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How do I use all my 8gb ram?
I have 8gb ram memory. System info shows it all. Performance monitor shows that I use up to about 3.5gb, but never more. Is that normal?
I have 8gb ram memory. System info shows it all. Performance monitor shows that I use up to about 3.5gb, but never more. Is that normal?
It sounds as if you have 32bit version of Windows installed which can only access 4GB (less a bit for hardware).
Can you check on Settings > System > About - it will tell you under "System Type" if you have 32 or 64 bit operating system installed.
If it is 32 bit then you'll need to clean install 64 bit.
My Laptop has 4GB of RAM on a 64bit system but uses only 3.37GB (its an older Laptop). Even though the mainboard may support the full memory, using it is a different story. I have not figured it out yet why....
Post a screenshot of Task Manager - Performance tab showing memory information. But I doubt you have a problem.
The "In use" value doesn't tell you of all memory being used. The screenshot in post #5 shows "In use" memory as 5410 MB, standby as memory as 2517 MB and only 9 MB free (a very good value). This is typical of a system under moderate use. That 2517 MB in standby contains system and application code and data and acts as a kind of cache. This is a major contributor to good performance. In this case only 9 MB memory is actually unused. Total memory usage, unlike "In use", is actually approaching 99.9% which is very good indeed. A low value for free memory is a good thing. The optimum would be 0 at all times but that is currently not achievable.
If "In use" memory were to go much beyond that in the screenshot performance would suffer. If the system had been recently started free memory would be much higher. That is unavoidable. You can't cache data until it is first accessed. In time, depending on how heavily the system is used, the free value will drop to lower levels.
Memory management in any modern OS is VERY complex and not easily understood. Most of the time it works very well. Most apparent problems are only that and due to lack of understanding of how things work.
Thank you all. I understand much better now. Thanks especially to L Miller 7 for a very helpful and clear explanation.