27" 2012 iMac using too much RAM

[zalle]

Hi guys,

My system is a late 2012 27" iMac, 16gb RAM with Sierra 10.12.5, and when I start it up, it's already using 7gb of it... Around 6gb App memory and 1gb wired memory.

My 1TB HDD is almost empty, I only have OSX and a couple more things, I'm using 15% of the HDD. I use external HDD for all my data.

The desktop is uncluttered.

What can I do?
Thanks for any help

 

[09872738]

Well. Nothing.
RAM is there to be used. Empty RAM is like a huuuge, but empty fridge: useless.

It seems everything is as intended.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

1. Sit back.

2. Enjoy

 

[zalle]

ok...

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"My system is a late 2012 27" iMac, 16gb RAM with Sierra 10.12.5, and when I start it up, it's already using 7gb of it... Around 6gb App memory and 1gb wired memory."

I could be mistaken, but that's the way the Mac OS "uses" memory now.

Before "Mavericks" (10.9), the OS used only the memory it "needed" at the moment, and left the rest "free".

Beginning with Mavericks, the memory paradigm changed. The OS now "loads up" just about ALL the memory at boot, and then "shuffles it around" as system requirements change.

That's why it shows so much being "used" -- even if a large portion of it is "unoccupied" (by apps or anything else) at the moment.

It's also why Macs with platter-based hard drives began slowing down so much with the advent of Mavericks -- much more going on with "swap files", etc. SSD's can handle it, but HDD's get "bogged down".

(I welcome correction from others if the above is wrong)

 

[zalle]

So you think an ssd makes a lot of difference memory wise?

 

[Fishrrman]

"So you think an ssd makes a lot of difference memory wise?"

It's not a "matter of memory".
It IS a matter of speed...