Tiger Vs. Panther...memory usage (where did my 1 gig ram go?)

aplnubaplnub
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I have noticed that using the activity monitor, my memory usage since the Tiger install leaves only 200 - 300 meg of ram free. In Panther I would have 500+ free no problem.



Does Tiger approach ram usage differently than Panther? It would make more sense to have all your ram being used rather than not but I bet there are a million ways to look at this.



I have a 20" iMac G5 with 1 gig ram (2 x 512). I don't have any problems running any application but this makes me wonder if I need to swap a 512 stick out for a 1 gig stick to up the ram a bit.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aplnub

    I have noticed that using the activity monitor, my memory usage since the Tiger install leaves only 200 - 300 meg of ram free. In Panther I would have 500+ free no problem.



    Does Tiger approach ram usage differently than Panther? It would make more sense to have all your ram being used rather than not but I bet there are a million ways to look at this.



    I have a 20" iMac G5 with 1 gig ram (2 x 512). I don't have any problems running any application but this makes me wonder if I need to swap a 512 stick out for a 1 gig stick to up the ram a bit.



    How many Dashboard Widgets do you have running?
  • Reply 2 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    5



    I have 5 that show up on the desktop when you click the dashboard icon on the dock.



    My 12" iBook 1.2 ghz with 1.25 gig ram shows 850 - 900 meg free.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    zenatekzenatek Posts: 203member
    I am still running panther, well till tomorrow *crosses fingers* and I have the same machine as you with 2x512 and it says 248mb free memory. So the same your claiming in Tiger.



    All I have open is Safari, iChat, and Activity Monitor.



    I believe its because if the memory is there, why not use it?
  • Reply 4 of 9
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    How do you turn off Dashboard, it's a cute toy but useless.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    The more stuff cached in memory, the quicker your machine should run... memory usage is good.



    Dashboard doesn't use any CPU when in the background if you have no widgets open. Also, given how OS X allocates memory, dashboard isn't robbing your other apps of memory if you never access it. The only penalty is a relatively miniscule ammount of physical ram and some virtual memory.



    Not that I would discourage turning it off, only that there is little bennefit from doing so. Since it auto-relaunches upon being killed, i'm unsure how to force it to stay dead...



    [edited for correctness ]
  • Reply 6 of 9
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Ok, that makes sense. I closed all my widgets, Dashboard will be something I'll use to impress the Windows users but will have little use in my day-to-day computer needs.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    So I installed my 1 gig ram stick today. Such a breeze minus the pressure needed to shove it in. That was a little stressfull.



    Now that I have 1.5 gig ram installed, I installed the new stick in the bottom slot FYI, I have more programs open (Mail 2.0, iCal, iTunes, Safari, 5 widgets running) and according to the Activity Monitor I still have ~1.03 free. That means that I am using less than before? Does the VM increase and offset this with more ram? How can one explain this?





    Quote:

    Originally posted by aplnub

    I have noticed that using the activity monitor, my memory usage since the Tiger install leaves only 200 - 300 meg of ram free. In Panther I would have 500+ free no problem.



    Does Tiger approach ram usage differently than Panther? It would make more sense to have all your ram being used rather than not but I bet there are a million ways to look at this.



    I have a 20" iMac G5 with 1 gig ram (2 x 512). I don't have any problems running any application but this makes me wonder if I need to swap a 512 stick out for a 1 gig stick to up the ram a bit.



  • Reply 8 of 9
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    The longer your computer runs, the more stuff that gets loaded into memory at one point or another. It makes sense to cache this stuff in case you decide to use it again. If this guess is wrong, the memory can be turned over when requested by some other process.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    The longer your computer runs, the more stuff that gets loaded into memory at one point or another. It makes sense to cache this stuff in case you decide to use it again. If this guess is wrong, the memory can be turned over when requested by some other process.



    I harldy ever restart my iMac. In fact, I just don't unless I have too. So in a few days, I will let you know what I find out.
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