Memory usage shoots up to 95~97% usage

Unholy Ichor

Honorable
Feb 11, 2014
4
0
10,510
I just recently(less than one wee ago) purchased the MSI GE70 Apache Pro and am suffering from something strange that I've never run into. I generally build all of my rigs but wanted to pick up a decent laptop recently and so far am satisfied, other than this odd issue. Seemingly randomly my memory usage will shoot up to 95~97% (out of 12 GB 1600MHz DDR3L, so about 11.5GB being used). When looking through my services list I see not even enough memory usage listed to add up to 2GB. Unless it's bloatware or a need to reseat the RAM, I really can't think of anything, and cannot seem to find much on this that applies to me. There is little to absolutely no chance that it is anything malicious, as like I said, I have had this for less than 5 days and can't even remember the last time I got infected with malicious software.

Entire notebook specs are as follows:


Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ
Operating System Windows 8.1
Size 17.3" Full HD Display
Resolution 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
GPU NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M
Video Memory 2GB GDDR5
12GB DDR3L 1600MHz
HDD Capacity 1TB HDD (7200RPM)
DVD Super Multi Drive
LAN Killer™ E2200 Game Networking
Intel 1x1 Wireless-AC 3160 a/c
Bluetooth Yes
Card Reader SD (XC/HC)
Webcam 720P HD Webcam
 
Solution
You don't need to reseat the RAM. If there was an issue regarding how it was installed, it wouldn't cause the usage to go up, it just wouldn't be available or could cause the rest of the system problems.

Many laptops come with unnecessary versions of utilities such as a wireless connection manager or others that are poorly written and have memory leaks. Windows already has the functionality built into it, but the manufacturers put their brand name on the utilities and often times they cause issues because the Windows utility is attempting to do the same thing as the laptop manufacturer's utility. This also can cause high memory usage as the OS is trying to manage two utilities trying to perform the same work.

Another thing that can...
You don't need to reseat the RAM. If there was an issue regarding how it was installed, it wouldn't cause the usage to go up, it just wouldn't be available or could cause the rest of the system problems.

Many laptops come with unnecessary versions of utilities such as a wireless connection manager or others that are poorly written and have memory leaks. Windows already has the functionality built into it, but the manufacturers put their brand name on the utilities and often times they cause issues because the Windows utility is attempting to do the same thing as the laptop manufacturer's utility. This also can cause high memory usage as the OS is trying to manage two utilities trying to perform the same work.

Another thing that can cause high memory usage is the installed anti-virus product.

I would definitely download malwarebytes and run a scan. Other than that, bloatware can have processes running in the background that will decrease the performance of your PC. A lot of times, the manufacturers will install some cheap gaming hub software by which you can download games for free but this gaming software also works as a sort of adware (and darned near spyware) that can cause issues as well.

As long as you have the correct drivers installed, you don't generally need any of the custom software or 3rd-party software pre-installed on the purchased PC.
 
Solution


Thanks for the swift reply. Only one real question at this point would be is it honestly possible that it would be soaking up THAT much memory? And without listing itself in my process list? Those were the things that confused me the most about it. I also already uninstalled the pre-installed antivirus and a decent amount of the bloatware on arrival anyway. Once again, thanks for your quick reply; much appreciated!