Memory is going nowhere?

[THEBIGTHREE.]

So this has been going on for a while now, (year or two) but it has been bugging me more recently so i figured I'd make a post on here. I have an Alienware R7 which i got in January of 2018. It came with 8gb of ram. It seemed windows was using a bit more ram than it should be, which i thought might just be a problem with my mobo and i think its a bit common in alienware pcs, so i got another 8gb stick. The second one is from Ballistix and is 2666mhz. This seemed alright at first, but I realized it was having the same issues, and I generally couldn't be using more than 6-8gb of ram without my whole pc starting to freeze up. On startup, RAM usage tends to be around 40% (friends have said theirs are around 20%). So a few minutes ago, my game was starting to frame drop, I looked and i was using like 4gb of ram in processes, with the % spiking near 100. This is starting to annoy me. There is however one more thing. I have been using a stock cooler on an i7 the entire time ive had my pc. I didnt check thermals for about a year because i had nzxt cam at one point when it was buggy and everything seemed fine so i uninstalled it to get rid of the bugginess. But yeah CPU has been running around 92-99° while gaming and unless completely idle, runs around 70-80. This is obviously a problem and I'm working on getting a 212 evo. Thinking back on it, I was dumb not to get one in the first place. Not sure if the lack of cpu cooling could affect my RAM though. The main problem which you can see in the screenshots linked below is that processes are using ~4gb of RAM, yet my RAM usage is near 100%. It seems like 10gb of RAM is just being used on nothing? Anyway sorry for the sloppy writing and thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

 

Extra Info and PC Specs:

CPU: i7 8700

Cooler: Stock cooler (I have cleaned and re-applied thermal paste)

Mobo: Alienware R7

RAM: 8gb Alienware 2666mhz, 8b Ballistix 2666mhz

Storage: 1 TB HDD (I believe it's seagate), 256gb crucial MX300 ssd

GPU: GeForce GTX 1060

OS: Windows

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/411656643084812288/743211366277447750/unknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/411656643084812288/743205299841663026/unknown.png

^^^^ Task Manger Screenshots (Yes I'm using discord, it's easier don't judge me)

In resourcemonitor I have about a few mb of free RAM and ~14.5gb in use. The rest is in standby and the other sections. 

[Mister Woof]

imo wipe the system and give a fresh non-bloatware windows 10 install

 

 

[wall03]

might be in the wrong slots for dual slot config

[THEBIGTHREE.]

Just now, wall03 said:

might be in the wrong slots for dual slot config

I have them alternating. So one is in the first slot and the other in the 3rd (couting from the cpu)

[wall03]

Just now, THEBIGTHREE. said:

I have them alternating. So one is in the first slot and the other in the 3rd (couting from the cpu)

try in 2nd and 4th.

[wall03]

Just now, wall03 said:

try in 2nd and 4th.

oh oops nvm

[Guest]

The extra ram use is probably some Dell BS that's running in the background. And the stock cooler is garbage, I'd say a 212 evo is a minimum, for something like a 8700 maybe a NH-15.

[Mister Woof]

Just now, Darpyface said:

The extra ram use is probably some Dell BS that's running in the background. And the stock cooler is garbage, I'd say a 212 evo is a minimum, for something like a 8700 maybe a NH-15.

stock 8700 is fine on a basic 212-level cooler.

 

Wife has an 8700 on an arctic freezer 33, and it runs cool and quiet pretty much all day long.