Windows 8.1 RAM usage

[_Curse_]

I built this machine 2 months ago and i got 16 GBs of Corsair Vengeance Pro (2400 MHz) and I started having this problem where 95-99% of my RAM would be being used at all times, even when I am doing nothing besides running task manager. It would only do this for about a day (usually on tuesdays so i figured it had something to do with windows updates) but then it would stop and my RAM usage would go back to normal. Well recently, about 4 days ago, my RAM usage started going up again but this time it didnt go back down. My RAM usage hasnt been under 60% since then and it has actually been getting worse, the past about two days its been over 80% usage. I ran a malware scan and it came back clean, I have no clue why my RAM is being used and I would really like to fix this as soon as possible.  

 

Task manager screenshot:

My RAM is always in this range if not more

 

[niofalpha]

Nevermind

 

Try ending the tasks for chrome

[werto165]

Are you sure that chrome isn't hogging it all? 

[Evil-Erthanu]

Are you able to find the offending process within task manager? It is possible to have task manager display the number of megabytes a process is using, which may be more useful than only percentages. Google chrome is a known memory hog, but i doubt it is the source of your problem.

[_Curse_]

Im positive chrome isnt hogging it all. My RAM usage will still be in the 80% range even when nothing is running except Task Manger

[_Curse_]

Screenshot with different values shown (I completely closed out of everything besides task manager)

[Daigo]

I got that problem once some said that was a driver related or chrome running in the background.

 

In the end it was solved by disabling Ndu.

 

To get this.

 

Search on REGEDIT.

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Ndu

 

And Change "Start" by double clicking to change any number to 4 to disable it.

 

Restart after that.

 

Make a Restore point if you feel like.

[_Curse_]

I attempted doing what you said Daigo but it doesnt seem to have fixed anything.

 

After the restart I let all of my usages settle back down for a second and this is what it was at

[Daigo]

I got around it with my killer Nic some time ago, too bad.

 

Check if there's any update on you motherboard manufactures webpage for your network adapter and update.

[Evil-Erthanu]

This might sound silly, but I assume you checked that you are running a 64bit version of windows and that all of your ram is actually being detected? 

[_Curse_]

Yeah ive got 64 bit windows and last time I checked it detected all of my RAM, also when I check in Task Manager it will say im using 14.6 GBs of RAM or something like that. Oh and when I open up something that requires a considerable amount of RAM like a game or something, my usage doesnt go down, it goes up to the 95% area of RAM being used so its not just something that uses RAM when im not using it and then cuts back when I start using RAM

[chronofusion]

Perhaps you should reinstall Windows ( custom) but FIRST do a system image backup first just in case you want to get back EXACTLY where you're at now if Freshly reinstalling windows doesn't do the trick. 

 

I know this seems like ( bringing out a nuke to kill a 4x4 foot fire ant bed) resolution, but drastic times call for drastic measures, and it sounds like you're at that point of frustration. I know by now I would be.  Remember WHATEVER storage drive you use to perform the System Image Backup TO, ensure you DON'T ever install any programs into it otherwise Windows WON'T let you use it for System Image Backups ever until that backup drive is completely nuked again.  I don't fully understand why, but trust me.  I know this from experience.  Brain farts often teach us much more in life than a book.  Nothing beats field experience.

 

After freshly reinstalling Windows, open Notepad or take physical notes and monitor ( after installing any and every driver, program, etc) your ram usage.  Log it before and after download AND before and after installing windows updates.  Set it "to check for updates automatically but let me choose when to download and install them."  Log it in between ANY and everything you do on that pc and eventually you'll find the real cause of the problem.

 

Whenever I would slam my head into the pavement in frustration KNOWING I went through every possible practical and normally successful option to resolve any pc problem, just nuking the Windows o.s installed storage drive and starting clean ALWAYS resolved the problem.  Knowing my luck, my problems were caused by a crazy registry edit, or some other program settings that goofed with something important, like my chrome's browser extensions behavior or the behavior of the browser itself.

 

I"ll check back tomorrow on ya.  Good luck. Win 8.1 pro 64 bit here.

[_Curse_]

Update: I was talking to my friend today to see if he had any ideas and he told me to take one of my sticks of RAM just to see what my computer does. So i got home today, popped out a stick of RAM, turned my computer on and now its only using 17% of 8 GBs that are remaining in it.

[dnkgaming]

                   Perhaps bad ram? Swap the stick that's in there with the one you took out and if it doesnt work you need a new 8g stick. If it does work stick em both back in again and see if they work. Maybe it was a bad connection or something. Or just leave it..

[Dowls]

I have this on windows 7. If i'm lucky on boot it will start up at 30% and i can play a game for a while.

 

I read up on it and all i could find was people saying "ram that's not getting used is wasted ram" I can't actually find anything useful. It tanks my games sometimes i can't even load into a CS:GO Matchmaking lobby and when i do there is freezing and stuttering (FPS is fine sometimes it's 150-200 but mostly 200-299 cap. It's been fine for a good year and a half, was going to fresh install windows but i lost my w7 disc. I'll try replugging my ram but i can't find any actual methods to fix this?

[_Curse_]

Its better to have wasted RAM then not enough RAM. If you have two sticks of RAM, try only having in in your computer start your computer and check your usage, if its pretty low go on the internet for about 5 minutes to see if the usage goes up to an overly large amount, after that switch the stick of RAM that you have in your computer with the stick thats outside of your computer and check to see if you are using most of it. If neither of the sticks seem to be the cause in themselves, put both sticks back in and boot your computer again, see if that does anything for you.

[_Curse_]

Oh and the only reason im saying to do that is because thats what I just did and now after a boot im only using 8% of my RAM and it seems to be pretty stable there so im not sure what is going on with my RAM anymore. Its working just fine for now but I doubt this fix will last forever. But you never know, maybe my computer just didnt like the way my sticks were arranged and after flipping them all around it solved the problem or something stupid like that .