Memory Usage Rise upon addition of RAM

[fallenangel]

Hello everyone,

I recently added 2.0GB DDR3 RAM to my system (now it's 4.0GB). Before this addition, memory usage in the Task Manager did not exceed 1GB (around 800 - 1000 MB). After putting on this additional RAM, the memory usage seemed to rise to around 1.3 - 1.5 GB without any programs manually started (right after startup). Is this normal or expected?

This is a brand new system and I'm a newbie by the way.

i7 930
2.0GB OCZ DDR3 RAM (x2)
1TB HD
ATI Radeon 5770

 

[Lmeow]

Should be normal, as your system has more RAM available to use - previously your PC did not have enough RAM.

FYI, you should be running triple channel, i.e., in your case, three sticks of 2 GB modules.

 

[fallenangel]

Does it mean that more programs are running based on the rise in memory usage?

Yes, I've heard triple-channel is better and I'm going to add one more stick soon. I don't have the budget as of the moment.
Can you explain to me why this is better or refer to me a link explaining the advantages of triple-channel over dual-channel?

 

[fallenangel]

Best answer selected by fallenangel.

 

[Lmeow]

I don't think more programs are running, just the programs that you currently are running or have had running are using more memory.

Triple channel doesn't offer very much performance boost, not noticeable-wise anyway. It's just preferred to be seen as a way of being able to run more memory than dual channel boards which typically only have four slots, 16 GB max while triple channel boards (X58 chipset-based boards anyway) have six slots and can run max 24 GB.

If it's not currently within your budget I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[fallenangel]

Thank you so much, Lmeow! Much appreciated. It's quite a relief to know this since I was worried that this isn't normal behavior.

 

[JDFan]

Also the increase in memory usage is probably Windows Superfetch loading more things into memory on startup in case they are needed !

 

[fallenangel]

Thanks, JDFan! Will do research on that and thank you for the link too!