Microsoft Says Windows 11 Now Runs Faster on 8GB RAM PCs

Microsoft has announced a set of optimizations for Windows 11 that it says improve performance on PCs equipped with 8GB of system RAM. According to the company, affected systems can now be up to 20% more responsive during everyday tasks and up to 40% faster at multitasking.

The changes arrive with Windows 11 version 26H2, build 26300.9818 or later, as reported by TechPowerUp. Microsoft frames the update as part of an earlier commitment to raise the quality and performance of Windows 11, and both Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp link the effort to an ongoing global shortage of PC components that has pushed manufacturers toward lower-specification machines.

Microsoft says it took a three-part approach to memory optimization: using memory more efficiently, protecting interactions that need to feel immediate, and reducing how much memory core apps and Windows itself consume. A central change is keeping more active application data in RAM rather than offloading it to slower SSD or HDD storage. On 8GB systems, the operating system can now retain up to 2GB more of a user's active data in memory.