Windows 11 26H2 Reportedly Cuts RAM Usage by Up to 2GB, But the Story is Different for 8GB RAM PCs

Earlier this week, Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 26H2 to eligible PCs. In case you haven’t updated yet, you can check our guide to download and install the 2026 update. Moving on, user reports regarding Windows 11 26H2 have started to come up. A new report now suggests that the latest update could bring a noticeable reduction in RAM usage on some systems. However, the results are far from universal, with some users reporting little or no change after upgrading.

Windows 11 26H2 appears to handle memory more efficiently

One of the examples comes from @SoyITPro on X, who shared a screenshot showing Windows 11’s memory usage dropping from 9.1GB on 25H2 to 7.5GB on 26H2. That’s a reduction of around 1.6GB after installing the new version.

Another Reddit report cited by Wccftech claims that some systems can see memory usage reductions of up to 2GB following the upgrade. However, the available examples suggest that the benefit may depend heavily on the amount of RAM installed in the PC. The user noted, “Before the Update, the On Boot RAM utilization was around 6.9GB (nice!), and after the update it is around 4.8-5GB. I guess there is some RAM utilization improvement after all!”

For example, the system used by @SoyITPro has 32GB of RAM, while another reported test involved a PC with 48GB. Meanwhile, an 8GB system reportedly showed no improvement after moving to Windows 11 26H2. That means it’s too early to say that Windows 11 26H2 universally reduces RAM consumption. In fact, Microsoft’s promise of optimizing Windows 11 for 8GB RAM PCs doesn’t seem to be the case, at least according to initial reports.

Microsoft could still have more optimization work to do

The early reports are interesting because Microsoft has been working on improving Windows 11’s memory efficiency, but the current user feedback points to different results across different hardware configurations. So, we expect the company lives up to its promise to optimize OS for systems with standard RAM. Windows 11 26H2 is available to eligible 24H2 and 25H2 systems, with KB5121794 serving as the enablement package for supported installations. If you are looking for USB installations, don’t forget that Microsoft has released official ISOs for AMD 64 and Arm64 systems.

For now, the reported 1.6GB to 2GB reductions should be treated as individual user results rather than a guaranteed improvement for every Windows 11 PC. As we learn more from users across the globe, we’ll report more on this later.

Have you already updated to Windows 11 26H2? Have you noticed any improvement in memory usage? Let us know in the comments below.