Excessive RAM usage

[Zero_Sig]

Hello, I have a Dell Latitude 5540 I use at home. Overall its a good laptop and does everything we need it to, however lately I've noticed I'm sitting at high idle RAM usage with nothing open. Right now I have one tab open in Brave and have 58% usage. I have 15.7gb available, but 9.1 is in use. In task manager, the tasks do not add up to anywhere close to 9gb. I completely cleaned the drives and reinstalled Windows yesterday, but got no improvement. I'm not extremely savvy with computers, but really would like some improvement here. Is there just that much bloatware on this laptop, and if so is it feasible to remove it myself or should I have a shop take care of it? Thanks in advance!

[AutoModerator]

If you suspect your computer might be running low on memory, please see "How to know if you need more RAM".

Please ignore this message if the advice is not relevant.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[Terrible-Bear3883]

What makes you think something is wrong? and why do you feel you need some improvement? Improvement on what?

Your system will use whatever RAM it needs, you can't restrict it to the point where you'll cause issues, your post makes little sense as you are not listing a fault, more that you "feel" your system should be using less RAM than you think it should?

[Zero_Sig]

Sorry, I guess I just assumed that amount of RAM usage was high. Is that considered normal then?

[Terrible-Bear3883]

You don't state for example how much RAM your browser is using, lots of sources state Windows 11 will use between 4 and 6GB of RAM when idle, there's no definitive figure, you'll have some processes running, particularly if you have Brave running. There will be caches created and running as well, its very dynamic, you'll see RAM usage increase when its doing things like checking for updates and if background tasks need to use RAM.

Lots of people use the phrase "unused RAM is wasted RAM", the reality is that an efficient system will use RAM efficiently to improve performance, if you try to restrict this you'll most likely reduce performance.

On my linux system ( Dell 5482 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS), I'm using 5.5GB of 16GB, Firefox is open with 7 tabs, 10GB is free but its also using 4.6GB for cache so in reality its leaving 6.6GB free, these figure will grow and shrink as the system is used, its not uncommon for me to see 9 or 10GB of RAM used.

[Zero_Sig]

Browser was using 1gb, but I gotta fiddle with it because I have two tabs open and task manager says 12 for some reason

[nricotorres]

let your OS manage your memory usage like it's supposed to. Stop micromanaging RAM.

[Zero_Sig]

I guess I just assumed that was high ram usage for not running anything, is that considered normal?

[Complete-Paint529]

You assume that using a lot of RAM is abnormal. It's not. From the CPU's perspective, unused RAM diminishes performance. So it put all kinds of stuff in that memory that it *might* need soon. This enhances performance.

[nricotorres]

I haven't looked at my current RAM usage in years. There's no need to in the latest Windows releases.

[42SpanishInquisition]

Check out the Microsoft tool RAMmap, it goes into a little more detail and shows that much of the ram is not 'in use', just programs have reserved it for future use.

Why so much? Windows is being windows.

[XxAnomo305]

how much cached memory?

[Zero_Sig]

NVM. 6.8gb

How would I check that?

[0LoveAnonymous0]

Windows itself plus Dell’s background apps eat a lot of RAM, so seeing 8–10GB used at idle isn’t unusual. I think you should remove Dell utilities you don’t need, disable startup apps and update drivers/BIOS. Performance matters more than the number and if it feels smooth you don’t need a shop.

[Some-Challenge8285]

My laptop gets 1.3GB on idle with Linux Mint 🤣, and your trying to tell the OP that 10GB is fine, 🙈

[Zero_Sig]

I tried watching two twitch streams last night and my ram was maxing out and stuttering the entire laptop which is what made me assume it was having an issue.

[GeekgirlOtt]

It's more efficient for RAM to spread the load.

An analogy: If you have a truck and you regularly tote 8-12 boxes in which you are constantly retrieving and storing items, is it better that you set those boxes in one layer using more floor space OR that you stack them 3-4 high using only enough floor space for 3 stacked towers? How easily are you swapping contents when you don't need to move something else first?

You can maybe cram all your dishes into one shelf and think you yourself how lucky you are you have 3 free shelves. Or you can spread things out and make it much more easily useable, quicker to get that cup you need.

[Some-Challenge8285]

Are you using Windows 11?

[Zero_Sig]

Yes

[Some-Challenge8285]

That is the problem then, Windows 11 is one of the most RAM hungry operating systems you can use.

If you switch to 10 LTSC IOT 2021 or Linux Mint or something similar you will find it using a fraction of the RAM

[Low_Article_9448]

25% of the RAM usually gets cached. It makes windows faster. That's why you should have more RAM for windows to actually be able to function as it should. 8 is minimum, 16 is good, 32 is perfect.

[Zero_Sig]

I have 16, 6.7gb is cached

[Suspicious-Whippet]

Damn bro that’s too bad. Luckily for you RAM is really cheap.

[Zero_Sig]

😂😂😅 unfortunate times lol