Physical memory usage
Discussion
My desktop has high physical memory usage around 40% with no web-pages or apps running, open a couple of websites and it goes to max usage.
Now when it comes to tech, I’m a simpleton. I’ve searched the net and tried many solutions all to no avail, I’ve done virus checks, defrag, done a memory check, update drivers, no change.
For a bit of context its 5 year old, Dell Vostro, Intel Core i3-4130 CPU, 64 bit running, Windows 7, RAM 4GB (Which I know is small) c drive 50% capacity. My question, will adding additional 4GB RAM alleviate the problem or do I need a different fix?
Any ideas please, before I place myself at the mercy of the local tech gods.
Now when it comes to tech, I’m a simpleton. I’ve searched the net and tried many solutions all to no avail, I’ve done virus checks, defrag, done a memory check, update drivers, no change.
For a bit of context its 5 year old, Dell Vostro, Intel Core i3-4130 CPU, 64 bit running, Windows 7, RAM 4GB (Which I know is small) c drive 50% capacity. My question, will adding additional 4GB RAM alleviate the problem or do I need a different fix?
Any ideas please, before I place myself at the mercy of the local tech gods.
Web-browsers consume masses of memory that they don't release until forced by the os (or they are closed).. Google Chrome in particular is a memory killer - doesn't matter how much you have it will happily use all of it (I have seen Chrome using 90% of available memory on a machine with 64GB).
Every tab opened in a web browser usually runs in its own process (daily for security) this means that each tab will allocate memory for all of the plugins you have enabled along with any additional resource the page needs (e.g. ad-tech, tracking, videos that play without asking) .
Every tab opened in a web browser usually runs in its own process (daily for security) this means that each tab will allocate memory for all of the plugins you have enabled along with any additional resource the page needs (e.g. ad-tech, tracking, videos that play without asking) .
4 GB is not a lot, you can run Windows in 4 GB, but it gets painful fast as you are finding out.
The key metric is what are called page faults. This is when the computer thinks something is in memory, but is actually on the disk. Disk is 100 - 1000 times shower than memory so it slows to a crawl.
The obvious symptom is that your hard disk light just goes on whenever you do something, and everything stops for a few seconds. It comes back to life, and the hard disk light is off. This is “paging” and is very bad.
8 GB will help. A lot. It’s probably pretty cheap for an old machine, eBay will be good. If you can stuff 16 Gb in there, so much the better, but you are getting diminishing returns (assuming you aren’t doing intensive things).
The key metric is what are called page faults. This is when the computer thinks something is in memory, but is actually on the disk. Disk is 100 - 1000 times shower than memory so it slows to a crawl.
The obvious symptom is that your hard disk light just goes on whenever you do something, and everything stops for a few seconds. It comes back to life, and the hard disk light is off. This is “paging” and is very bad.
8 GB will help. A lot. It’s probably pretty cheap for an old machine, eBay will be good. If you can stuff 16 Gb in there, so much the better, but you are getting diminishing returns (assuming you aren’t doing intensive things).
jesusbuiltmycar said:
Web-browsers consume masses of memory that they don't release until forced by the os (or they are closed).. Google Chrome in particular is a memory killer - doesn't matter how much you have it will happily use all of it (I have seen Chrome using 90% of available memory on a machine with 64GB).
Every tab opened in a web browser usually runs in its own process (daily for security) this means that each tab will allocate memory for all of the plugins you have enabled along with any additional resource the page needs (e.g. ad-tech, tracking, videos that play without asking) .
Edge (I don't use Chrome much now and it may also be there) now automatically sleeps unused tabs to free up memory. I'm prone to having lots of tabs open, and it makes a huge improvement. https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2020/12/09/sle...Every tab opened in a web browser usually runs in its own process (daily for security) this means that each tab will allocate memory for all of the plugins you have enabled along with any additional resource the page needs (e.g. ad-tech, tracking, videos that play without asking) .
rxe said:
4 GB is not a lot, you can run Windows in 4 GB, but it gets painful fast as you are finding out.
The key metric is what are called page faults. This is when the computer thinks something is in memory, but is actually on the disk. Disk is 100 - 1000 times shower than memory so it slows to a crawl.
The obvious symptom is that your hard disk light just goes on whenever you do something, and everything stops for a few seconds. It comes back to life, and the hard disk light is off. This is “paging” and is very bad.
8 GB will help. A lot. It’s probably pretty cheap for an old machine, eBay will be good. If you can stuff 16 Gb in there, so much the better, but you are getting diminishing returns (assuming you aren’t doing intensive things).
check if the page file has been set to a small fixed size either make it larger or let windows manage it automatically.The key metric is what are called page faults. This is when the computer thinks something is in memory, but is actually on the disk. Disk is 100 - 1000 times shower than memory so it slows to a crawl.
The obvious symptom is that your hard disk light just goes on whenever you do something, and everything stops for a few seconds. It comes back to life, and the hard disk light is off. This is “paging” and is very bad.
8 GB will help. A lot. It’s probably pretty cheap for an old machine, eBay will be good. If you can stuff 16 Gb in there, so much the better, but you are getting diminishing returns (assuming you aren’t doing intensive things).
Agree with 8GB upgrade. At work I had a Dell Latitude of similar vintage that often ran out of memory with just Firefox and Word open! Found out mine suffered from a known memory swamp issue caused by a gigabit wireless adapter for an external dock, use Task Manager to check running applications and then disable in control panel if applicable.
As above really,
Another 4GB ram.
Treat yoself to a Wndows 10 upgrade.
And a small SSD will make it feel brand new. Samsung Evo are pretty much the class of the field for a few £ more than the low-end ones.
Let me put it this way - Even my mum noticed how much faster her laptop is with another 4GB and a (cheap) SSD.
Another 4GB ram.
Treat yoself to a Wndows 10 upgrade.
And a small SSD will make it feel brand new. Samsung Evo are pretty much the class of the field for a few £ more than the low-end ones.
Let me put it this way - Even my mum noticed how much faster her laptop is with another 4GB and a (cheap) SSD.
Thank you for all the replies, very helpful. Today I visited the tech gods and had a dual channel configuration with 2x4Gb memory sticks installed, runs much smoother now.
As for using Windows 7, I prefer it to 10, which I have on a lap top. I’m sure if you are doing a lot social media and device sync 10 is better, but I like the simplicity of 7.
As for using Windows 7, I prefer it to 10, which I have on a lap top. I’m sure if you are doing a lot social media and device sync 10 is better, but I like the simplicity of 7.
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