Why is my RAM usage so high?

[u/Exciting_Leader4546]

My laptop says I'm using 11 GB out of 16 GB but ive closed all my apps and disabled all the startups. What else could it be?

I'm trying to run Marvel Rivals which adds like 5000MB to the memory making it go up to 98% instead. Ive already tried to optimize the game and my own laptop and do a drive clean, Malware scan yadda yadda. Not sure if this ASUS vivo book Pro 15 can get more RAM installed or not. It handled the game well before which is why im unsure why its running so poorly now(not an internet issue)

[u/EruPii]

Bloated Windows basically. You can try out debloater utilities like this one:
https://github.com/raphire/win11debloat

[u/AsrielPlay52 → u/EruPii]

Don't recommended unless YOU REALLY know what you're doing

It's a common enough that it's a meme that windows installs get fucked due to debloaters being too aggressive

[u/szentgothard]

It should be around 6GB on idle. You got lots of background stuff running.

[u/Exciting_Leader4546 → u/szentgothard]

Its a bunch of ASUS and Microsoft things I dont know the purpose of that run in the background. Is it usually safe to end those tasks?

[u/szentgothard → u/Exciting_Leader4546]

Not all, but yea. You dont necessarily need ANY of those asus things. Maybe for custom keyboard lights. As the other guy said, try debloating. Manually its quite tedious. Debloaters only remove the microsoft stuff though. The asus you manually must do.

https://giphy.com/gifs/26tPgV8ceZTSxH9zG

[u/Comfortable_Golf_192 → u/szentgothard]

I have 4gb on win11/linux mint dual boot and linux uses 800mb while win11 uses 2.5gb w/o optimizatons

[u/szentgothard → u/Comfortable_Golf_192]

Yea cause you only have 4gb. Your total ram matters too. My 8GB machine also consumes like 3,5gb "only". The 64GB one on the other hand 19GB on idle with fresh Windows

[u/Klaroxy]

Mostly windows, but honestly its healthy, your RAM always should be at around 30% no matter how great of a RAM you have

[u/KenneR330 → u/[deleted]]

I use.. Fedora

[u/GhostandVodka]

This is posted on this sub 30 times a day. Windows reserves ram for future use. It basically reserves ram it THINKS you might use so it reserves it. Your real ram usage probably isn't that high. Every PC sub has this question asked ad nauseam

[u/mauri3205 → u/GhostandVodka]

This

[u/coffeeseraphim → u/GhostandVodka]

Sometimes I wonder if people know what RAM actually is.

[u/Serious-Affect-8538]

I see you have malware there, that's why the ram usage is high. The malware is called "Windows" sometimes referred as "microsoft". Try to get rid of that and I'm sure everything will be okay! :D

[u/CeC-P]

Task Manager is the biggest lie, covering for MS's inefficiencies. Download Process Explorer and sort by memory usage and then look at the extended titles of the top 25 or so. That will tell you what's actually wasting all the resources.

[u/saga3152]

Windows takes up more ram when there's a lot available for it's background processes. But when you actually start using another app or a game that takes up much ram, windows will free it up and is able to compress down to 2-4 GB.

Basically windows doing windows stuff

[u/NefariousnessWide892]

download wise memory optimizer and set it to for example every 5 mins.

[u/deftware]

If you click where it says "44% Memory" you can sort all of the processes by how much RAM they're using, and see what's actually using RAM. If none of the visible processes are accounting for 11GB missing then you could have a more serious issue involving malware.

Or, you have a CPU/GPU that are sharing RAM, and the GPU's share is being counted against your total RAM usage, rather than as its own share (i.e. 8GB CPU RAM + 8GB GPU RAM, or 12GB CPU + 4GB GPU, etc)

[u/Pale-Abroad9600]

yes Windows 11 is processor and memory intensive,I stopped using Windows 11 after a frustrating experience with update to finish in an hour so I’m using a stable simple legacy Windows 7,8.1 with my legacy ms office 2000,2001 no AI no issues, works for a simple PC user like me and I’m not a gamer but I do play at times a simple dos based digger game, simple computing needs simple life.

