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Does installing more RAM make my PBook faster?

post #1 of 15
6/8/05 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not stupid, but asking this question makes me feel like it, lol. I just want to make sure before I go and buy new RAM. As of now I have a 15 inch 1Ghz G4 with 512MB of RAM. I pretty much use my Powerbook for just browsing and usual stuff, downloading porn, Adium, Mail, etc, what have you. In my SysStat widget it says I'm currently using 504MB out of my 512. But it also says "Inactive - 130MB". What does that mean exactly? Is that inactive because I just don't need it? Would my apps use more memory and go faster if I had more of it? I also assume I might need more of it eventually, for 10.5. Is that correct? Thanks for any help you guys can give me on this.
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post #2 of 15
6/8/05 at 11:15pm
Yes, your applications will take advantage of it, if you had more memory.

A 1GHZ G4 Powerbook is a very nice and capable machine. You'll make it sing even more, if you increase the memory! No, you did not list particularly intensive tasks, but you will still notice a difference, if you upgrade the memory.
*Powerbook G4 12" - 1.5 GHZ
*iMac Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ (Mid 2007), *Apple 20-inch Cinema Display (Aluminium)
*iPhone 4S, Airport Extreme (2011) *MacBook Air 11-inch (Late 2010)
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*Powerbook G4 12" - 1.5 GHZ
*iMac Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ (Mid 2007), *Apple 20-inch Cinema Display (Aluminium)
*iPhone 4S, Airport Extreme (2011) *MacBook Air 11-inch (Late 2010)
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post #3 of 15
6/9/05 at 11:33am
Does drinking a lot of beer get you drunk?
MacBook Pro 15" (Unibody)/2.4GHz Core 2 Duo/2 GB RAM/250GB HD/SuperDrive
iMac 20"/2 GHz Core 2 Duo/2 GB RAM/250 GB/SuperDrive
PowerBook G4 12"/1 GHz/1.25 GB RAM/60GB/Combo
iMac G3 333 MHz/96 MB...

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MacBook Pro 15" (Unibody)/2.4GHz Core 2 Duo/2 GB RAM/250GB HD/SuperDrive
iMac 20"/2 GHz Core 2 Duo/2 GB RAM/250 GB/SuperDrive
PowerBook G4 12"/1 GHz/1.25 GB RAM/60GB/Combo
iMac G3 333 MHz/96 MB...

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post #4 of 15
6/9/05 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by DanMacMan
Does drinking a lot of beer get you drunk?

No need to be an asshole.
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post #5 of 15
6/9/05 at 11:49am
I have one GB of memory in all my Macs, and I think it's a good amount of RAM for most tasks.

Mac OS X is ram greedy. BTW it seems, that going further than 2,5 GB do not bring a lot.
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post #6 of 15
6/9/05 at 12:07pm
Do you get the spinning pinwheel / rotating pizza cursor often? Upgrading your RAM could reduce the times you see it.
|Keot|#mtuk|GoogleTalk|Keot.co.uk|
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|Keot|#mtuk|GoogleTalk|Keot.co.uk|
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post #7 of 15
6/9/05 at 12:17pm
Are you getting a lot of pageouts? To see, open Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor and check the System Memory tab. Look at "Page ins/outs". If there are very few pageouts, then you don't need any more memory.

The amount of RAM "being used" has NOTHING to do with whether you "need" more RAM or not. This is because the Mach kernel will try and use as much RAM as you give it - 90% of RAM in use is a good thing, not a bad thing, and means that Mach is performing as it is supposed to.

Now theoretically, if you added more RAM, then Mach could use that to cache even more stuff, but if you aren't getting pageouts the difference would be minimal.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #8 of 15
6/9/05 at 12:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by lundy
Are you getting a lot of pageouts? To see, open Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor and check the System Memory tab. Look at "Page ins/outs". If there are very few pageouts, then you don't need any more memory.

The amount of RAM "being used" has NOTHING to do with whether you "need" more RAM or not. This is because the Mach kernel will try and use as much RAM as you give it - 90% of RAM in use is a good thing, not a bad thing, and means that Mach is performing as it is supposed to.

Now theoretically, if you added more RAM, then Mach could use that to cache even more stuff, but if you aren't getting pageouts the difference would be minimal.

My pageouts are around 7000 right now. I'm assuming that's bad.
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post #9 of 15
6/9/05 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally posted by spyder
My pageouts are around 7000 right now. I'm assuming that's bad.

I have 90364 pageouts on my 1.67 PB with 1.5 GB RAM and inclreasing by the minute.

And I ain't doing shit. WTF? Azureus?

--B
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post #10 of 15
6/9/05 at 2:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by bergz
I have 90364 pageouts on my 1.67 PB with 1.5 GB RAM and inclreasing by the minute.

And I ain't doing shit. WTF? Azureus?

--B

Az does get a little beastly sometimes. I use Bits On Wheels, smooth and clean.
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post #11 of 15
6/9/05 at 11:59pm
My page in/outs says 25388/0
with 512 MB installed.

That's...not much :-)

How can you have so many page-outs with 1.5 GB internal memory?
Doing intensive video/3d work?
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post #12 of 15
6/10/05 at 6:22am
Quote:
Originally posted by dacloo
My page in/outs says 25388/0
with 512 MB installed.

That's...not much :-)

How can you have so many page-outs with 1.5 GB internal memory?
Doing intensive video/3d work?

Left Azureus on last night shutting down most everything else. 4000 pageouts. I've tried Bits on Wheels, Tomato, etc. and Azureus is the one that works the best. Only problem is it really slows shit down. Makes my new machine feel not so new.

--B
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post #13 of 15
6/13/05 at 7:26am
Quote:
Originally posted by dacloo
My page in/outs says 25388/0
with 512 MB installed.

That's...not much :-)

How can you have so many page-outs with 1.5 GB internal memory?
Doing intensive video/3d work?

Not necessarily. If you leave your machine without reboot for many days and you run simultaneously many applications and/or have more than one users doing the same, expect many page-outs as the systems hogs all the available memory and asks for more. But you can eat all the available memory with only one heavy application opening huge files (or with some app leaking memory).

My count (ins/outs) is 2963157/2433177 for 640 MB RAM, but the system is up and running for 39 days now with three users non-stop.
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post #14 of 15
6/13/05 at 11:02am
Quote:
Originally posted by bergz
I have 90364 pageouts on my 1.67 PB with 1.5 GB RAM and inclreasing by the minute.

And I ain't doing shit. WTF? Azureus?

--B

Memory leak (bug) in one of your apps.

You'll have to narrow it down.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #15 of 15
6/13/05 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally posted by spyder
My pageouts are around 7000 right now. I'm assuming that's bad.

Not really. That small amount could be just "hiwater mark", i.e. one app asked for a lot of memory once, and gave it back.

The crucial thing is pageouts that are steadily increasing - or in the hundreds of thousands range.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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