Memory Tweaks and Why They Ask How Much RAM You Have
The RAM page under Hardware offers different tuning depending on how much memory you have. That is not a gimmick, it is the whole point.
Why size matters
Pick the one that matches your PC
There are separate options for eight, sixteen and thirty two gigabyte systems. Check the Specs page if you are not sure what you have, and pick the closest match rather than the largest.
What they change
- Whether Windows compresses memory to fit more in, which costs processor time
- How much is kept cached for quick access
- How aggressively background programs are allowed to hold memory
If you have eight gigabytes
Be honest about what you are asking of the machine. Memory tuning helps at the margins, and a modern game with a browser open will still run out. This is the one area where the hardware answer is often the real answer.
If games crash with a memory error
Run the Out of Memory repair on the Fixes page. It sets sensible overflow file sizes and is usually the actual fix rather than the memory tweaks.
A note on one deeper option
One of the advanced memory items changes protections that Windows enables by default for security reasons, and it cannot be reverted from within the app. Read the warning on it. If you are not certain, leave it alone.
Related: Gaming fixes, Hardware tweaks.