Almost all memory used up during and after extraction or installation

CrimsonDog · 19 Jun 2013

Hi, Seven Forums.

I made an account to solve my most persistent issue with my PC.

You see, not sure when, but quite a while ago (we're talking about at least a year) I started to notice the following:
Whenever i unpack/extract a large compressed file (over 1.5 GB) or install a bulky piece of software (like a triple-A game or Visual Studio or something), during the installation or extraction process (I guess they fall pretty much into the same category of unpacking a compressed archive) most of my RAM is taken up (something like 95% of it) and my computer becomes really sluggish.

Now, although bothersome, this didn't strike me as odd or out of the ordinary that much, as it makes sense for the computer to struggle with multitasking while doing such a resource-heavy task, even though 95% and taking 2 whole minutes to turn on notepad is a bit extreme.

What did strike me as odd, however, is that, consistently, every time such a resource heavy extraction task was complete, done and closed, the memory usage would somehow stay at consistently high levels and the PC would still feel really sluggish, although to a infinitesimally lesser extent.

It's like Windows forgets to release the memory it reserved while the extraction was going on.

Here's the most recent example with installing Bioshock Infinite (click for expanded view):

During install:

After install:

My specs are:

Acer Aspire 5741G 334G64Mn:

Win7 x64
Intel Core i3 330M - 2 Cores@2.13 GHz
Mobile Intel HM55 Express Chipset
4 GB DDR3@1088 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M 1 GB GDDR3
1x640 GB HDD

What is causing this and how can I get around it?
A windows restart/reboot fixes the issue, but it's hardly a good solution to the problem.

Wrend · 20 Jun 2013

May or may not be related to the issue you're having, but 4GB of RAM is basically the minimum to run Windows 7 64bit and other programs decently. I would get another 4GB either way, though it might not resolve the specific issue you're having.

Nothing in your Memory Processes log there seems to be taking up too much.

CrimsonDog · 20 Jun 2013

Wrend said:

May or may not be related to the issue you're having, but 4GB of RAM is basically the minimum to run Windows 7 64bit and other programs decently. I would get another 4GB either way, though it might not resolve the specific issue you're having.

Fair point, although it may not be such a big issue for me.
My PC idles at around 52% most of the time, which leaves more than enough room for other applications.

The only thing i do on the PC that would bring my RAM usage to above 90% is the aforementioned extracting/installing and occasional video rendering that i do every few months or so.

Wrend · 20 Jun 2013

I edited my previous post to included that it looks like the Memory Processes log looks OK.

Keep in mind too that with features such as SuperFetch your available RAM works as a HDD cache (dark blue portion in the Resource Monitor), which is kind of cool, and will speed up loading times of things you run or access from your HDD. So having extra RAM really isn't a waste, provided you have your PC up and running for the most part.

I currently have about 40GB cached in my RAM.

CrimsonDog · 20 Jun 2013

64 GB of RAM? Jeez.

And yes, that's something I've noticed.
In task managed (and performance monitor), the memory the processes use doesn't add up to the actual used memory.
svchost, chrome, sqlservr and avgrsa processes (biggest spenders listed) are always at the listed amount of memory used, and i can work fine alongside them.
However, the memory still gets eaten up like free burgers at McDonalds whenever i try to extract anything bigger than 1.5 GB, and my PC become downright unusable, borderline unresponsive.

DavidE · 21 Jun 2013

Sort the list by Private (KB) descending to see if it shows something different where a lot of memory is used.

iRazer · 21 Jun 2013

I already encountered this problem before, I just turn off/disabled other programs that is not very important or not useful to me. And I only have 2gb of ram lol but my computer runs properly :)
just try to disable some unnecessary stuffs.

sdadamo · 21 Jun 2013

Honestly I would turn off the Rainmeter because I noticed even on 6GB of ram I had issues extracting while running other things and then it went way better after doing the said instruction. Also if you're not running Chrome for REAL, it's okay to kill the other chrome things in the monitor to get some additional memory back (I'm pretty sure whatever you kill will come back after a restart or opening Chrome after you're done). Also Photoshop is not something I would run while extracting something huge which will take the living heck out of your computer (ESPECIALLY WITH A MOBILE I3). You can always get more RAM though.

You should look into disabling services that you don't really need - those take up some serious memory. There are numerous sites for that such as:
http://www.blackviper.com/service-co...onfigurations/

You should also look into your startup items which can and will use more memory.

LMiller7 · 21 Jun 2013

I would be very wary about disabling system services. Unless your system is seriously short on memory this is unlikely to produce any significant savings.
The big problem with disabling service is that there is no publicly available documentation that completely describes the functions they perform. The descriptions that are available are incomplete and often contain errors, sometimes serious. Many an expert has got themselves into serious trouble by disabling some service that was thought to be unnecessary, but was.

Note that setting a service startup state to Manual is not a safe alternative to disabling it. In this state a service can be started if they system or an application needs it. But you can't assume that this will actually happen. Many applications will assume a service is running and fail if it is not.

sdadamo · 21 Jun 2013

LMiller7 said:

I would be very wary about disabling system services. Unless your system is seriously short on memory this is unlikely to produce any significant savings.
The big problem with disabling service is that there is no publicly available documentation that completely describes the functions they perform. The descriptions that are available are incomplete and often contain errors, sometimes serious. Many an expert has got themselves into serious trouble by disabling some service that was thought to be unnecessary, but was.

Note that setting a service startup state to Manual is not a safe alternative to disabling it. In this state a service can be started if they system or an application needs it. But you can't assume that this will actually happen. Many applications will assume a service is running and fail if it is not.

Well I've disabled the ones that were obvious such as the Cardspace but you're right, there are no full descriptions as to how things work in the services. That's a great tip to point out to people. I went and did the "safe" section of it and so far there have been no problems on my end.