Do you know you can specify how much RAM you want a particular app to use on your Windows 10 computer? Whether it’s your browser that starts lagging with dozens of open tabs or a game that just won’t work with streaming music or other programs running in the background, it’s a problem that most of us have faced over the years. So today, we will show you how to allocate more RAM to specific apps in Windows 10 to optimize memory usage in your computer. You will also learn how to increase or reduce RAM cache in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

Typically, Windows does a decent job of deciding how much memory to allocate to each app. However, you can override the default system settings manually and prioritize RAM allocation for specific apps in Windows 10. Here’s how you do it:

  • Method 1: Using Task Manager
  • Method 2: Using Windows Context Menu
  • Method 3: Using App Settings
  • Risks of Allocating Wrong Amount of RAM

Method 1: Using Task Manager

The easiest way to allocate additional memory to any specific application in Windows is by elevating its priority. You can do it easily from the Task Manager by following the steps detailed below:

  • Confirm by clicking on ‘Change Priority’ in the confirmation box.

You can also specify the amount of RAM for each program by using the next method. It works for most apps, but here, we will show you how to set (increase or reduce) RAM cache in Google Chrome.

  • Now in the ‘Shortcut’ tab, find the ‘Target’ field and copy+paste –disk-cache-size=1073741824 at the end of the existing entry. Click on ‘OK’.

The best way to allocate additional RAM to a program (or reduce memory allocation) is to specify the amount from within that app’s settings. However, this method does not work for all apps, and even when it does, the process varies from one program to another. Here, we will show you how to set (increase or reduce) RAM cache in Mozilla Firefox.

  • Now find browser.cache.memory.enable. It should be ‘true’ by default. This means that disk cache is now turned off and memory cache is turned on.

You are unlikely to damage your PC by specifying too much (or too little) RAM to any app. However, it can cause a program to crash or become unusable under certain conditions. The reason for that is what’s called a ‘stack overflow error‘, which happens when the call stack memory is exceeded. Also worth noting is that some applications are coded to use a specific amount of RAM. So you might not see a massive improvement by allocating more memory to those programs.

Allocate More RAM to Specific Apps to Improve System Performance in Windows 10

With consumer PCs starting to ship with insane amounts of RAM, you may not always notice any significant slowdown in performance while using multiple programs and applications at once. However, you must have felt the need to optimize memory usage if you’re using an older computer or an entry-level machine with limited memory.