I've been using Windows 11, and I've noticed my system is sitting at about 60% RAM usage even when I'm just idling with Spotify and Discord running in the background. It seems crazy to me since I haven't even opened my main applications yet, leaving me with only about 5GB to work with. Where did the other 6GB of my 16GB RAM go? Why is the system showing that it's using so much?
3 Answers
Windows tends to use RAM for caching frequently used applications and processes. So that 60% usage isn’t a bad thing; it's just the system preloading stuff to speed things up when you need them. The RAM will be freed up for other uses when necessary!
You’re spot on! Windows uses as much RAM as it can depending on your system specs. I went from 12GB to 28GB, and I've noticed my average RAM usage jump; now it’s around 14.3GB. That's normal behavior!
If you're curious about what’s actually using your RAM, check out the task manager. You might be surprised at how much is just Windows pre-caching things. Personally, I prefer it to load what I need when I need it, instead of all at once.
Exactly! Unused RAM is pretty much just wasted RAM anyway.