I've been experiencing some serious memory issues on my Windows 11 PC. Initially, I thought it was just Chrome's fault for its high memory consumption, but now I'm not so sure. When I start my PC with minimal apps running, I see about 8-10GB of memory usage. Once I open Chrome, this jumps to about 12-20GB depending on how many tabs I have open — currently, it's at 12.6GB.
Here's some relevant info:
- Windows 11 Pro Version 10.0.26200 Build 26200
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor
- 48GB of installed RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card with the latest Nvidia Studio Driver (version 581.57)
- I've got screenshots of my task manager, RAMMap, and PoolMon, but cannot share them here.
- Windows Defender has confirmed my system is virus-free.
I can't pinpoint where all my RAM is going, and I see my RAM usage spike even more with just Chrome and a video game running, hitting upwards of 90%. Any advice on how to tackle this would be much appreciated!
3 Answers
It sounds like you could be facing a memory leak. In RAMMap, look at the File summary and File details tabs to get a clearer picture of what's using your memory. If you’re using games like Overwolf, they can chew through memory too!
You might want to download Process Explorer — it'll show you everything that's running in the background, including CPU usage, and it'll help you track down what's consuming so much RAM. Plus, it can check running processes against VirusTotal to make sure you're good on the malware front. Here's the link: [Process Explorer](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer).
Also, consider how many Chrome extensions you have. They can use up a lot of memory alongside the tabs. What video game are you playing, too? Games generally require a ton of RAM, especially if they're resource-heavy.
I'm currently playing a resource-intensive game—maybe that's part of the problem! I need to check my extensions too.
Definitely run Process Explorer! It helped me diagnose memory issues I had with some apps. It's super informative.