Check RAM usage the way you already are.

Yes, Task Manager > Performance > Memory is exactly where you need to be. You’re doing it right.

Now, what to look for: Under “Memory” you’ll see a bar showing “In use” vs “Available.” If that in-use number is consistently above 80% while you’re just doing your normal stuff (browser, Spotify, Slack, whatever), you’ll probably benefit from more RAM. Also glance at the “Committed” line — if it’s bigger than your physical RAM, your system is paging to disk, which makes everything slower.

If you want more detail, open Resource Monitor (search for it) and look at the “Hard Faults/sec” graph. If that’s spiking when you’re not doing anything intense, you need more memory.

If your RAM usage is green on the Task Manager bar but you still feel slowdowns, it’s probably not RAM.