Windows 8.1: Constant 'Low Memory' warnings with 5GB of free memory

Anonymous
2013-12-11T19:24:33+00:00

I'm getting these 'Low Memory' warnings constantly it's getting really annoying (like everything else in this OS).  I'm running Win8.1 64bit with 8GB of RAM, as soon as it passes 3GB of RAM used these warnings appear telling me to close various programs.  No 32bit processes are nearing their 2GB limit, the RAM's memtest indicates no issues.  How do I stop these warnings!?!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-01-06T06:26:05+00:00

Windows 8 reserves a % or 2gb whichever is smaller for the paging file by default, this is more than enough for most use-cases.

@Bob Eyster - you should read http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

The issue has absolutely nothing to do with the paging file.  It's 2/3rds empty when getting this error.  What appears to be happening is that the initial 4gb, which is available for 32bit applications, is being used by the 64bit applications causing it to think it's going to run out of 32bit addressing space once it hits the 4gb limit.  In reality the 64bit applications should be pushed into the 2nd 4gb space to make room fro the 32bit applications.  Unfortunately this error message doesn't seem to recognize the difference between the two and reports the error erroneously.  Calculating just the 32bit apps they are using less than 2.3gb of addressing space with 64bit using the remaining 0.9gb.

Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

56 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-21T07:42:38+00:00

    UEFI won't allow it on my system for whatever reason - gets to a certain point in the install process and fails (Win7 64bit) - linux installs nicely though.

    This thread seams to be jumping from Win 8.1 to Win 7 ? And now Linux ?

    Try SPECCY  from www.piriform.com  and see what it says about your ram .

    What is your system ?

    I put new RAM in the system it checks out fine (as did the old RAM).  Without fail if I launch a 32 bit game I get these error messages.  It's a Win8.1 code issue plain and simple, it'll just be yet another annoyance to deal with.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-04T17:29:15+00:00

    JMJimmy-

    From all the jumping around I cant tell if you are falling victim of the issue I discovered, but I want to ask anyway.

    1. When you see the issue are you using a program that is in full screen mode (i.e. not in a window)?
    2. Is the refresh rate/screen resolution of the program you are using different than the refresh rate/screen resolution of your desktop?

    If you answered YES to both of these questions, congratulations!  You are being affected by a "system commit" memory leak inside of DirectX 11.2 that is in Windows 8.1.

    To see the issue I use Sysinternals Process Explorer.  I run that, go to the view menu and select system information.  On the resulting windows I select the memory tab.  This shows the physical RAM in use along with the System Commit.  The upper graph shows System Commits over time (I think of it as "virtual memory" usage).

    Now that you have that running, launch your full screen application and use it as normal.  After about 5 minutes, ALT-TAB out of the game back to your desktop.

    If you are experiencing the same issue that I am, you will see that the System Commit graph has steadily risen, only to fall back to about the same level as physical RAM in use when you alt-tabbed out.

    Once the system commit level is high enough, you get the dialogs that you see even though physical memory is not even close to being full.

    Now, the question is how do we make Microsoft aware of this issue?

    Eric

    PS. To "work around" it, set your desktop resolution/refresh rate to the resolution/refresh rate of the full screen executable before you fire it up.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-04T21:04:40+00:00
    1. Usually but not always, sometimes just windowed mode @ 1600x900
    2. Definitely not.  Refresh rate is always 60hz - same as my monitor

    Will this bug affect games being forced to run in DX9 mode?  Many of them I have to force to that to get them to run properly on Win8.1 since they're GFWL.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-02-07T15:27:32+00:00

    Have you tried Intel HD Grpahics Driver 2875 or 2884?  These two drivers are reported to not have the memory leak that plagues the newer Intel drivers when utilized with Windows 8.1 DirectX 11.2.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments