PC using high amounts of RAM when idle (up to 50%) for no reason.

[ezalor]

Heyo all.
I built my PC a few weeks ago, and it's mostly been going with no problems. However, I've recently noticed that after using my PC for a while my RAM usage continually increases for no reason. As I type this I only have Firefox, Avast Antivirus and Puush running, yet my PC is using 4.40GB of my 8GBs RAM. I've looked through the processes tab and resource monitor, but there I cannot see where this RAM is going. The total usage adds to a lot less than what is actually being used.
I've been looking around on the internet for quite a while now and cannot find anywhere with a solution. Plenty of people have said that this is just Windows and the memory will go down when it is required, but I don't see why Windows would use half my RAM while just being idle. I also tried running Titanfall but my framerate dropped to 20fps multiple times due to the high RAM usage.

I'm completely at a loss as to what the culprit could be, does anyone know of a potential solution?

EDIT: This usage actually appears to be climbing. It's at 5GB now and slowly increasing.

 

[LMiller7]

Welcome to the forum.

Post a screnshot of Task Manager - Performance tab, so we can see what the situation is.

The sum of the memory usage columns will not equal total memory usage. Modern operating systems are far too complex for anything that simple. Among other things there are major users of memory that are not processes.

 

[ezalor]

Welcome to the forum.

Post a screnshot of Task Manager - Performance tab, so we can see what the situation is.

The sum of the memory usage columns will not equal total memory usage. Modern operating systems are far too complex for anything that simple. Among other things there are major users of memory that are not processes.

Performance tab: http://puu.sh/cV4PS/fdc05c214b.png (It was rising very slowly, now it gradually rises and falls)
Running Processes: http://puu.sh/cV4V5/4977098562.png

Apologies if there's a delay to my replies, it's quite late where I live

 

[LMiller7]

The problem is the Non Paged pool. 3542 MB is many times a reasonable value.

This is most likely a driver problem. I will have to leave that to others.

 

[OvenMaster]

That second image - Running Processes - is only showing 28 of the 64 actual running items. Ezalor, you need to click the button marked "Show processes from all users" and do another screen capture, if you please.

 

[logicearth]

Are you having any performance issues with your computer? If not I suggest you stop chasing after a Phantom problem. Before you make a bigger problem. Let Windows handle your RAM, until the time comes you are having actual issues.

 

[LMiller7]

In the lower left corner of the Task Manager - Performance tab shows a value of 3542 MB for the Non Paged pool. This is far beyond anything reasonable. The problem is very real.

 

[logicearth]

In the lower left corner of the Task Manager - Performance tab shows a value of 3542 MB for the Non Paged pool. This is far beyond anything reasonable. The problem is very real.

That is not even close to the problem when there is no problem. Having a nonpaged pool like that is not out of the norm.

Like I said, until there is a real problem, do not chase ghost.

 

[LMiller7]

I most strongly disagree

Having almost half of RAM tied up in the non paged pool that can never be paged out?
I don't consider that normal.

 

[OvenMaster]

In the lower left corner of the Task Manager - Performance tab shows a value of 3542 MB for the Non Paged pool. This is far beyond anything reasonable. The problem is very real.

That is not even close to the problem when there is no problem. Having a nonpaged pool like that is not out of the norm.

Like I said, until there is a real problem, do not chase ghost.

OP said his gaming framerate dropped. Sounds like a real problem to me.

 

[townsbg]

Try using process explorer and run as administrator. Process Explorer

 

[OvenMaster]

In Task Manager, go to View -> Select Columns -> tick/check the box marked Memory - Non-Paged Pool. Then you can see what's eating up your RAM.

 

[ezalor]

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. I'm currently away from my PC but shall attempt them as soon as I get back!

Are you having any performance issues with your computer? If not I suggest you stop chasing after a Phantom problem. Before you make a bigger problem. Let Windows handle your RAM, until the time comes you are having actual issues.

I already do have issues. After about 4 hours of use, trying to run Titanfall will max out my RAM entirely and result in frequent drops to 20fps. Quite a while ago I also had extreme lag on my PC while trying to run Planetside 2 and it resulted in a bluescreen in the end. It was a "Kernel Inpage Error" if i recall correctly.

 

[Layback Bear]

I let Windows 7 manage my ram/memory.

Me trying to tell Windows 7 what memory usage should do what, when and where to me is dumb. Windows 7 know better than me and can damn sure react faster than I can.

I tried all those little ram tricks like we use to do in XP.
I do agree that OP's non page is way to high.

