High ram usage while idle on a windows 11 pc

I have Intel i5 13500 processor which is an integrated graphics unit and i have dedicated Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB v ram graphics card both are installed in Gigabyte B760M DS3H AX motherbaord with four 16GB 5600mhz ddr5 ram modules.

Virtual memory set to manual

When Internal graphics is set to Enabled, in BIOS

the following options are visible

DVMT pre activated set to 160M

Aperture size set to 1024MB

Display properties

When Internal graphics is set to AUTO, in BIOS

the following options are not visible

DVMT pre activated

Aperture size

Display properties

In both cases, dedicated graphics memory 12115MB does not change.

I don't know if you have integrated graphics - I don't know anything about your computer. If you do have integrated graphics, it is obviously already disabled in the BIOS (if you have an older computer) or the UEFI (if you have a newer computer) since you are showing 0MB system memory. So much for step A.

Your graphics card already limits the amount of on-card RAM that can be shared with the system. As I explained, the maximum amount of video RAM that is available to be shared with your computer - if the computer needs it - is 8,122GB. So much for step B. If the computer needs less than 8,122GB, it will use less. If it needs more, too bad, since the graphics card reserves 8GB of video RAM for itself.

Not only do these two steps make no sense, neither would prevent your computer from using unnecessary amounts of RAM. If you want to know what's using RAM on your computer, open Task Manager and set is to display the processes in order of the amount of RAM they are using.

In my copy of Windows 11, which doesn't seem to be affected by the memory issue you believe is affecting your copy of Windows 11, the only app I am using at the moment is my browser. Here are the big users of RAM in my computer:

My antivirus app - BitDefender - is the big user, as is File Explorer (which is still called Windows Explorer internally). These are both background processes, as I explained originally. The other big user is my browser, which I am actively using. All other processes use less than 100MB of RAM each, which is a tiny amount. And everything put together is only using 31% of my available RAM, a very reasonable amount which leaves plenty of headroom.

Thank you, Chien, for your reply.

So, after Dan Nicolae Barzu's comment regarding VRAM (which I never paid attention to, obviously because I haven't experienced memory issues until now), I understand I don't have an IGPU. Further, I know RAMDAC's function and that it's integrated into my DGPU. But I didn't realize, as you said, that it's not typical NOT to have an IGPU.

I thought it was either an IGPU or a DGPU, not both. Of course, I never bothered to know for the reason I mentioned above.

So, now my question is, as Dan suggested:

"IF you have a IGPU and a dedicated GPU attempt to A. Turn off the IGPU in BIOS/UEFI or B. Set a maximum (instead of allowing auto,) amount of RAM that can be allocated as "Shared" VRAM."

Since I don't have both, is it possible to try option "B" still, or is there a way to fix the issue via the BIOS on the DGPU? If so, would the "System Video Memory: 0 MB" shown in my previous image have anything to do with fixing the issue? If that makes sense.

Not that it matters, but I attached another image of VRAM (or lack thereof) that I pulled up using a different path.

![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/59037eaf-07d7-46f2-9429-9bebbb518ab6?platform=QnA

Of the 16GB of video RAM that shipped with your card, 8GB is reserved for graphics processing, and the remaining 8GB is available to your computer for other uses, if needed.

Your computer has no video RAM, which means it's using your graphics card only. Either you have no integrated graphics, which is not typical these days, or your integrated graphics is disabled in the UEFI (which it should be.)

If you are running two monitors, you could use your graphics card to drive one of the monitors, and your integrated graphics to drive the other. This would require additional software to manage.

Other information in the image you supplied:

Your nVidia graphics card has its own BIOS. The BIOS version is 90.6.44.809b. Today's graphics cards are more like small computers.

Your DAC (digital-to-analog converter) is integrated in the card, and the conversion is performed in the card's own memory, which is why it's called a RAMDAC.

Hi Dan, Thank you for your explanation. That's quite interesting and something I would not have considered.

On a quick check, my VRAM shows 8006 MB, and shared shows 8122 MB.

Unless I'm misreading this, I have both IGPU and DGPU, so I will try your suggestions and update you on what happens.

Hopefully, it will be one of these fixes, and I will have learned something new.