System not using all of my memory

[rmicheald]

I have an HP i5 with 8 gig of memory. Memory is never used more than about 35%. At times the system is really slow. Two Questions:
1. Why isn't all the memory being used?
2. What can I do to speed things up and potentially use all of the memory?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bassfisher6522]

The HP PC, is this a desktop or laptop? How many cores does the CPU have? If mutlicore, are all cores enabled?

 

[strollin]

I have an HP i5 with 8 gig of memory. Memory is never used more than about 35%. At times the system is really slow. Two Questions:
1. Why isn't all the memory being used?
2. What can I do to speed things up and potentially use all of the memory?

Thanks in advance.

1st question, do you have 64-bit Win 7? 32-bit can only access 3.3G or so.

When the system is slow, have you checked Task Manager to see if any processes are hogging the CPU?

In order to use all your memory (in reality, you don't actually want to use all of your memory) you have to run enough programs simultaneously to require that amount of memory. Windows 7 does use a portion of your memory for SuperFetch but that memory is indicated in Task Manager as "Available".

Adding more memory to a machine doesn't magically make it run faster unless you don't have enough physical memory which causes the OS to start swapping to disk. Since you say your system never uses more than 35% of your 8G, I doubt if your memory is the issue.

 

[Sir George]

I have an HP i5 with 8 gig of memory. Memory is never used more than about 35%. At times the system is really slow. Two Questions:
1. Why isn't all the memory being used?
2. What can I do to speed things up and potentially use all of the memory?

Thanks in advance.

Answers;

1. Memory use/allocation is determined by the system; if not required, it is not used.
2. You could adjust the page file settings, not recommended, or, to use all the memory, open several memory intense programs which will generally have the adverse effect of slowing the system down.

See the following link for page file information;
http://tweakhound.com/windows7/tweaking/7.html

HTH

 

[Layback Bear]

For us to help you properly you need to completely fill in ((My System Specs)) completely.
Click on My System Specs lower lift of this post. I will give you a idea what is needed.

 

[rmicheald]

System Manufacturer/Model Number HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. SP-1
CPU Intel i5 M 460 @ 2.53
Motherboard ASUS P6X58D-E
Memory KINGSTON KHX2000C9, Hyper X,12 GIGS with Corsair cooler
Screen Resolution 1366X768

Keyboard Notebook
Mouse USB
Case Notebook
Hard Drives SATA 500GB Internal
Internet Speed 5.0 mb

 

[DavidE]

note: In post #1 you said 8GB, and your last post says 12GB.

Try testing with a clean startup.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[mitchell65]

At times the system is really slow.

Is this when you are online? If so as you sate your internet speed is 5Mb, have you checked the actual speed with a reliable checker like: Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test
Test you speed at diffenerent times of the day and report back here!

 

[stormy13]

Something isn't right here. OP says it is a HP laptop, yet the specs he listed has a desktop motherboard,

ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS P6X58D-E

with desktop ram,

Kingston HyperX KHX2000C9 6GB Kit UnReview

Maybe post the full model number of the laptop as dv6 isn't enough to go on.

 

[Layback Bear]

The mother board and ram are out of my specs, cooler included. Check My System Specs.

 

[stormy13]

Not even going to ask how that happened.

 

[Layback Bear]

I'm presuming a communication problem between me and the OP.

 

[mitchell65]

I'm presuming a communication problem between me and the OP.

How very gratious of you

 

[onesixski]

I do believe this is probably just a misunderstanding of how PC memory works. Not much troubleshooting needed here

 

[Layback Bear]

Maybe this will help.
Start and type in resmon then tick memory and it will show you what Windows 7 is doing with your memory. I wouldn't change anything because Windows 7 take care of that great.

 

[rmicheald]

note: In post #1 you said 8GB, and your last post says 12GB.

Try testing with a clean startup.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Sorry, 8GB I was copying the specs format and didn't notice that...
Don't have any of: "KINGSTON KHX2000C9, Hyper X,12 GIGS with Corsair cooler".

 

[mitchell65]

But this still doesn't explain the anomoly with the motherboard.
Tosolve this once and foreall and to provide those trying to help with the correct specification, download and run Belarc advisor from here: Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit, for software, hardware and security configuration information on your computer. Software license management, IT asset management, cyber security audits, and more.
Let it run until it loads the specification page then use the Windows 7 Snipping Tool to save a screenshot of the top half of the spec sheet and post it here on the Forum. Your screenshot should look something like this:

This is important as without accurate information no one can help you!

 

[rmicheald]

Sorry guys,
I just copied the format and neglected to remove incorrect items... Here is the Belarc report:

Operating System new – server roles System Model Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 12/20/2011 10:48:18 AM Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC 058A110000242B10010020100
System Serial Number: CNF046576T
Enclosure Type: Notebook

Processor a Main Circuit Board b 2.53 gigahertz Intel Core i5 M 460
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache
3072 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Hyper-threaded (4 total) Board: Hewlett-Packard 144C 65.38
Serial Number: PL61G011ZZO827
Bus Clock: 1066 megahertz
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard F.29 11/07/2011

Drives new – drive encryption
Memory Modules c,d 820.18 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
472.15 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT30N [Optical drive]

Kingston DataTraveler G2 USB Device [Hard drive] (8.00 GB) -- drive 2
ST9500325AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 0, s/n S2WE3NQH, rev 0001SDM1, SMART Status: Healthy
WD 3200BEV External USB Device [Hard drive] (320.07 GB) -- drive 1, s/n WD-WXC0A79R4404 7990 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'Bottom - Slot 1' has 4096 MB (serial number 371BBB43)
Slot 'Bottom - Slot 2' has 4096 MB (serial number 371BBB43)

Local Drive Volumes new – volume encryption
c: (NTFS on drive 0) * 260.47 GB 155.67 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 0) 239.63 GB 167.02 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 1) 320.07 GB 149.47 GB free


* Operating System is installed on c:

 

[mitchell65]

That's better, thanks!
Back to when you said "At times the system is really slow." When exactly and what are you doing then, ie surfing the net, using power hungry programs or what?