If the Steam client is using up too much memory, you can reduce it with just a few clicks. Here’re the steps to reduce Steam RAM usage in Windows 10.
For PC gaming, there is nothing better than the Steam client. After all, not only you can get almost any game but it also provides a single place to manage all your games. Not to mention, the occasional Steam sale is one of the best things.
Whenever you open the Steam client in Windows, it automatically loads a browser component called “Steam Client WebHelper”. This component is responsible for showing all the new games, your game catalog, friends activity, new offers or sale, and other content in Steam. Depending on what the Steam client is showing and doing, there will be multiple Steam Client WebHelper processes at any given time. The more these processes, the higher will be the Steam client RAM usage. So, to reduce Steam’s RAM usage, you have to reduce or eliminate the need for the Steam Client WebHelper process.
Thankfully, the Steam Client has a built-in minimal mode called “Small mode” that drastically reduces the Steam client memory usage. Every time you want Steam to use less memory, all you have to do is launch it in the Small Mode. In this quick and simple post, let me show the steps to reduce Steam’s RAM usage in Windows 10 by enabling the Small Mode feature.
Steps to Reduce Steam’s RAM Usage (Memory Usage)
As I said before, to reduce Steam’s memory usage, you have to launch it in the Small Mode. To do that, we are going to create a new shortcut.
- First, right-click on the desktop.
- Select the “New → Shortcut” option.
- In the blank field, paste the below path. If the install location of Steam is different on your machine, change it accordingly.
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe” -no-browser +open steam://open/minigameslist
- Click “Next” to continue.
- Name the shortcut. You can name it anything you want. In my case, I named it “Steam Lite”.
- Click the “Finish” button.
- You will see the newly created shortcut on the desktop.
- Double-click on the shortcut to launch Steam.
That is all. The Steam client will launch in the lite mode which automatically reduces the RAM usage. If you open the Task Manager and see the RAM usage, you will see the client using a lot less memory.
If you are constantly launching the Small Mode steam client, I recommend you pin the shortcut to your taskbar.
Unlike the regular mode, the Small or Lite mode only shows games in your library. Do keep in mind that in Small Mode, you will not be able to buy new games, browse the steam store, access community, uninstall games, etc. Put simply, anything that requires browser components or extended functionality will not work.
To open the regular steam client, completely exit the Small Mode and launch steam with the regular shortcut in the Start menu.
That is all. I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, check out how to limit Steam download speed.
