Would more RAM help

Dick_Cooper · October 30, 2018, 2:46pm

Help please for a non-technical person. I am having problems with memory when running Roon on my small PC.
My problems are that my browser “runs out of memory” and some programs won’t load. Ctrl-Alt-Del shows that Roon is using a lot of memory. Is this RAM? (I have 4GB). Would installing more RAM help ? I believe that I could install another 8GB.

Janne_Johansson · October 30, 2018, 3:10pm

Memory is same as RAM and I believe more memory would help. Not only with Roon but in general.

evand · October 30, 2018, 3:43pm

Agreed, 4GB is inadequate formost things these days, even OS… especially if running Windows.

ged_hickman1 · October 30, 2018, 4:01pm

If you are non technical you may need to check on the memory type. (RAM is Random Access Memory)

Dick_Cooper · October 30, 2018, 4:14pm

And how,Ged, do I do that ?

ged_hickman1 · October 30, 2018, 4:20pm

If you are capable of taking the pc case off read the numbers off the memory and post them and a picture up here someone will help. (Use the web to see what memory looks like)
https://goo.gl/images/UM7H6K
If not then get a PC person.

Carl · October 30, 2018, 4:27pm

Some memory supplier websites can scan your PC to identify what is installed and what upgrade options are available … for example http://www.crucial.com/

Dick_Cooper · October 30, 2018, 5:00pm

Thanks Carl. The Crucial scan has confirmed what I believed: there is 4GB of RAM in one slot, leaving the other slot free for an upgrade - maybe 8GB. The hard drive is practically empty.

anon55914447 · October 30, 2018, 5:03pm

I would try and look at the root cause of the browser out of memory messages before upgrading. Although 4GB is a little low these days, it shouldn’t be throwing up error messages like that under normal circumstances.

Have you got a local PC-savvy buddy that can take a look to make sure everything is running correctly on your PC and that you don’t have malware or other unwanted software running?

Dick_Cooper · October 30, 2018, 5:08pm

Thanks Mark. I run Superantispyware and Malwarebytes regularly. Is there something else you would recommend? It seems to me that these errors have only occurred since the most recent Windows 10 update. Is that plausible ?

anon55914447 · October 30, 2018, 5:10pm

I think Malwarebytes is highly reputable. I certainly wouldn’t put it past being the last MS patch. That’s caused a number of issues.

What’s your browser of choice?

Dick_Cooper · October 30, 2018, 5:11pm

I am using Opera. I tried Firefox again this afternoon, but it used even more memory than Opera.

Dan_Brown · October 31, 2018, 12:30am

When putting memory in 2 slots, you need to balance it so the same amount is in each slot. So… you can put another 4GB in slot 2, to give you a total of 8GB.
You can remove the 4GB in slot 1 and replace it with 8GB. Or… you can remove the 4GB and put 8GB in each slot to give 16GB.

What you can’t do is put 4GB in one slot and 8GB in the other.

Hope that makes sense.

Dick_Cooper · October 31, 2018, 7:24am

Thanks Dan. That is very helpful.

Santos_Sanabria · November 6, 2018, 3:48am

I had problems with fonts and other interface issues. I had to upgrade to 64bit Windows in order to increase the RAM from 4GB to 8GB. With 32bit Windows the computer could only “see” 4GB, which in practice is less than that due to some reservations. All problems were solved permanently by the Windows upgrade and now several applications can run simultaneously with ROON without hiccup. I’m very happy that my old i3 processor and PC are good enough for my HT PC which is 7 years old.

Mac_Rebant · November 7, 2018, 3:01am

I first installed Roon core on my older laptop with 4GB of RAM and a hard drive, and the software was very laggy and unresponsive. I also had memory issues with browsers.
I recently purchased a new laptop with SSD / 16GB of memory and the Roon software is extremely fast and responsive. And no more memory issues with browsers, even with Roon running and scanning at the same time. I believe the solid state drive also makes a big difference.

I’m very sure installing more memory will be an improvement for you.

Dick_Cooper · November 7, 2018, 6:24am

Thanks Mac. I will try the RAM first, then SSD if that doesn’t work.

Dick_Cooper · December 20, 2018, 4:35pm

I have now installed 16GB of RAM but things are no better. I can run Roon OR a browser but not both. Task Manager shows that the 2 together aren’t even running a total of 1 GB of memory. Any bright ideas ?

Dick_Cooper · December 20, 2018, 4:56pm

Just to elaborate. I can play the exact same music through Sonos and still use a browser. Ideally I would like 2 answers:

Can I reduce Roon’s RAM usage (I suspect not)
How can I persuade my Windows 10 PC to use ALL its lovely new RAM ?

Anthony_B · December 20, 2018, 5:09pm

Roon really does need an SSD for the Core.