser I can use maybe that'll use up less? Or do all browsers take up that much ram these days? I think I'm stuck in the late 90s early 2000s when 512 mbs of ram lasted you for forever. True, we didn't really stream back then.


Anyway, maybe when I get some more money set aside I can upgrade to higher memory. If I did I'd have to completely change my processor and motherboard right? What's odd is my current motherboard says I can have 64 GBs but yet it only has 2 slots. Idk where a 32GBx2 kit exists because they're not anywhere I can find. My processor can apparently support up to 128 GBs but, idk I wouldn't want to risk it and if I'm waiting a year + to upgrade to higher ram I might as well get a new processor too. I was just kind of afraid that I'd have to upgrade right now though if I'm maxing my ram out or close to maxing it out with very little open.

I can't imagine people who never shut off their desktops and have like 50+ programs open constantly. That... must really eat up their ram.
 

Neostarwcc

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Sep 12, 2013
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If you're barely pushing 32GB I doubt you'll ever get close to 64GB in the lifetime of that system. 64GB is much easier and cheaper to obtain. Remember the golden rule of memory - unused RAM is wasted RAM.

From the screenshots I've seen you still have 8-10GB free with 32GB in your system. Is this the highest use case? If yes, there's nothing wrong here. Your computer is just as fast as if you had 64GB with about 40GB free or 128GB with 104GB free. It's only when your system's memory usage gets VERY close to the max (the last couple GB) that it starts using memory differently which may (not a definite) affect performance. Up until that point your computer will be just as fast as if it had 128GB of RAM.


I do use all 32GBs if I'm streaming during raiding (A 20 player PVE instance where guilds fight bosses. It's quite taxing on a system to stream that.) but other than that, I don't get over 70% usage really. I just kind of panicked when I saw that only two programs were using 20+GBs of ram. I thought that was kind of abnormal since my wife doesn't get that much ram usage in her 16GB system.

Could just be because I have twice the ram and she's running a microwave oven for now. Lol Anyway, yeah I think it's fine for now until I want to upgrade my system again in the next year or so. I kind of want a faster processor for games other than WoW. Want to get into 2020 gaming because there's a lot of sweet games coming out this year :).
 

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