I've had my computer for a while and upgraded it to 16GB of RAM about two years ago, alongside some graphics card upgrades. Lately, I've encountered a frustrating issue: when I fill my RAM to around 12-13GB, my programs start crashing and freezing. The computer itself doesn't crash, but it's totally unusable and I often have to restart it. This happens on both Windows 7 and 11, but interestingly, when I switch to Linux (Pop_OS), I can utilize all my RAM without any problems. I don't use a pagefile because I have relatively slow SATA 3 disks, and even on Linux, I've got swap disabled. A friend suggested it might be a CPU reservation issue, but I suspect it's something to do with the GPU. My motherboard can handle 16GB of RAM in dual-channel, so everything should be fine. Any insights would be appreciated!
3 Answers
Your computer's RAM needs some free space to operate correctly. Think of it like a pizza: even if you have a large pizza (your RAM), you can't expect to eat the whole thing without consequences. Windows runs many background processes that require memory to function. Linux handles this differently, which is why you're not seeing these crashes there. Try leaving some RAM free, and definitely re-enable that pagefile!
Disabling the pagefile might be part of the problem. Even with 16GB of RAM, Windows really needs that pagefile to manage memory effectively. Not using it could lead to crashes when your RAM usage spikes. Your setup with SATA 3 should still support a pagefile without major slowdowns, so I recommend enabling it again. It’s crucial for Windows; without it, you could be running into issues because Windows doesn't report everything that's using RAM.
I'm curious about why you disabled the pagefile in the first place. It's a crucial component of how Windows manages memory. You might be running into invisible memory usage by critical system tasks, which aren't reported in Task Manager. If you're avoiding the pagefile for performance reasons, consider adjusting it instead of disabling it completely. Plus, if you're on an older system, a virus could also be a suspect, but restoring the pagefile should definitely be your first step.
Yeah, I second that! Without a pagefile, Windows might not handle memory management correctly when your RAM is nearly full. You might be surprised how much it helps stabilize your system.