I just got a new laptop for school, and I noticed that 8.4 GB out of my 32 GB of RAM is reserved for hardware. I really don't know much about computers, but it seems excessive, especially since I can only run three Chrome tabs and Spotify at the same time before running into memory issues. I have a Ryzen AI 5 Pro CPU with integrated graphics. Is this normal?
3 Answers
The reason you're seeing 8.4 GB of RAM reserved is likely because your integrated GPU (iGPU) uses system RAM instead of having its own dedicated memory. It’s pretty standard for integrated graphics to need some of your RAM allocated as VRAM. If you plan to use memory-intensive applications, keep this in mind! You might want to check your BIOS settings to see how much RAM is assigned to the iGPU. You could adjust it if needed, but your system should still work fine with what you have.
Yep, it’s normal for integrated graphics to reserve some RAM. 8 GB is a common default setting. If you find it’s affecting performance with engineering software like Ansys or Solidworks, you might consider adjusting the amount allocated in BIOS, but usually, 24 GB of available RAM should be fine for most workloads, especially if you're not gaming.
That’s reassuring to hear! I hope 24 GB will cover my needs.
Also, sometimes part of your RAM can be reserved for hibernation purposes or system processes. Try turning off hibernation and see if that helps free up more RAM. However, since you’ve got 32 GB total, you should still have enough for your regular use even with the reservation in play!
I’ll try disabling hibernation! Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for the info! Just worried since I need to run engineering software; I hope this won’t slow me down too much!