Oh look it is another RAM thread about ML optimizations...

[Valkyre]

Hello,

I have an imac late model 2009 with 8gb RAM that is currently running Snow Leopard

and I have a Macbook Pro Retina with 8gb RAM running Mountain Lion.

The difference between the 2 operating systems in terms of memory usage and optimization is HUGE to say the least...

I have to really try to get my iMac to use 4gb RAM in Snow Leopard. In Mountain Lion it is just a piece of cake...

This is -as many have said- stupid. I can understand that ML is a more advanced operating system that would require to allocate some more RAM for various tasks, but having safari web content use 2gb of RAM is downright retarded and unecessary.

My question is this. Since I havent been monitoring the way apple handles memory optimizations, can we expect something in the forseeable future with an update to address this issue?

Can we expect apple to optimize mountain lion memory usage and fix certain apps that really have gone overboard (safari etc)?

Thanks for your time.

 

[treichert]

In Mountain Lion it is just a piece of cake...

This is -as many have said- stupid.

Nope, it's smart. RAM is there to be used.

I have to really try to get my iMac to use 4gb RAM in Snow Leopard.

Snow Leopard not using your RAM is smart?

 

[Valkyre]

Nope, it's smart. RAM is there to be used.




Snow Leopard not using your RAM is smart?

Are you honestly suggesting that Safari using 2GB of ram that never releases after quitting the application (it actually leaks) is "smart"?

Really?

Or the supposed "inactive memory will be released when needed" which results in page outs and slow performance, when you have like 3gb of inactive memory sitting there smiling at you?

Sorry but that aint smart or "working as intended".

 

[benwiggy]

Mountain Lion is designed to use as much RAM as it needs. There's no point being frugal with RAM when you've got loads. And there's no point buying RAM just to have it Free.

However, your problem doesn't sound like normal behaviour. Have you got the latest version of Safari? Have you tested the problem in a brand new user account?
Safari and Safari WebContent processes barely use 1Gb combined on my Mac, and the memory is released when I quit.

Can you describe a bit more how Safari holds onto RAM after it quits, exactly?

 

[TPadden]

Nope, it's smart. RAM is there to be use.

Right up to the point where it crashes . My MBA w/ 4gb never crashed w/SL, now crashes about every other day. Seems to be slightly less frequent with. 2 though .......

 

[Valkyre]

Mountain Lion is designed to use as much RAM as it needs. There's no point being frugal with RAM when you've got loads. And there's no point buying RAM just to have it Free.

However, your problem doesn't sound like normal behaviour. Have you got the latest version of Safari? Have you tested the problem in a brand new user account?
Safari and Safari WebContent processes barely use 1Gb combined on my Mac, and the memory is released when I quit.

Can you describe a bit more how Safari holds onto RAM after it quits, exactly?

My problem is not so much Safari oriented, although I have seen safari climbing up to 2gb (15 tabs open for work). When I quit the application I am not getting back the 2gb I was supposed to be getting.

Now someone is going to say that this isnt true, since a lot of those 2gb becomes inactive and stays there until you need it again. And I would be fine with that really.

But why oh why do I find myself quite often having a huge chunk of inactive memory (3+ gb) and my computer starts paging out?? This isnt right.... this is not working as it was supposed to work.

Inactive memory is not freed up when you need it, instead you start paging like crazy and it makes no sense at all.

So I am asking whether we can expect Apple to make further optimizations or not? What do you guys think?

 

[benwiggy]

But why oh why do I find myself quite often having a huge chunk of inactive memory (3+ gb) and my computer starts paging out?? This isnt right.... this is not working as it was supposed to work.

You're assuming that OS X is always supposed to free up Inactive memory, rather than page out. For all I know, there may be some benefit in doing a bit of paging before releasing the Inactive Memory.

Are you actually experiencing any problems? Is anything becoming unbearably slow?
In other words, are you just looking at Activity Monitor too much...?

There are applications that claim to "clean" your memory. (All they do is purge Inactive Memory.) If you want to get involved in memory management, then you can run one of those whenever you don't like OS X's methods.
There is also a command line method of doing the same thing. (Might need Xcode). So you could create a LaunchDaemon to run the command every now and then.

 

[negativzero]

Having inactive RAM isn't necessarily a bad thing. Modern OSes are designed to continuously cache your applications and manage the memory. If you close for example Safari, it still remains in your RAM so that if you ever need to open Safari again, it does not need to read from disk which can be slow. The only time memory is flushed is if you ever flush it by yourself, or if there is another program which requires more ram than your "free ram" can provide.

So having little "free ram" isn't a bad thing. Your computer will continuously exchange old data with new data so that it is always working at peak performance.

----------

You're assuming that OS X is always supposed to free up Inactive memory, rather than page out. For all I know, there may be some benefit in doing a bit of paging before releasing the Inactive Memory.

Are you actually experiencing any problems? Is anything becoming unbearably slow?
In other words, are you just looking at Activity Monitor too much...?

There are applications that claim to "clean" your memory. (All they do is purge Inactive Memory.) If you want to get involved in memory management, then you can run one of those whenever you don't like OS X's methods.
There is also a command line method of doing the same thing. (Might need Xcode). So you could create a LaunchDaemon to run the command every now and then.

Paging should only occur when you are running out of memory on a modern system or if you're performing a task which requires all your cores running simultaneously at full load. Otherwise if you're paging out, its not normal.

 

[Krazy Bill]

Are you honestly suggesting that Safari using 2GB of ram that never releases after quitting the application (it actually leaks) is "smart"?

Must be some bad porn. I've never experienced this in Safari.