Virtual Memory

[amholl]

Why do some apps, such as activity moniter and firefix, take up somuch virtua memory? Is there a way to stop that? Is it bad? BTW, I have 768 MB of RAM and the most intensive thing i do is play jedi academy multiplayer. THX

 

[dmw007]

Why do some apps, such as activity moniter and firefix, take up somuch virtua memory? Is there a way to stop that? Is it bad? BTW, I have 768 MB of RAM and the most intensive thing i do is play jedi academy multiplayer. THX

Why they use so much virtual memory is beyond me. Virtual memory in itself is not a bad thing- it is there to help improve your Mac's performance.

 

[mad jew]

Activity Monitor claims that processes are using up large amounts of Virtual RAM when in fact they may not necessarily be doing so. I wouldn't worry about it personally, it's just the way OSX works.

 

[amholl]

Sounds good. thanks

 

[dmw007]

it's just the way OSX works.

There is usually no need to question Mac OS...it knows what its doing.

Now windows on the other hand...

 

[mad jew]

I suppose a better way of putting it is that OSX allocates Virtual RAM before it is needed (if it ever is needed). I agree, it's a pretty strange system.

There is usually no need to question Mac OS...it knows what its doing.

Now windows on the other hand...

Yeah, good point.

 

[MacsRgr8]

I suppose a better way of putting it is that OSX allocates Virtual RAM before it is needed (if it ever is needed). I agree, it's a pretty strange system.

It even caches the memory used by an app. So, whenever you have used an app that has used up alot of VM and quit it, alot of that RAM has been "reserved" as inactive, so that if you would like to use that app again, it can use that RAM it has accessed before again. This results in faster loading times etc.

 

[bousozoku]

It even caches the memory used by an app. So, whenever you have used an app that has used up alot of VM and quit it, alot of that RAM has been "reserved" as inactive, so that if you would like to use that app again, it can use that RAM it has accessed before again. This results in faster loading times etc.

It would be nice if you could set certain applications as frequently used as a hint to the VM system to release memory for less frequently used applications immediately.

I haven't really found a problem with VM since 10.4.3 but I'm running a dual 800 with 1.5 GB of RAM and free memory is almost always below 500 MB now.

 

[yellow]

Don't forget.. "Free" and "Inactive" should be slapped together and relabeled "Free".

 

[dmw007]

Don't forget.. "Free" and "Inactive" should be slapped together and relabeled "Free".

True, these two terms tend to be easily confused.

 

[bousozoku]

Don't forget.. "Free" and "Inactive" should be slapped together and relabeled "Free".

Inactive perhaps should be labeled "nearly free" "potentially free" "separated" or "could get back together" since it's still preferred memory.

 

[Soulstorm]

It would be nice if you could set certain applications as frequently used as a hint to the VM system to release memory for less frequently used applications immediately.

I haven't really found a problem with VM since 10.4.3 but I'm running a dual 800 with 1.5 GB of RAM and free memory is almost always below 500 MB now.

1)Why? What problems have you had with virtual memory before 10.4.3?
2)Actually, even physical RAM is reallocated when an intense process takes place.

I had worries too, until I tried this thing: On a 1GHz iMac G4 with 768 mbytes RAM I opened unreal tournament 2004, safari, photoshop, and iMovie. I run them simultaneously. I put Safari to download a huge file. Photoshop was left inactive (but still open) I put iMovie to do an export and I played Unreal Tournament 2004. Although the game was sloooooooooooooow, it did run, and I played a whole level of it, even if it performed slow.

When I closed UT2004, I noticed that none of these programs had quit unexpectedly. Every program was still continuing it's process. So, my worries about OS X's memory management were gone. I did that in OS X 10.3.7.

And my personal advice to all who worry about VM: If your machine doesn't quit unexpectedly or hung up, there is absolutely no reason to question OS X's virtual memory management!

 

[bousozoku]

1)Why? What problems have you had with virtual memory before 10.4.3?
2)Actually, even physical RAM is reallocated when an intense process takes place.

I had worries too, until I tried this thing: On a 1GHz iMac G4 with 768 mbytes RAM I opened unreal tournament 2004, safari, photoshop, and iMovie. I run them simultaneously. I put Safari to download a huge file. Photoshop was left inactive (but still open) I put iMovie to do an export and I played Unreal Tournament 2004. Although the game was sloooooooooooooow, it did run, and I played a whole level of it, even if it performed slow.

When I closed UT2004, I noticed that none of these programs had quit unexpectedly. Every program was still continuing it's process. So, my worries about OS X's memory management were gone. I did that in OS X 10.3.7.

And my personal advice to all who worry about VM: If your machine doesn't quit unexpectedly or hung up, there is absolutely no reason to question OS X's virtual memory management!

Mac OS X's VM system has been problematic from the start. It took quite a long time for them to get it right.

Anyway, what problems did I have?

• System stuttered from 10.4 through 10.4.2. Page prediction pre-load/re-load was not working right.
• Since 10.3.6 VM would suck up all free RAM for no apparent reason and the system would grind to a slow halt.

It's not that I cared but I have this thing about using my system. With 1.5 GB of RAM and using very little of it, I never expected that I'd run out of memory because the VM had a memory leak that was introduced with 10.3.6. It actually seemed to be much better with 10.3.9. Then, I switched to 10.4 and that sometimes made the system unusable. It was almost as if I had a single-tasking system because trying to use it with multiple applications was problematic. The system would seemingly lock up for 30 seconds at a time trying to figure out what to load and then, loading it, only to find that it wasn't enough. 10.4.3 finally fixed that completely and I've no more bad words for the VM system in Mac OS X.

 

[yellow]

Inactive perhaps should be labeled "nearly free" "potentially free" "separated" or "could get back together" since it's still preferred memory.

Touche <-- accented

You are very correct (and funny). But for all intents and purposes (or for those idiots out there.. intensive purposes)..

 

[mkrishnan]

Touche <-- accented

Come on, Option-e + e. You can do it. You're better than that.

Touché.

Oh, snap.

 

[yellow]

Come on, Option-e + e. You can do it. You're better than that.

Touché.

Oh, snap.

Not on a Windows XP box, smartguy.

 

[mkrishnan]

Not on a Windows XP box, smartguy.

XP? Now I know you're better than *that*.

*le sigh* I used to know how to do it in Windows, but I don't remember at the moment.

I guess I just got served.

 

[yellow]

XP? Now I know you're better than *that*.

Unfortunately.. Active Directory and Blackberry are my bosses this morning..