Problem with memory consumption.
Problem with memory consumption.
I own a personalized computer I assembled in 2020. Present specifications are below: Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core MB: Asus TUF B450M-PLUS Gaming (BIOS v4002) RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR4 Vengeance LPX C15 3000MHz (4x8GB) Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD (primary for OS) Samsung 870 QVO 1TB SSD (secondary for games) Seagate IronWolf 4TB (tertiary for work files) Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Power Supply: Corsair RM550x V2 80 Plus Gold fully modular OS: Windows 11 All updates applied, no beta software is installed. This machine was built mainly for professional use. As my children grow older and I have more free time, we’ve played a bit of gaming after upgrading the GPU to the Radeon 6700 XT around early 2022. The main titles we enjoy are the Master Chief Collection (Halo series), Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. All games reside on the secondary SSD as previously noted, bought from the Microsoft Store. I’ve observed my system beginning to fail after recently playing Microsoft Flight Simulator in February 2023. Before that, I experienced no problems with any Halo titles. I could run any Halo game at high settings and maintain full frames without interruption. Now, the PC starts crashing after more than ten minutes of gaming. It shows stuttering, freezes, and requires manual reboots. Monitoring via Task Manager and HWmonitor revealed no abnormal activity. No software is overloading CPU or GPU; only RAM usage spikes from 5-8GB to 32GB before failure. I’ve stress-tested with Cinebench 23 and Heaven Benchmark 4.0—no crashes. RAM issues don’t appear even during extended tests. I can work for hours, connect to my workplace network, and everything functions normally. No overheating detected on any component, including the CPU (max 75°C under load). Except Microsoft Flight Simulator, no new programs are installed, and no hardware upgrades have been made recently. I’ve reset all parts and tested them individually—no faults found. When games run, other applications shut down automatically. Based on research, these steps were tried without success: turned off background apps (except AV/antivirus), ran full system scan, executed Windows Memory Diagnostic, used CHKDSK, disabled Windows Search Indexer, adjusted registry settings for memory management, cleared pagefile at shutdown, disabled Superfetch and SysMain, and reset the session manager. I’m seeking any guidance. My goal is simply to enjoy a few games during my free time. The system is fully capable of handling them. If needed, a complete Windows reinstall would be my last resort unless you have recommendations.
This seems to be the main fix I can think of. Likely a memory leak is the cause, based on high RAM consumption. Check which process is using the most memory in Task Manager.
Have you verified the thermal paste? It tends to wear down over time and might lead to overheating problems. Additionally, dust accumulation can trigger unexpected shutdowns. Make sure all fans are functioning correctly. I’ve also had to reapply thermal paste to a GPU that was two years old; it appears the packaging wasn’t sealed properly (per ASUS). Run the command `SFC /scannow` via the command line or terminal when connected to the internet, and observe any issues that arise.
Consider testing options such as "SFC /scannow" and selective boot to determine if the issue can be resolved. Also examine thermals since components often behave strangely when overheated. For example, I experienced a network card dropping packets or a video card displaying artifacts or color shifts—like a failure in red pixels. I’ll wait before refreshing Windows 10/11 until I try some Windows fixes, such as using CHKDSK and booting into MEMTEST.
The memory usage looks typical, and your PC also uses about 16GB when launching a game—Windows just starts allocating space without using it. It seems no new software was installed besides MSFS, and there were no automatic driver updates. You might want to try ISLC for potential crashes, though it won’t solve the underlying issue. Check task manager to confirm it’s running properly.