RAM is sooo high!

[Kopp]

A few months ago my RAM usage just started reaching 1gb at its lowest. Now it hits over 2.5gb sometimes and is seen at 1.5gb normally. Programs I used to be able to run now have problems frequently and have rendered my gaming laptop to a MSpaint and notepad oriented computer.

I haven't installed anything new and i began deleted a load of stuff from my computer, no luck. I've tried 3 separate computer optimizing tools and still not much worked. I've searched the internet but all i can find is other people with problems where RAM goes from normal to 100%. By the way i have 6gb of ram. I've attached a picture of my task manager that i just took.

Thank you for taking the time to look at this!

 

[bobtran]

Ram is meant to be used....the more the better, however.....according to your screen print you are using just 29% of your physical memory at idle (based on CPU usage of 1%)......quit low really and right on par based on my 8gb ram that uses 18% at idle. Try looking at all users for hidden processes but 2.5gb of 6gb still leaves a lot of RAM available so it doesn't appear that RAM is your problem. How much does your video card(s) require, etc. If you are worried then run the windows ram testing (perhaps you have some bad memory):

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/715-memory-diagnostics-tool.html

or install more ram. I never have issues with 8gb. Check on programs that you have in startup although your specs look like mine:

 

[digitalrurouni]

I experienced this once and every time I would run a game it would memory leak and take up all 6 gb of ram which was impossible because I had never seen any pc game require that much ram. Long story short my memory had fried adn I think taken the memory controller with it. I hope that you are not facing the same situation mate because it honestly is a major hassle.

 

[Kopp]

hm, i ran the check and it found no errors. I assume it's the RAM because before it used to be below 10% and that's when it ran fine. Heck if i remember right, 8% was high. The RAM usage is the only change i can see since my computer started pooping on me.

I really hope its not faulty RAM cards but if it is how can i check? What should i look at to see why my computers running slow if it's not the RAM at all, because something caused the change in RAM usage at least.

 

[Wishmaster]

Approx 1.75-2GB of RAM use at idle is normal for 6-8GB of RAM.
Windows starts keeping most used apps in RAM if its free.

I wouldn't worry.

 

[Coke Robot]

Well, from your attached screenshots, you have 77 processes running at idle. That there is your actually killer of RAM. That is simply way too high for idle, normally, it should run around 50 to 60 processes at idle.

Do this, type in msconfig from the Start menu, go to the Startup tab, and basically disable as much as you safely can. Since you have a laptop, there may be a few startup items you have to keep, like Synaptics touch driver for your touchpad. What you should have starting up are anti-virus/firewall software, Desktop gadgets or some random other specific thing.

 

[Kopp]

@Coke Robot
okay thanks, ill try to lower the processes.

@Wishmaster
It might be "normal" but this laptop is supposed to be a gaming computer and now the games cant run without such drops in fps that they're entirely unplayable. Before i could run the all with the highest settings and now they're unbearably slow with the lowest settings. THAT isn't normal and that's the part im trying to fix.

 

[Coke Robot]

I'm going to ask this just to put it out in the open, have you defragmented the hard drive?

 

[smarteyeball]

What should i look at to see why my computers running slow if it's not the RAM at all, because something caused the change in RAM usage at least.

Well, from your attached screenshots, you have 77 processes running at idle. That there is your actually killer of RAM.

Definitely the first thing to look at.

@Wishmaster
It might be "normal" but this laptop is supposed to be a gaming computer

It doesn't make a difference if it's a gaming rig or not - if one or more processes are bogging your PC down it's going to run badly regardless.

If your PC is still running like crap after doing what's been suggested:

Cull those process, run a virus scan, defrag etc

then it's time to start focusing on hardware.

 

[Coke Robot]

I agree with smarteyeball, do all that if it hasn't been done yet.

But I doubt hardware is an issue with the ASUS G7 series, they mean business!

 

[ha1o2surfer]

what are your page file settings.. make sure you ALWAYS have a page file. This would cause abnormal ram usage since windows can't use the page file. make sure it's set to at least 10-12 GB as the max and 6 as the MIN. other users on this forum might have other recommendations but that's mine.

 

[Kopp]

Thanks guys i appreciate the help here!

I was able to take down the processes but want to get them lower. Only four items are in startup so i went to the services tab assuming there would be some stuff there i can get rid of but im not exactly sure what i can safely remove.
I've also run defrag and disk cleanup to delete stuff, both somewhat frequently and the other day as well

 

[Wishmaster]

Please keep in mind:

Your PC wanting to use/keep more things in memory is a different that being bogged down with many useless processes/services.
I do agree, disabling applications at startup that are not at all needed is a very good idea.

