Why does Windows 11 keep using more and more ram the longer it's on?

Grantelicious · Saturday at 09:37

I have 128GB of ram and it slowly creeps up until it's full and nothing is running, I look at task manager and according to that I'm using barely anything. I've tried reinstalling a fresh install, but Windows 11 always does this and the problem is it slows the whole thing down over time. I'm someone that likes keeping their PC on 24/7, so right now it's been on three months, but that is no excuse to be using all my 128GB of ram. My Macbook hasn't been off since I bought it in 2020, yet that is still fine, it is barely using anything still.

What is Windows doing? Cause Resource Manager and Task Manager do not show what is really going on.

AthlonXP1800 · Saturday at 11:22

I have same 128GB RAM but it never been slowed creep up until it's full when nothing is running, it always stayed at 15% used about 19GB memory. I kept PC on for about 15 hours a day then put it to sleep. Memory always slowed creep up to over 60% after few days when I used internet browsers because internet browsers are memory resource hogs, only way to reset memory back down to 25% is to update internet browsers to latest version or closed browsers and restarted it.

Your PC could be infected with trojans/malware. Best to format fully and clean install Windows 11, not reinstall Windows 11. If you not want to format fully when you have important data on drive, try create new drive partition and install Windows 11 on other partition and see if 128GB RAM stopped creeps until full when nothing is running.

andshrew · Saturday at 11:23

What does Task Manager show on the Performance tab for Memory?

Windows will use all the memory you have available, it will cache as much data into "standby" as it can. This memory can be instantly reclaimed if an active application comes along and actually needs it. The exception to this is if you have something leaking (and not releasing) memory over time, in which case your system would eventually grind to a halt. The performance tab in Task Manager should give you an indication of whether or not this is happening.

Tetras · Saturday at 15:03

As mentioned above, is it actually being "used" or is it just part of the cache?

If a program is gobbling it up then you can see that in task manager (expose the commit size column in the details tab, if you're not sure).

Browsers can slowly consume your memory if left open (never closed) and you don't restart the PC regularly.

The cache is not a problem, you'd usually want that memory to be used because it improves responsiveness and loading times.

To be blunt, 3 months is a VERY long time for any OS to be up for (assuming that's without a restart) and in my experience, many programs have poor memory hygiene if they're left open.

TheVoice · Saturday at 15:50

Surely in three months you've had updates requiring a restart?

Grantelicious · Sunday at 18:33

TheVoice said:
Surely in three months you've had updates requiring a restart?

I removed updates

Grantelicious · Sunday at 18:34

Tetras said:
As mentioned above, is it actually being "used" or is it just part of the cache?

If a program is gobbling it up then you can see that in task manager (expose the commit size column in the details tab, if you're not sure).

Browsers can slowly consume your memory if left open (never closed) and you don't restart the PC regularly.

The cache is not a problem, you'd usually want that memory to be used because it improves responsiveness and loading times.

To be blunt, 3 months is a VERY long time for any OS to be up for (assuming that's without a restart) and in my experience, many programs have poor memory hygiene if they're left open.

I cannot find out where the memory is going, resource monitor and task manager both do not say anything, I cannot find out where it is going.

Is there a way to clear the cache without restarting to see if it's that?

Rroff · Sunday at 18:57

If it is using all the memory and then slowing down it sounds like a memory leak, Process Explorer might reveal more information. If you have an nVidia GPU there was a couple of drivers with known memory leaks.

mrk · Sunday at 19:35

not a Windows issue, an issue with your install with whatever app or driver combos you have causing it.

I have 64GB and PC is never turned off or restarted outside of Windows Updates, RAM usage does not exceed 20GB on any given day with 2 browser windows open constantly with tens of tabs.

Grantelicious · Sunday at 20:08

Nvidia was using a lot of ram but I install the version with all that crap taken out now so it's just a pure driver and have gone through several updates. I have nothing installed other than Steam and that isn't doing it :/ Something weird in Windows, it must be caching but it just isn't telling me, I use a really small C drive partition so if Microsoft decide to active updates again it cannot physically do it. So I'm thinking it's going to my ram instead of my drive maybe?

The only thing that Process Explorer showed was several GB in memory compression and everything else was that svhost thing. I just cannot see where it is going, the only thing is restarting Windows.

andshrew · Sunday at 21:56

Task Manager -> Performance -> Memory. At the bottom it will tell you how your memory is being used.

AthlonXP1800 · 2025-08-11T13:05:12+0100

Grantelicious said:
Nvidia was using a lot of ram but I install the version with all that crap taken out now so it's just a pure driver and have gone through several updates. I have nothing installed other than Steam and that isn't doing it :/ Something weird in Windows, it must be caching but it just isn't telling me, I use a really small C drive partition so if Microsoft decide to active updates again it cannot physically do it. So I'm thinking it's going to my ram instead of my drive maybe?

The only thing that Process Explorer showed was several GB in memory compression and everything else was that svhost thing. I just cannot see where it is going, the only thing is restarting Windows.

Ah your small drive C partition is likely the cause of problem. Is drive C size 250GB? That size is too small to use file paging for Windows virtual memory. It probably explained your Windows 11 used whole 128GB RAM as virtual memory.

I recommend you to get large 2TB SSD for OS drive to mange large virtual memory for 128GB RAM.

Grantelicious · 2025-08-11T17:06:13+0100

AthlonXP1800 said:
Ah your small drive C partition is likely the cause of problem. Is drive C size 250GB? That size is too small to use file paging for Windows virtual memory. It probably explained your Windows 11 used whole 128GB RAM as virtual memory.

I recommend you to get large 2TB SSD for OS drive to mange large virtual memory for 128GB RAM.

I wont be doing that, I just need Nvidia to support Linux properly so I can switch there, Microsoft do my head in. What would be good is allowing me to flush the cache instead of having to restart but Task manager isn't showing that much cached, only several GB.

I dunno what is going on, I'm done with Windows tbh, it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't force updates. So many times I've been away to find out my PC has updated and I cannot remotely access it until I get home. You can only push them back for so long before they force you and so why I had to install a custom version with all the updates disabled. However in the past it has somehow magically turned the updates back on, which is why I only have a few hundred MB free so it cannot update at all.