RAM issues

[KnifeOutHoodUp]

I have a somewhat new computer ( 2 months old) with 8gb of ram. My issue is that upon start up my pc is saying that my memory usage is around 84% or 6.7gb/8gb. I checked my processes and my total ram usage only adds up to around 500mb. This is kind of a big issue because it is stopping me from being able to play any games. I was hoping that someone here could give me some insight on how to troubleshoot and eliminate this issue. It only just started maybe 2 days ago.

So far I have tried:
- Turning the computer off and then back on
- Turning the computer off and unplugging the power supply
- Talking to useless tech support from iBuypower

Any help would be appreciated. When I talked to tech support for iBuypower ( where I purchased from) the only advice they gave was reinstalling windows.

[Really Old Man]

One of the sticks of RAM might be bad. Are you using two 4gb sticks of RAM or just one 8gb stick. If you are using the two 4gb sticks, unplug them one at a time and see what each percentage for the used memory is. That will hopefully let you know which stick of RAM is the culprit. It's most likely just a bad stick of RAM, which can hopefully be exchanged for a new one.

If that doesn't work, shoot me a PM.

[spanakis]

Opening the case will probably void any warranty , check if there is a warranty seal .
My suggestion is to run mdsched.exe (just use your search on windows to locate it) is a windows tool to check your RAM .
Also try to open your system on safe mode and check again the ram usage.

[ModJPB]

If you are using windows 7 or 8 then that is normal. Windows uses or reserves memory to cache a lot of the sowtware on your computer to help it load programs faster. This memory is temporarily used until another program needs it and then it will unload the cache. The actual memory that is used should be anywhere around 1 or 2 gigs and the temporary cache will use up most of the leftover until another program is loaded. If you hit control alt delete and then go to the resource and memory section it will detail what memory is being used for what.

[Siickest]

If you are using windows 7 or 8 then that is normal. Windows uses or reserves memory to cache a lot of the sowtware on your computer to help it load programs faster. This memory is temporarily used until another program needs it and then it will unload the cache. The actual memory that is used should be anywhere around 1 or 2 gigs and the temporary cache will use up most of the leftover until another program is loaded. If you hit control alt delete and then go to the resource and memory section it will detail what memory is being used for what.

It's not normal that windows 7 or 8 is using that much. Windows 7 is normally using 2-4 GB ram so buying a PC with 4GB ram is never a option if you are a gamer. I am running with 16GB ram and I am currenty using 4/16 GB at the moment with some stuffs up xD

[Siickest]

To the topic.. You could check out what is taking so much RAM. To check it up you follow these steps.

1. CTRL+ALT+DEL ( or ) right click your menu at the bottom and choose activate manager
2. Go over to the TAB performence
3. Resource manager
4. Go to the TAB memory

Now when you are there you can check what is eating up all that RAM

[Kc2000]

When you are checking the processes, make sure you check off "Show processes from all users"
You may just have a metric ass ton of bloatware. When I bought from CyberPowerPC, it was one of my issues, as well.
A clean install of Windows did the trick for me but I ended up returning the thing anyways because they gave me a bad mobo.

[CookiezFort]

Try to get memtest86 and see if a ram is faulty

[Romanion]

I've heard issues about memory leak in Windows 8/8.1.

[KnifeOutHoodUp]

I unplugged both ram and plugged them back in separately and restarted my computer in-between each one. It appears to be working normally for the time being. Thank you all for the help and advice. If the problem re appears I may be back, but it has held up for about a day now.

[z404Error]

It's not normal that windows 7 or 8 is using that much. Windows 7 is normally using 2-4 GB ram so buying a PC with 4GB ram is never a option if you are a gamer. I am running with 16GB ram and I am currenty using 4/16 GB at the moment with some stuffs up xD

It all depends on what you have running and what you do on the machine. I often can fill 16gb or more of ram no problem by just powering my machine on and logging in at home. I do non-linear video editing and post-production off the clock and am a repair tech of PCs, items with batteries, items that use outlets or wires, X-ray machines, gas chromatography machines, anything that goes boom or bang, etc, at the job :)

I wouldn't suggest buying a PC with less than 8gb as a MINIMUM and 16+ I would consider normal for your average user now a days in order to future-proof it *for a year or two...* Rule of thumb when buying - if you can find it at Walmart or Bestbuy, keep looking, it isn't what you want... If you want the best, build the best...

Windows Vista/7/8 can and will cache commonly used programs, data, etc. They are trying to speed up performance - I believe it started way back in Vista... There is nothing to worry about - the more you have, they more it will generally "eat" and swap to disk when needed to be freed. If you are truely worried, I'd suggest clearing out the prefetch, but frankly, it will just make things slower for a time... Also remember that some video cards reserve their size in system ram... Certain other adapter cards (SCSI/SAS/Raid) will also eat a bit.

Keep in mind that if you went the Xeon/ECC route, ECC and chip kill can be funny beasties - assuming it was bad ram...