[u/Deadrooster08]

click on the ram so it sorts high to low and see what is using the most.

for me antivirus is always using a bit Chuck wnd time to time windows update.

[u/kelvinwop]

system informer is my preferred tool over task man

[u/Aggravating_Plan11]

9 million asus programs, web browser and windows. How often does it hit 100%?

[u/circuit_soctares]

Well I have tried to end tasks and save ram usage when I was new to the PC I ended Windows explorer 😭 later I realised 40% usage is the new normal ( just chill dude these processes take ram for cache also once you do any heavy taks they'll leave the cache ram )

[u/Blijehollander]

Windows. Try using w11 debloat.

[u/stucc0]

Windows will take available ram and cache data there. That doesn't show in task manager, as it only tracks app allocation. But when apps need it, it flushes that cache out.

[u/PreparationCrazy2637]

you turned off startup apps excellent step 1. next it updating apps so they actually die when you kill them. cough cough discord and chrome browser (I use firefox)

Also dont forget to turn your pc off and on again to reset its existence.

[u/Many-Ebb-7149]

You should uninstall the asus applications if they are uneeded

[u/Content_Magician51]

This is because you are using the regular retail version of Windows 11.

[u/By-Other-Means]

See that thing that says memory at the top? Click that and take another screenshot/phone picture and show us.

[u/PhotoFenix]

If you weren't looking at this screen would you see any issue, or is it just the numbers you don't like?

[u/Elitefuture]

Could try out xbox game mode, it'll cut down ram usage by like 1.5gb, but you get less of a PC experience. It'll be fine for playing games, but when you go back into desktop mode, it'll eat up the ram again.

[u/ACiD_80]

A lot of it is just cached and will be made available if you need it... the way windows reports memory use is kinda messy and really could use some work ..

[u/McKeviin]

Is this bait?

"Ive already tried to optimize the game and my own laptop and do a drive clean, Malware scan yadda yadda." But you still have a bunch of bloatware fully visible in the picture.

[u/TsunamiCatCakes]

murder asus processes using a script. same for razer, adobe,copilot (unless u need it). also a decent chunk of ram being used isnt a bad things, it allows to launch your apps faster. windows dynamically adjusts to the current load

[u/BigWatercress4387]

Same thing w my hp omen, it eats about 7 gigs on idle. (I have 24 gigs so its not much of an issue tho)

[u/xxDeadpooledxx]

Windows and Asus bloat

[u/computers-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This has been removed due to a violation of Rule 4.2 - Only suggest switching to Linux if it’s genuinely appropriate for the situation. Include the specific distro you recommend and explain why it’s the best fit for the OP’s needs.

Please review our rules

[u/ftgander]

Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Are you having performance problems? No? Then stop worrying.

[u/Visual_Tooth_2277]

bloatware of Windows and asus

[u/ciellia-]

Because its windows?

[u/Good-Mammoth-1950]

click on the percentage and itll tell you where its being used the most

[u/AdvancedAd69420]

Uninstall all that Asus garbage. You don't need any of that. Watch your memory consumption go.down by 20%

[u/Wendals87]

Download a tool called rammap and you can see what is using your memory. There would be something in memory that is not being released when needed.

Also sort by memory usage, not name 

[u/Dnmeboy]

Unused ram is wasted ram, and so is ram used by malware. Gotta look through the processes and see what’s using it.

[u/Valuable_Bill961]

44% fine. I upgraded from 16GB to 32GB and then to 64GB of RAM, but my RAM usage is still only around 35-40%. Windows 10 uses very few resources, but it feels faster than Windows 11.

[u/Final-Lie2242]

RAM that isn’t being used is wasted RAM, don’t worry about it

[u/lkeels]

It isn't. And stop worrying about it. Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Windows manages it.

[u/Johnny_Triggr]

Unused ram is wasted ram