Jason Sheen
Level 2 (284 points)
Desktops

Q: RAM usage is full on a Mac Pro (early 2009) - suggestions?

I have a Mac Pro (early 2009) with 2.66 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon.  I have 8 GB of Memory (1066 Mhz DDR3 ECC - 2 GB in all 4 slots).

 

Right now, I'm running Photos, iTunes, Safari and my Memory only shows 30 MB available.  when I quit, iTunes and Photos - it only shows 1.42 GB available.

 

Question is - do I need to max out to 16 GB of RAM?  Or is there some other method to stop the usage of RAM?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 8 GB RAM

Posted on Sep 29, 2015 5:49 AM

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Jason Sheen

Q: RAM usage is full on a Mac Pro (early 2009) - suggestions?

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 4, 2015 6:39 AM in response to Jason Sheen
    Level 9 (61,115 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 4, 2015 6:39 AM in response to Jason Sheen

    When using Mavericks and later, your Real memory is kept nearly full by design. Empty memory is of no value -- available memory is the requirement.

     

    With 8GB available, you should find that a lot of your memory is filled with an item called "cache". This is cached copies of previously-read data from disk, in hopes that you will need it again soon, and can get it directly from cache without an additional Disk Access. Cache has the attribute that is can be released Instantly when there is a request for program memory.

     

    This comprehensive article on Activity Monitor has a substantial section on the Memory presentation:

     

    Use Activity Monitor on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    The movie version is that as long as the graph is all green, you have enough real RAM. Also check the PageOuts counter (which is a High-water-mark type of counter) that is only reset to zero at startup.

  • by PanoCropViewer,

    PanoCropViewer PanoCropViewer Oct 3, 2015 3:06 PM in response to Jason Sheen
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 3:06 PM in response to Jason Sheen

    I was planning to submit my app PanoCropViewer to Mac App Store,

    But suspending it. 2 Reasons

    1. unable to load load an image larger than 22k by 22k

        (i can animate image of size greater 1000 megapixels but missing first 10 seconds)

    2. Safari Copy and Paste to my App,  Failed my own test.

        (unable to paste image greater 100 megapixels)

     

    Discover that Safari use twice much RAM as Chrome to open a grand canyon 230 Megapixels Image.

    (it hang sometime because of RAM swap)

    my machine: Mac Mini (late 2014) 4G RAM 1.5G shared,  means i have 3G free RAM to load an image.

    Use Chrome to load the same image, it took less than 2G of RAM.

     

    USE CHROME, for now.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 3, 2015 3:06 PM in response to Jason Sheen
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 3, 2015 3:06 PM in response to Jason Sheen

    Ignore any efforts to have you use Chrome, it's junk.

  • by PanoCropViewer,

    PanoCropViewer PanoCropViewer Oct 3, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Csound1

    Define JUNK!

     

    Remember:   DO NO EVILS,  was google 's Motto

    I think they are,  one of biggest evils in the world.

     

    I am not pimping for google!

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 3, 2015 3:54 PM in response to PanoCropViewer
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 3, 2015 3:54 PM in response to PanoCropViewer

    Do not tell me what I should do.

  • by PanoCropViewer,

    PanoCropViewer PanoCropViewer Oct 3, 2015 4:03 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:03 PM in response to Csound1

    I am responding to Mr. Jason Sheen.

    NOT YOU SIR !

     

    You are the one, who tell the other what to do,

     

    NOT ME.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 3, 2015 4:07 PM in response to PanoCropViewer
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 3, 2015 4:07 PM in response to PanoCropViewer

    If you are not replying to me, why would you address it to me?

     

    Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 18.04.24.png

     

    Or do you just write it out and figure out who it's too later?

     

    Chrome is junk.

  • by PanoCropViewer,

    PanoCropViewer PanoCropViewer Oct 3, 2015 4:13 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:13 PM in response to Csound1

    I am responding to Mr Jason.

     

    Is it being a gentleman, like you sir, not to jump in.

     

    And you did.

     

    Are you a gentleman ?

     

    at least a gentleman, will explain what it means, by junk?