But altering Windows default Services, or any application thats acts as a performance booster (other than Windows own) may actually hinder performance more than it helps.



After cleaning up junks files, defragmenting, and disabling un-needed startup items, has game performance improved any?

One other thing I think is fair to mention.
So games do not run optimally with the out of box settings. Sometimes they need .ini tweaks etc, to get them running better on a particular system. These type of games usually have nothing to do with your system set up.

 

[TanyaC]

A few months ago my RAM usage just started reaching 1gb at its lowest. Now it hits over 2.5gb sometimes and is seen at 1.5gb normally. Programs I used to be able to run now have problems frequently and have rendered my gaming laptop to a MSpaint and notepad oriented computer.

Thank you for taking the time to look at this!

FWIW, I had some similar problems with my kids computers over the last 12 months. They a all run Windows 7 Ultimate, with 8GB RAM, GTX460 gfx with 1GB RAM, and ran I7-920, until recently when I upgraded them to I5-2500 and I5-2500K.

For some online games we found that running in window mode rather than full screen fixed the problems. The problems were caused by updates to the game. The publisher released new versions and the problem went away.

We also found that a combination of security and performance updates from Micro$oft and nVidia caused some problems. We found that one particular "performance patch" that M$ released actually made things worse. However, that patch was superceded and the problem was resolved. The point being, it might be worthwhile making sure all your M$ and video patches are up to date

There are some processes that are just a waste, such as IPHelper (for the time being at least), security Center, Offline files and in my opinion Windows search. But them I'm very organised, and this thread isn't abount tuning systems.

My system runs at 1.25gb on idle after being rebooted. When applications have been opened and closed it will go up to 1.35gb at idle. The system has 8GB RAM. I have 43 processes running.

The only program I have found to cause problems is HCenc 0.25, which will use all available memory when encoding, then strip memory from other processes and requires a reboot to fix.

We also found a problem with my router killed some online games, like runescape, GMod, Counter Strike and AruaRose. These appeared to be lagging really badly, and leave terrible mouse trails everywhere and when we reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigured it the problems went away.

Things don't just go awry for no reason. If you have system restore enabled, have you tried going back to a point at which things worked well (If you can remember the date things last worked well)?

hth

 

[Kopp]

no i haven't tried a system restore and i did obtain some success when i took down startup applications. My processes right now are at 67 with 717 threads (if that matters) and 1.47 gb ram used with only firefox running. I just want to mention that the games worked perfectly before and i have been considering a system restore but to get it back to when it ran perfectly would be setting it back over a year. I have too many files on here that I've devoted too much time in to just throw them away considering i don't have any external memory.

 

[MvdB]

I'm not sure if I see/interpret your example screen/snip correctly but it seems you're running stuff you don't need to run whilst gaming...
Over time your system acumulates loads of software that comes with processes that run / sleep in the background and seem to take up memory. That is not necesarily a bad thing because sleeping processes are put away in your pging file which is fine as long as they don't want to wake up on a regular basis.

If you want to stop that altogether, clear out all automatic update processes.. And extreme, if your game is local and doesn't need internet, take out your nic and disable AV and Firewall, anti malware whilst gaming locally. Just remember to turn them back on after....

 

[whs]

this laptop is supposed to be a gaming computer

This is an oxymoron.

 

[MvdB]

this laptop is supposed to be a gaming computer

This is an oxymoron.

You probably mean a contradictio in terminis

But that is not necesarily true... I 've seen great gaming lt's with full hd screens and the cpu and gpu power to back it up.... But in this case... You may be right. It wholly depends on the games the op wishes to play....

 

[Coke Robot]

67 processes at idle to me is quite high. Mine, for example, runs about 49-51 idle. Try taking some more startup items if you can. Or, if you crapware installed, uninstalling those will reduce the amount of processes further.

 

[DBone]

I see Tune Utilities Service and MBAM Service running. What antivirus do you have? MBAM Pro slowed things down on my machine too much so I ditched its real time protection.

Do you print? Do you share files? Do you share Windows Media? Check out Black Viper for services that you can safely disable or set to manual based on how you use your machine. Just write down any settings before you make a change so you can always go back to your default setting.


Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations | Black Viper's Website | www.blackviper.com