[SOLVED] Maximum ram limit solutions

Feb 13, 2019
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Hello I need some tips and solutions.
I don't have money and don't want to upgrade my motherboard and cpu.
My motherboard has 4 gb RAM limit. I am using now 4 gb ram , with windows 7 64 bit.
I always use a torrent client and web browser, my ram usage goes & 95-100 sometimes.
I cleaned startup files,programs, I set virtual memory size.
Is there anything else I can do without buying new motherboard ? I am happy with my old pc, my only problem is memory... Thanks !
 
No probably not. In addition, you may be running a 32-bit OS, even if there was a way around the hardware limitation, if on a 32-bit OS, it makes no difference. You would have to upgrade to a 64-bit OS to take advantage of more than 4gb system ram.

4gb is like the min you should be running Win 7/10 with. At desktop (doing nothing) you will have already used up about 2gb just loading up the OS and startup programs. Leaves you with little room to move. If you are running an Intel chip with an iGPU then you will have even less ram, as the iGPU will use system ram too!

What are the rest of your system specs?
 

McKeu

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Mar 27, 2019
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No probably not. In addition, you may be running a 32-bit OS, even if there was a way around the hardware limitation, if on a 32-bit OS, it makes no difference. You would have to upgrade to a 64-bit OS to take advantage of more than 4gb system ram.

4gb is like the min you should be running Win 7/10 with. At desktop (doing nothing) you will have already used up about 2gb just loading up the OS and startup programs. Leaves you with little room to move. If you are running an Intel chip with an iGPU then you will have even less ram, as the iGPU will use system ram too!

What are the rest of your system specs?
I was running civ 6 on my 4 GB office computer just fine on Win 10. You just need to cut down on background activities.
 
Feb 13, 2019
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I tried firefox quantum but I think chrome uses less ram than firefox. I am using chrome now.

My motherboard: gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L (rev. 2.4)
My cpu: Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz
I have no pci external graphic card. I have 1 SSd and 4 HDD. Motherboard supports sata2 only.
 

McKeu

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Mar 27, 2019
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Chrome tends to take all the RAM it can get from my experience (right now, with three tabs open, my chrome eats close to 1 GB of memory with 14 open processes). I would probably shut down chrome, while needing RAM for something else. On the other hand: Do you have any problems, except for the number of the RAM usage? Is something not working?
 
I was running civ 6 on my 4 GB office computer just fine on Win 10. You just need to cut down on background activities.

That's fantastic! Good for you!!

The point being, and has since been established, that with 4gbs of ram, which is shared with an iGPU, there is very little to play around with. Yes, I'd agree, the OP can shut down back-round tasks etc. Chrome is a good example. Just having 3-4 tabs open can have mem usage up to 400mb. But they will always have the same issue, regardless. The ONLY solution is to get a new mobo, to add more ram. Or do a an upgrade for about $300 bucks that would stop the problem, and give the user a platform to enjoy a bit more, and upgrade as they wish. Holding onto legacy hardware is well and good, but by it's own limitations, if it's not doing whats needed, then why persist with closing down taks every time you want to do something slightly intensive.
 
Chrome tends to take all the RAM it can get from my experience (right now, with three tabs open, my chrome eats close to 1 GB of memory with 14 open processes). I would probably shut down chrome, while needing RAM for something else. On the other hand: Do you have any problems, except for the number of the RAM usage? Is something not working?

The problems would be kinda obvious. If the OP has 95-100% ram usage, the system will start to chug along, become unresponsive, and once the ram fills up will start to use the swap file/page file which can increase disk usage and cause really slow responses as the HD will be so much slower than the system ram.
 

McKeu

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Mar 27, 2019
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That's fantastic! Good for you!!

The point being, and has since been established, that with 4gbs of ram, which is shared with an iGPU, there is very little to play around with. Yes, I'd agree, the OP can shut down back-round tasks etc. Chrome is a good example. Just having 3-4 tabs open can have mem usage up to 400mb. But they will always have the same issue, regardless. The ONLY solution is to get a new mobo, to add more ram. Or do a an upgrade for about $300 bucks that would stop the problem, and give the user a platform to enjoy a bit more, and upgrade as they wish. Holding onto legacy hardware is well and good, but by it's own limitations, if it's not doing whats needed, then why persist with closing down taks every time you want to do something slightly intensive.

As the OP stated, he doesn't want to upgrade anything, so that's what I am trying to help with.
If he says he cannot spend money on a new mobo or more ram, then that is how it is.
And as long as he doesn't face any issues while working on the PC and just the number spikes to 90% or 100% percent, it is still acceptable.
 
I run Wİndows 7 home premium 64 bit.
Do you suggest ram cleaner programs?

They can help a little. The real issues is the hardware limitations of your mobo, and the ram amount. If the issues you have are sporadic, and occasional then using the ram cleaner type programs, and some general OS maintance as McKue has suggested (closing down non-essential tasks etc) might help. And get you by. If however you have major slowdowns, unresponsive system, or just general bad performance, you will have to consider another solution. Whether that is to buy a LGA775 mobo with more ram capacity and fits with your CPU, or, spending about 300 bucks to get a new base system, where you won't have to even consider the issue any more.
 
They listed their OS right in the first post, Windows 7 64 bit.

As was said, trying a different browser might help, as Chrome, and I think most Chrome-derivatives, tend to be rather RAM-hungry, especially if you have a lot of tabs open. It's possible that settings could also be adjusted in your torrent client to reduce memory usage, or a different client used. Have you checked how much memory each of those programs are using after running them for a while?

Another possibility might be to try a lighter-weight distibution of Linux as your OS on the system, which could potentially have a lower memory footprint, though that's not really for everyone.
 
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McKeu

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Mar 27, 2019
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They listed their OS right in the first post, Windows 7 64 bit.

As was said, trying a different browser might help, as Chrome, and I think most Chrome-derivatives, tend to be rather RAM-hungry, especially if you have a lot of tabs open. It's possible that settings could also be adjusted in your torrent client to reduce memory usage, or a different client used. Have you checked how much memory each of those programs are using after running them for a while?

Another possibility might be to try a lighter-weight distibution of Linux as your OS on the system, which could potentially have a lower memory footprint, though that's not really for everyone.
Exactly. He doesn't use it for gaming apparently, so 4 GB are still okayish.
He will need to cut down on open processes, but that is how it is, if you are running a low spec PC nowadays. If you cannot invest any money, you need to make do with what you have. And it is definitely possible, as long as your demands are not outrageous.
On my 4GB desktop I do not care if the RAM runs full. I don't really do much on it.