I'm not doing much on my computer at the present time and my non page fill is 46 mb.

I also use superfetch. Windows 7 handles that quite well also.

 

[ezalor]

Back at my PC now. I feared that Firefox may have been leaking memory so I've swapped to chrome for a while. My RAM is definitely not increasing as fast as it did with Firefox open, but I'm not sure if it's still increasing for no reason. If my RAM starts reaching high levels for no reason again I'll try your checks.

EDIT: Ran Titanfall for a while, then closed every program aside from Avast and Puush and it's sitting at 2GB Usage (PC has been running for 2 hours so far). Is this a normal amount for Windows to use out of 8GB? If so, Firefox may have been the problem. But i'll keep it running to see how it is after a longer period.

EDIT 2: Nope, the RAM is still slowly but steadily increasing. Enabled view all users in Task Manager this is the new result:
Arranged by Memory usage: http://puu.sh/cW0bd/a8c19229ef.png
Arranged by Non-paged: http://puu.sh/cVZY7/00d76ce777.png
And my Performance tab again: http://puu.sh/cW0gk/661bb4b657.png

My nonpaged memory usage looks a lot higher than what is shown of my processes. Tried Process Explorer and I can't find any other programs with higher usage. I am at a complete loss as to how I can find this process.

 

[townsbg]

svchost is using a lot of ram. You can use process explorer to see specifically what is using so much. Also try running chrome/ff only when needed. For example do you need it running while playing your game?

 

[LMiller7]

That one instance of svchost is using significant memory but there are multiple legitimate reasons why it could be this high or higher. In any event it is very small compared to the Non paged pool.

The value of 1560 MB for the non paged pool is huge and clearly the problem. As would be expected there are no processes that would account for this. Processes typically do not use significant amounts of the non paged pool. Big users are the system itself and kernel drivers. I would consider it highly unusual for the system components to be responsible. Unless of course malware was involved in which case all bets are off. Malware does what it wishes and follows no rules but it's own.

It is highly likely that a driver is responsible.

The really bad thing about high non paged pool usage is that it is not pageable. Process memory usage is under the full control of the system memory manager. In times of memory pressure it can page out portions of this memory to meet the demand. Not so with the non paged pool. As high as it is the memory manager is helpless to do anything about it. Third party memory "optimizers" may claim otherwise but they are equally helpless. They are worse than useless.

Bottom line is the non paged pool is the problem and it is probably caused by a device driver. Or possibly malware.

 

[ezalor]

My Nonpaged memory has increased to how it was yesterday, at 3271mb. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be increasing any more.

svchost is using a lot of ram. You can use process explorer to see specifically what is using so much. Also try running chrome/ff only when needed. For example do you need it running while playing your game?

When playing a game I close all other programs that aren't required. Usually the only things running are Steam, Puush, Avast, and Origin if it is required. Checked in Process Manager, the SVCHost with the most usage (160,728kb) just has the Desktop Window Manager, which itself is using 40,000kb. The second SVCHost with large usage can't be expanded to show any other processes.
Process Explorer ranked by heighest use of private bytes: http://puu.sh/cWalR/bca4c7a7e3.png

Bottom line is the non paged pool is the problem and it is probably caused by a device driver. Or possibly malware.

Already ran a scan with Avast, I shall run a scan with MalwareBytes now. Could it be any one of my drivers that are causing the problem, or a select few?

EDIT: Malwarebytes finished, no problems found.

EDIT 2: Alright, think I found the culprit. It appears that whenever Steam is downloading something, that causes my nonpaged memory to rise. I was downloading earlier and it finished, which explains why my nonpaged memory was constantly increasing and then stopped. I'll try downloading a large file in another program to see if that still affects my nonpaged memory.

EDIT 3: Yup, it appears my ethernet driver has a memory leak. I loaded up a gallery of 4K wallpapers and my nonpaged memory slowly began to increase again. Guess it's a case of updating the ethernet drivers and seeing if that solves the problem. Thank you all for your help so far!

EDIT 4: Sorry for all these edits... I can't find where to download the drivers for my ethernet port. Does anyone know where I can find the ethernet driver for my Gigabyte GA-B75N motherboard? I checked Gigabyte's site but the driver is from 2012...

 

[townsbg]

If 2012 is the most recent use it.

 

[ezalor]

Downloaded the latest realtek drivers for my ethernet port. No change. My Nonpaged memory still increases when I'm downloading.
Any other ideas as to what I can do? It's getting annoying to have to reboot my PC every 2 hours...