Extremely little free memory, I don't think this is normal...

[Valsako]

I tried using Google for this, also searched the forum, didn't find anything that answered this question, so I've decided to just open up a topic.

My PC has 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. According to task manager, I have 16,302 MB Total, 12,549 Cached, 13,188 available, and only 692 "free". Should my free RAM be this low? The only applications are use frequently are Firefox, Steam, GIMP, Notepad, Blender, and various video games (Never all of these at once).

Also, would this potentially cause lag in games? As I've noticed that I sometimes get FPS drops at random times, when, with my PC, on the games I'm playing, I shouldn't be seeing any.

 

[Layback Bear]

Could you show us this.

Use this method
By Brink:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

 

[LMiller7]

My PC has 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. According to task manager, I have 16,302 MB Total, 12,549 Cached, 13,188 available, and only 692 "free". Should my free RAM be this low?

YES. In fact I would like to see it even lower. The optimum value is zero.

The important value to look at is "Available" memory which is 13,188 MB. This memory is immediately available to any application that needs it. By normal standards this is a huge amount. As the saying goes you have memory to burn. I see no possibility of this being the cause of your issues.

The amount of memory labeled as "Free" is really of no consequence. There is no need or benefit in having a large amount (or any) free memory. Modern operating systems (including all versions of Windows, Mac OS and Linux) are designed to work this way. I don't understand why Microsoft chose to display free memory in such a prominent location as it just causes confusion.

Edit: I just looked at Task Manager on my system. It is showing zero free memory and I have no performance issues at all.

 

[pbcopter]

I agree, the less free memory the better. Mine is show below and my system runs fine.

 

[Layback Bear]

I did not say using memory is bad. That is what ram is for, to be used.
All I wanted was a picture so I could take a look.

What it indicates to me is a lot of things are using the ram. Finding out what is using the ram might give us some clues.

13 + plus gigs of available ram should be more than enough to run any game I know of.

 

[carwiz]

I don't know....I think you guys have memory leaks somewhere. Here's mine with Email, IE11 w/4 Tabs, File Explorer, Notepad and my case display running (along with Windows usual).

 

[Layback Bear]

Ken if people don't reboot for a long time then can get those kind of high readings.
The ram doesn't get a chance to clean itself.

 

[pbcopter]

For what it's worth, I reboot everyday.

I do not have a memory leak. A memory leak would use up available memory and cached.

The approximate amount of free memory I have shown is normal for all of my systems.

 

[carwiz]

That isn't a "normal" system. You either have some large processes running like video editing, graphics rendering or a pot load of stuff running. I wouldn't call that "normal". If it is for you, you need more memory. Free memory is what Windows uses first when starting new tasks. If there's not enough available, Windows starts shuffling Standby to the pagefile to make room. And paging means hardware I/O--The slowest of all events on the system.

If you don't have such items running, you have memory leaks.

 

[Valsako]

The "free" memory and such seems to have changed a bit since I initially made the first post. Not sure what did that, but anyway, here you go:

That's with absolutely no programs open except for Steam.

 

[pbcopter]

That isn't a "normal" system. You either have some large processes running like video editing, graphics rendering or a pot load of stuff running. I wouldn't call that "normal". If it is for you, you need more memory. Free memory is what Windows uses first when starting new tasks. If there's not enough available, Windows starts shuffling Standby to the pagefile to make room. And paging means hardware I/O--The slowest of all events on the system.

If you don't have such items running, you have memory leaks.

Believe what you want but you are wrong! Available memory is what Windows uses first.

 

[Layback Bear]

At the present time my memory. Just a few web pages open, but I keep msconfig/Startup very lean. If I'm not using it it's not running.

I rebooted about a hour ago.

 

[carwiz]

That isn't a "normal" system. You either have some large processes running like video editing, graphics rendering or a pot load of stuff running. I wouldn't call that "normal". If it is for you, you need more memory. Free memory is what Windows uses first when starting new tasks. If there's not enough available, Windows starts shuffling Standby to the pagefile to make room. And paging means hardware I/O--The slowest of all events on the system.

If you don't have such items running, you have memory leaks.

Believe what you want but you are wrong! Available memory is what Windows uses first.

Cached + Free = Available
Free is used first.

Believe what you want.

 

[pbcopter]

I will!

I suggest you do a little research.

http://brandonlive.com/2010/02/21/measuring-memory-usage-in-windows-7/

 

[carwiz]

You can't believe your own numbers?

Added: Apparently, you didn't read or understand your own reference.

 

[pbcopter]

What I stated was that having no free memory was not a problem. Available memory = cached + free allows the system to make use of the memory when needed and no system degradation occurs if free memory is 0 as long as there is available memory.

You said a system is not normal if free memory is small or zero. I disagree.

 

[LMiller7]

That isn't a "normal" system. You either have some large processes running like video editing, graphics rendering or a pot load of stuff running. I wouldn't call that "normal". If it is for you, you need more memory. Free memory is what Windows uses first when starting new tasks. If there's not enough available, Windows starts shuffling Standby to the pagefile to make room. And paging means hardware I/O--The slowest of all events on the system.

Aside from the somewhat high memory usage the screenshot by pbcopter in post #4 is not abnormal or even unusual. Free memory is very low, as it should be. It is consuming power and contributing nothing to system performance. It's only value is the potential to be assigned to a process or system use where it can then make a contribution.

When available memory is plentiful, and with 11863 MB that is certainly the case, the memory manager will allow processes to use whatever RAM they want. This is a good thing. Memory was meant to be used, not sit idle. And at 4.36 GB usage out of 16 GB total usage would be considered light.

The memory situation in post #4 is virtually ideal. It could hardly be better.

When a process needs memory the memory manager first goes to free memory. It is idle and waiting to be put to work. When free memory is insufficient then it is time to go to standby memory. It is fully available and can be used at any time for any purpose with no disk access required. There is certainly no shuffling of standby memory to the pagefile. Only in the event that both free and standby memory is completely drained is there a need for more active measures.

When given the opportunity the memory manager will attempt to deal with a low available memory situation before it becomes a problem. It does this by trimming process working sets, memory that hasn't been recently used being the first to go. This is a complex process and I will not attempt to describe it here. In the event the the process needs access to memory that was trimmed it can normally be accessed with a soft pagefault with no disk access required.

As for the screenshot in post #9:
I would not consider this normal at all. With over half of the 8 GB RAM free this is far too high. There are unavoidable situations where this will occur but it is not something you should desire. It was situations like this that prompted the development of technologies like Superfetch.

Edit: In Vista and later.
Available memory = Standby + Free
Cached memory = Standby + Modified. Oddly, the file cache is not included.
This was determined by observation.

 

[carwiz]

"...and no system degradation occurs if free memory is 0..."

How would you know if you don't have any free memory? :banghead:

 

[Layback Bear]

From post #1

My PC has 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. According to task manager, I have 16,302 MB Total, 12,549 Cached, 13,188 available, and only 692 "free". Should my free RAM be this low? The only applications are use frequently are Firefox, Steam, GIMP, Notepad, Blender, and various video games (Never all of these at once).

What would cause the free ram to be 692?
I'm presuming that is MB.

**That is the question.**

 

[logicearth]

Let the experts explain it all to us. Experts like Mark Russinovich, who is smarter than us all combined, concerning Windows.

Mysteries of Memory Management Revealed,with Mark Russinovich (Part 1 of 2) | Tech·Ed North America 2011 | Channel 9
Mysteries of Memory Management Revealed,with Mark Russinovich (Part 2 of 2) | Tech·Ed North America 2011 | Channel 9