What's reserving 51MB of memory?

[ownedandout]

Hello All,

I noticed in Resource Monitor that 51MB of my memory is 'Hardware Reserved' and I'm just wondering what's reserving this.

I don't have the IGD enabled so that's not using any. I know the BIOS usually reserves a few MB but I'm not sure why it's 51MB, maybe modern day BIOSs/UEFI systems reserve more than they used to?

My MB is a GA-Z87-HD3 and could it be something to do with Intel's Management Engine?

This isn't really an issue but rather curiosity as to what's reserving it.

Thanks.

 

[andrew129260]

Modern day hardware reserves actually use less memory then before. Especially uefi.

When you hover over it, it states that drivers are also a factor. Perhaps you might have some heft drivers installed. People with dedicated graphics card have beefier drivers, which could be an explanation. It could also be a lot of old flash drive drivers or other items, etc. Look in device manager and uninstall old devices found under other show all items.

Your usage is normal.

 

[ownedandout]

Thanks Andrew for the reply.

Yes, just had a look and it also says drivers are reserving some of the memory as well. Don't quite understand this, I just assumed it was the BIOS that was taking up space.

Hovering over the 'In Use' section and that also states it used by drivers, so I'm a bit unclear on the difference.

EDIT - Just read it again and it says "Reserved by drivers for some peripherals". This makes more sense, it's not actually reserved for the driver but rather provides memory to a device that doesn't. I guess it will work a bit like shared graphics memory.

 

[andrew129260]

kind of yes.

More information is here in more detail:

Basic info: (obvious)
Taking A Closer Look At Windows Resource Monitor

More advanced info:

Using Resource Monitor to Troubleshoot Windows Performance Issues Part 1 - Ask the Performance Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Getting Started With Performance Tracing - Part 1 - Event Tracing For Windows Demystified - Adventures of the Padawan Field Engineer - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

How to pull the information that Resource Monitor (ResMon.exe) provides? - The troubleshooters and problem solvers... - Site Home - TechNet Blogs