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Is there any Terminal Command that will test how my RAM is running?

Does anyone know how I can test my RAM efficiency? Because i just upgraded my MacBook Pro 13 inch (Mid 2009) from 4GB of RAM to 8GB of RAM and I'm not really telling any difference..

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 9, 2012 8:49 PM

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4 replies

Dec 9, 2012 8:54 PM in response to trludt

What do you expect? If you don't need to use more than 4 GBs of RAM, then there would not be any noticeable difference.


Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently. It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster. What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent. It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.

Dec 9, 2012 9:02 PM in response to trludt

Without knowing what you do, what software is running concurrently, I can't say. But here's some things that may help you. They are a little technical:


About OS X Memory Management and Usage


Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory & determine how much RAM is used

Memory Management in Mac OS X

Performance Guidelines- Memory Management in Mac OS X

A detailed look at memory usage in OS X


Understanding top output in the Terminal


The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.

Is there any Terminal Command that will test how my RAM is running?

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