Windows constantly running out of memory

[BlaazjE]

Hi.
I currently have 4GB of DDR3 RAM and when I run most applications - mainly games it will automatically tab out of the game after about 2 minutes and tell me windows is low on memory and to close the application.

I have attatched a screenshot showing my task manager processes showing that there is 0 free physical memory with nothing running. I have tried re-installing windows which didnt help.

Any ideas?

 

[cyclic]

However you do have 72 services running. Open Task manager again and click the second tab at the top labeled, processes. Here you can see the file that is running and how much CPU and Ram cycles it's munching.
Right click any that are very high memory users and end process.
Some things are critical and your puter might fall over, don't worry you have only stopped them during the current session, just restart.

When you find any high users post back and we'll set about disabling them or setting so they only run when you say so.

 

[BlaazjE]

Thanks, i ended the main ones; whilst in the process of this i received 2 blue screens
and got the amount of free memory up to 925
Whats the average amount for 4gb of ram?

 

[logicearth]

First off "Free" is not what you think nor is it important. Furthermore, the value "Available" is what is important. Also, do you have a pagefile?

 

[cluberti]

Agreed - not sure what the problem is here. There's almost 2.5GB available in your screenshot....

Are you having some sort of problem with the computer?

 

[BlaazjE]

Yes i do have a page file ( Attached )
And my problem is that when i run, mostly games i get tabbed back to my desktop and
get an error saying that windows is low on memory and the following program must be closed (the following program being the game). It does this even though i am not low on memory and i am unsure why.

 

[Britton30]

When did the low memory issue start?

 

[BlaazjE]

Low memory issue started about 2-3 weeks ago

 

[cluberti]

Yes i do have a page file ( Attached )
And my problem is that when i run, mostly games i get tabbed back to my desktop and
get an error saying that windows is low on memory and the following program must be closed (the following program being the game). It does this even though i am not low on memory and i am unsure why.

Programs running on Windows know nothing of RAM, only virtual address space. It's not the easiest concept to understand, but ultimately a process in x64 Windows gets 8TB if it's 64bit, and 2-4GB if it's 32bit. Again, this has nothing to do with RAM, and the error message actually has nothing to do with RAM either.

I'm guessing the games are 32bit, and are consuming their virtual address space (whether that be 2GB, or 4GB if they're compiled a certain way when they're developed) which causes Windows to eventually pop up a message (which throws you to the desktop) that the applications are running out of "memory" and need to be closed. Given that you only have 4GB of RAM, Windows itself could indeed run out of memory if even a 32bit application consumes most (or all) of it's 2-4GB of VA, because that VA will indeed be mapped into RAM (well, most of it anyway) which could cause problems.

As to why this is happening, it's not easy to say with what you've gotten so far. Is there a specific application that this happens to with regularity?

 

[BlaazjE]

either iw3mp.exe or iw5mp.exe these both cause the problem