RAM drift?

[rockinrocker]

since i updated to the newest version of istat meters i've had the ram usage meter open and it's kind of weird, but it seems like when i leave the system booted for a few days the meter shows about 50% usage, even when i don't have any apps running.

anybody know what the deal is? i mean, i know dashboard doesn't open after a boot up until it's F12'd, but that causes a pretty small jump....

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

The system caches a lot of information into your ram in order for the system to work faster (info for faster launch of apps and so on). Think about this: your computer doesn't work faster with more free ram

 

[rockinrocker]

so it' normal for more ram to be eaten up by system caches?
and a reboot will typically empty these?

the main reason i'm asking in the first place is that i occasionally use my macbook for recording, and need all the ram i can get when i do, so if all i need to do to free up as much as i can is reboot, that i'd probably start doing that....

 

[kaiwai]

so it' normal for more ram to be eaten up by system caches?
and a reboot will typically empty these?

the main reason i'm asking in the first place is that i occasionally use my macbook for recording, and need all the ram i can get when i do, so if all i need to do to free up as much as i can is reboot, that i'd probably start doing that....

Yes, it'll automatically flush them as you need the extra memory. No need to get paranoid about it.

 

[rockinrocker]

ha, not paranoid, just tryen' to learn.

so a reboot isn't really necessary, as these caches get flushed automatically if the rams needed elsewhere?

thanks.

 

[kaiwai]

ha, not paranoid, just tryen' to learn.

so a reboot isn't really necessary, as these caches get flushed automatically if the rams needed elsewhere?

thanks.

Yeap, basically, the caches also buffer your hard disk, its is loaded into virtual memory which is buffered, so indirectly your application is loaded into memory. Hence, its a virtual memory operating system.