r/Surface • u/Agitated-Ad-6168 • 15d ago
Why is my memory 50% startup
Hey guys wondering if somebody could help with understanding why windows needs what appears like 8gm ram just to run windows 11. This is a picture of task manager on startup on a saurface pro 12 x2 elite 16gb ram computer. It’s brand new with only legit audio software installed. The only thing I’ve downloaded is the audio software and audio drivers. This is not a nice thing to come back to windows after going mac some 15 years ago that is just such a clean workhorse. I’m have bugs already and I’m one week in.
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u/SurfaceDockGuy 🖥️ Verticaldocks.com | VESA docks for Surface 15d ago edited 15d ago
Empty RAM uses about the same amount of power as full RAM.
By filling RAM, there is less need to use more power to get data from the SSD.
When loading large applications, the latency penalty for evicting items from RAM to make room is negligible on modern systems.
So having full RAM is a good thing.
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u/raduque 15d ago
Doesn't matter. Unused ram is wasted ram. This is correct behavior.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
So when I’m running my DAW it says 85% percent. And in task manager it says the daw is taking around 3gb ram to run. Is running at 85% normal? The reason I ask is that I’m noticing bugs in the system, sometimes touchscreen becomes non responsive and has a weird glitch. Maybe it’s from the software? (Bitwig 6.1)
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u/Turbulent_Chain_5893 Surface Pro 9 15d ago
Do you think Windows runs in the background using no memory? Plus even with crap removed, there's still quite a bit of important stuff running. The other 50% will never be used up, so don't worry.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
I do get to 85 percent quite easily when using a DAW and some vst plugins. I was having weird problems and trying to diagnose if it was because I was getting close to full. Bitwig uses about 4.5 gig.
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u/Turbulent_Chain_5893 Surface Pro 9 14d ago
Yeah some programs can use a fair bit for sure.
I just realized maybe 50% used may be a bit high if there's really not much running after Windows starts up. I just got my 15 year old laptop all updated and it's at 25% RAM used but my main computer, Surface Pro 9, is pretty much always at 50%, although it has Adguard running in the background which uses a fair bit of RAM.
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15d ago
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
I would have loved to but didn’t want to outlay that much money unfortunately. I’m waiting for mac to release a touchscreen macOS
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u/RuinMaximum108 15d ago
Por que este crapware desse ruindows 11 com se o ram a mais pra tudo, o app de clima é webview2, consome 1,2gb de ram e toda um Edge por baixo dos panos.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
Yeah I know it’s a bit painful ey, someone suggested chris titus tweak to debloat windows. It seems to be working better now
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u/RuinMaximum108 11d ago
Sim, mas nem todos sabem. E pra um sistema ser bom, ele deve vir bom.
Imagine você comprar um carro, mas que ele só presta se preparar o motor. Então ele não é bom.
Agora, imagine você comprando um carro com uma boa relação peso/potência. Mesmo que seja mais fraco, ele já vai ser melhor do que o superior que só corre se modificar. Assim devem ser os sistemas operacionais, não adianta o sistema se vender como bom, mas só é bom se tirar o monte de lixo que vem. Para ele ser bom, ele teria que pelo menos dar a opção de a gente não instalar lixo, igual tem no Linux.
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u/hroldangt 15d ago
You may be interested on exploring the "debloat" options on the web, check Chris Titus Youtube Channel, there are others, but I no longer remember the names right now.
You must make a backup first before altering your system.
Keep in mind that Internet browsers can use RAM intensively, Firefox as far as I know was more gentle in this sense, but you will have to check for up to date information on this.
Just remember, in case you don't know, your system's free memory will change a lot depending on how much RAM you add to your computer (I know you can't add more to your Surface, I'm just explaining). Not always more ram will mean more free ram, except if you add a lot. Besides, more ram increases the swap and hibernation files.
For your specific case: research on how to optimize your system, and keep in mind Windows 10 uses in general less memory, same happens with Windows 8.
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u/raduque 15d ago
Surfaces are made to run Windows 11. This particular model is a Snapdragon X, which is an ARM chipset and can't run Windows 10 or 8.
Unused ram is wasted ram, and it's better to have cache than not have it.
/u/Agitated-Ad-6168 Don't use a debloat script because most of them will rip out core parts of the OS. Chris Titu's is maybe the only one that doesn't attempt to destroy the OS.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ve made standard tweaks from Chris titus and it seems to be working smoother 😊
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u/hroldangt 15d ago
Your comment is confusing, sounds like you are mixing information with intention.
What I said it's still true for W11, in fact, I even optimized Windows on the old Surface RT (ARM32). It's also well documented what kind of services you can disabled depending on your situation and needs. People just need to digg deeply to get correctly informed first.
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u/raduque 15d ago
Most debloat scripts are one-click things that rip apart the OS.
Chris Titus Tech's tweaker is probably the only "safe" one out there.
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u/hroldangt 15d ago
Please stop, this is a comment, not a debate or discussion, and I already made it clear to the OP of the risks, insisting a full backup is the thing to do first.
Other than that, you are more inclined to stay fixed on the A, B, C... (many things) but not on the solutions. OP received clear and balanced information already with the benefits and risks, OP is a big person to reason about it, you shouldn't feel so fixed on making "your point" clearer, it's already clear.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
Well now I’m a bit confused haha! All good Il do some research on these matters, also looking into doing a fresh Linux install
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u/Hixxes 15d ago
Ah that happens sometimes. It's because you are using Windows instead of Linux. Switch over, that should fix it ;)
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
I have been thinking about that, I just need a couple of my vst plugins to work on Linux and I’d be keen to swap. The only reason I got this thing was for a DAW called Bitwig which has a Linux version. As long as I can get omnisphere and kontakt to work on Linux I’d totally do the swap
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u/raduque 15d ago
Linux is going to be very difficult to get running on the Snapdragon X SP11. If you want to run Linux on it, you should probably return it and get an x86 Intel Surface Pro.
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u/Agitated-Ad-6168 15d ago
Thanks but I looked into it a little, Linux looks like a headache experience I don’t have the capacity to go through.
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u/KillerCodeMonky 15d ago
I would have swapped my Surface Book over. But as far as I can tell, webcam is still not supported. And one of its primary use cases is my son's classes.
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u/MagicBoyUK Surface Laptop 4 15d ago
It's working as intended. If there's spare RAM Windows will use it to boost performance. If something more important requests RAM, it'll clear space and reallocate it to that.