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Info: This bug was fixed on August 12th 2014 with the release of the month's Patch Tuesday. Make sure to install every update available for your system, if you're having the problem described on this thread.
Hello, I've been facing a "tough" problem with my computer running Windows 8.1 x64. I did not upgrade from Windows 8, I did a clean install and for the past month, everytime I play some of the new 2013 games (Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Battlefield 4, CoD:Ghosts etc.), I'm constantly getting a "low memory" warning from time to time.
So, giving that my laptop is capable of running these games (Asus N56VZ - Intel Core i7, Intel HD 4000 + Nvidia GT650 M, 6GB DDR3, 750GB 7200rpm, Full-HD 15,6" screen), I began searching for an answer. Here's what I've concluded:
When the game (eg: Battlefield 4) opens, the memory consumption begins to rise, and rise, and rise, non stop, until the system doesn't have more memory available and triggers the low memory warning. However, in the exact moment that I "alt+tab" out of game OR the memory warning does it for me, all of the occupied memory is emptied instantly, like magic!
I was able to "understand" this using Process Explorer by MS (sysinternals), heres a screenshot that shows the "climbing" and the sudden drops:
I cant really discover where all this memory is being allocated/used, and I have no idea on whats causing this. I also don't know if this is Windows-related, device-related or driver-related.
Is anyone facing this as well?
[UPDATE DECEMBER 9th] This issue is triggered when the resolution in which the games are being played differs from the resolution configured on Windows.
If you are playing a game, say, in 1366x768, you need to change the system resolution to the same 1366x768 BEFORE opening the game. That will stop the excessive memory consumption and you'll be able to play the game fine.
My system is in Portuguese, but I think it's easy to get it:
This also concludes that the issue is Windows-related and not driver related, so we'll have to wait for Microsoft to patch it. Meanwhile, remember to change your resolution when you're going to play.
[UPDATE APRIL 26th 2014]
According to some Intel folks at communities.intel.com (http://is.gd/71Vha2), Microsoft has confirmed the issue with Windows 8.1 in an internal email. It resides - as it was explained - on the DWM (Desktop Window Manager) which triggers a memory leak when running fullscreen games with a resolution different than the desktop resolution.
The memory leak fills the system memory and page file with junk until there's no more memory available.
We assume Microsoft is already working on a fix for this, altough we never heard anything "official" from them regarding the issue.
[UPDATE AUGUST 14th 2014]
The problem has been finally fixed by Microsoft with the release of the August updates on Aug. 12th.
Make sure to install every single update available - including the optional ones - and you'll no longer receive low-memory warnings when running fullscreen games/apps with different resolution/refresh rate.
Also make sure you're using the latest drivers available for your Intel and/or Nvidia GPU (it might be important).
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I might be a bit cynical but I looked through all the support KB's from the updates today and couldn't find anything that related to fixing this issue (unless I'm missing something)...
Yesterday i have made the update and i found via the link also no description, but...
Yah!, after nearly 10 months, microsoft have now solved this bug.
With the latest patches (Patch Day 12.08.2014, also install the optional Updates),
all different resolutions and framerates works well.
same problem here... 16GB RAM, win 8.1 pro 64bit
the same playing watch dogs...
I hope Microsoft fix it!
Accidentaly I found solution for me. Or I hope so... Maybe You'll find it useful.
My computer is quite weak - 2 core processor, NVidia GTS 450 and only 2GB of RAM. However, on WIN XP I was able to play Serious Sam 3 HD, Borderlands 2, Dead Space 3 without bigger problems and in 1920x1080 resolution. And then - my HD died. So I decided to buy SSD but I heard that you needed Windows higher than XP to manage this kind of disk successfully. So I bought SSD and Win 8.1 and made a clean 32-bit install. After installing some basic programs I decided to come back to Serious Sam 3 HD and then problems started. In my case - the game started normally but after playing for about 2 minutes it got slower and slower and finally totally crashed computer (black screen). The only thing I could do was a hard reset. There wasn't even any massage in event log (or however you call it in English). The only critical events were that computer was closed improperly.
So tried almost everything I found on the Internet. Nothing helped. Today I gave up games.
But I wanted at least to make this Windows more user-friendly. I intalled Ashampoo Win Optimizer 2014 (this is not advertisement - I guess that any tweaking software will do or You could do straight in Windows). Atfter these few tweaks I started Serious Sam - to check if something changed for the last time. And then I played it for almost 2 hours without any special lags and crashes! Then I tried Borderlands 2 - I played for about 10 minutes and closed the game normally. I thought that maybe Steam repaired something because there was un update. But then I tried Dead Space 3 on Origin and I played about 20 minutes flawlessly. All these games in 1920x1080 resolution.
So here's what I did:
I don't know which of these options helped. Maybe there was something else... This "Automatic network search" looks like it could take up memory or mess with it.
I think that some of the above helped me so I share it with You.
same :(
I found a fix for that. Set refresh rate in intel control panel to 59 Hz.
I have a lenovo ideapad y510p with 8GB DDR3 RAM. My graphics card is a nvidia GT 755M with 2GB of its own memory and an intel HD Graphics 4600.
When I play certain games like bioshock infinite or far cry 3 I get notifications my system is running out of memory. Both my desktop resolution and my game resolution are set to 1080p so im not sure why this is happening. the problem is only with graphically intensive games, but even then I would think 8GB should suffice. When I look at the task manager the odd thing is the memory is usually around 45% used and the rest is available so I don't understand how the system is saying its low on memory.
It can't be resolution since both are set at 1080p.
