Hey everyone! I've been trying to figure out a memory issue on my PC for a while now, but I can't seem to identify what's consuming so much RAM. My desktop's idle memory usage is sitting at around 50% of my 32GB, which I understand is somewhat normal for Windows as it tries to use available memory. However, I only see about 2-3GB cached.
When I game, my memory usage spikes to about 60-70% depending on the title, but surprisingly, I don't experience any performance hiccups. The real issue arises when I open a single tab in Firefox; my FPS drops significantly, even if my RAM usage doesn't increase. Over time, I notice that task manager shows my RAM usage gradually climbing, and my FPS continues to worsen without any clear explanation of where the memory is disappearing to. The applications I have open don't even come close to using 28GB of RAM.
I've included a link to some screenshots of my task manager's performance at both idle and under load for reference: [https://imgur.com/a/2vpW9cG](https://imgur.com/a/2vpW9cG).
A bit more about my setup: I have three Firefox extensions (SponsorBlock, uBlock Origin, and Dark Reader) and I'm also running Wallpaper Engine, but disabling it doesn't seem to make a difference. The only fix I've found so far is restarting my computer, but that effect doesn't last long. After a few hours, the RAM issues return. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
From your description, everything seems pretty normal to me. Are you experiencing any other problems aside from the FPS drop with Firefox? That seems like a significant connection between the two situations, doesn’t it?
There are some strange factors at play. For instance, having your NVME set as the X: drive is a bit unusual. Your setup makes me want to get hands-on and investigate what's going on! Unfortunately, I can't give you quick fixes without seeing everything.
Haha! I named my drives based on a place I used to work, just trying to keep things organized. The X: Bulk Floor drive is just where I store my games.
Let me guess, are you running Windows 11 by any chance? Sometimes the OS can have its own quirks with memory management that could be affecting your performance.
Yeah, definitely! My FPS in games drops to almost half when I open Firefox, and I've noticed my RAM usage is at 29GB while only about 16GB seems accounted for. It’s frustrating because it’s like there’s some phantom RAM usage happening!