Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Originally Posted By: rharv

Task Manager has a Performance tab that will easily show you whether your RAM is getting taxed or not, and it comes built in with Windows. Right-click in the task bar and take a look.
If your RAM is at 90% or more, may want to think about it .. if your hard drive starts stressing when the RAM gets tight you definitely want to think about increasing RAM (the swap file is working hard to keep RAM supplied, meaning RAM is now offloading and reloading data from the drive which slows everything down).

A quick way to check where any bottlenecks are happening is the free Task Manager in Windows.
It will also show which processes are eating up the RAM or processor very quickly, so a good tool to know about.


I did not know that. Thanks. With my 16GB, my memory shows 41% with essential nothing running other than Chrome to type this message. I can't wait to see the value when I load up Reaper with a selection of NI orchestral libraies.


30-40% is normal. Like I said, if you start pushing 90% or so you may want to deal with it.
Glad I learned someone something today. That's always a good feeling. smile
I am at 32% normally (just browsing) and it will jump a little with the DAW running .. I doubt a test comparing RAM while just browsing would reveal much; test it with the DAW running and adding some stress before/after, then you'll know if there was value *for you.

If you want to get more in depth with the system, checkout Resource Manager .. it is also free from MS but may require you downloading it so it shows up, depending on your version of Windows
The second image is of current CPU effort running 8 track RB file with a few VST/VSTis .. not much difference, system is not stressed with 16 GB Ram, so far - only at about 30% RAM and nothing else stressing

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