WHAT IS USEING 80GB OF RAM 2017 IMAC!!!!!!!!!

[Fuchal]

The system can clearly only address 64GB of RAM. Nothing is "using" the other 64GB. It's simply not addressable by the OS. Windows and MacOS are reacting to this differently. Having 64GB of non-addressable memory is not exactly a common use case for testing. I wouldn't expect either to behave perfectly under these conditions.

 

[Stevenyo]

You simply didn't get what I asked. I meant as doing for work on it.

Again, he only actually uses about 20gb at a time, since his machine actually has 64GB of useable ram. Thats a very pedestrian amount of ram to use these days. Could just be a couple dozen hungry browser tabs he leaves open all the time.

 

[jav6454]

fresh off the app store, made a bootable disk before i wiped everything

I'd suggest you wipe everything again and load one program at a time with an one hour lapse between next program installs. See how the Mac behaves. If after an install memory usage jumps, you have your culprit.

 

[thv]

does anyone have any ideas?

As people have repeatedly explained to you, you're free to install your own extra RAM, doesn't mean it will work. If you don't understand that (and based off your actual use) I'm doubting you need the extra RAM anyway...

 

[jdetoy]

iv read and watched all about, from moderators on here and reliable websites. SO lets pretend that it does work and it has been working for around 11 months. that re installing your os would cause this and say my vm is maxed out. i dont know how to adjust it on a mac.

 

[BigMcGuire]

16' MBP M1 Max, 64GB of Ram.

I run a Windows 11 with VS 2022 and dozens of apps - I have it currently set to automatic resource management in Parallels - which gives it 8GB of ram (usually 16GB when I'm working heavy).

And this is what I see:

Today is a very light day (Friday). I'm usually sitting at 30-45GB of memory used and anywhere from 20-40GB of cached.

I run a LOT of apps and several browsers and lots of tabs and can be pretty heavy on Parallels. The above resource allocation is very normal for me and has been this way since I got this laptop earlier this year.

Hope this helps as a reference.

 

[Stevenyo]

iv read and watched all about, from moderators on here and reliable websites. SO lets pretend that it does work and it has been working for around 11 months. that re installing your os would cause this and say my vm is maxed out. i dont know how to adjust it on a mac.

We can pretend all we want, but there’s a physical limitation in the hardware, it’s always been there. Everyone who ever reported 128GB “working” only showed that it shows up as installed, not that it’s actually useable. For some reason, MacOS shows installed but unaddressable RAM as “wired.” I guarantee it’s been this way the whole time since you installed the 128GB kit.

 

[jdetoy]

16' MBP M1 Max, 64GB of Ram.

I run a Windows 11 with VS 2022 and dozens of apps - I have it currently set to automatic resource management in Parallels - which gives it 8GB of ram (usually 16GB when I'm working heavy).

And this is what I see:

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Today is a very light day (Friday). I'm usually sitting at 30-45GB of memory used and anywhere from 20-40GB of cached.

I run a LOT of apps and several browsers and lots of tabs and can be pretty heavy on Parallels. The above resource allocation is very normal for me and has been this way since I got this laptop earlier this year.

Hope this helps as a reference.

thank you

 

[Kris Kelvin]

@jdetoy, you're not the first to run into this problem. See this previous thread.
Up to you to believe it.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

i thought it was time to do a fresh install

Was there a specific reason for this?

 

[neuropsychguy]

9 to 5 mac is only the 4th biggest apple source out there, next i will send you the link to where i bought it for a 2017 imac

You mean this one? https://9to5mac.com/2017/06/21/how-to-upgrade-ram-2017-5k-imac-video/

There are several comments saying it cannot use more than 64GB of RAM. You can install that much RAM but you cannot use that much RAM in that computer.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Here's the test. Take out two of the DIMMs. What happens to Wired Memory? Does it go back to a reasonable level?

 

[trimblet]

An easy way to test the hardware theory is to just pop two of the 32GB sticks out and see what activity monitor says.

 

[SpotOnT]

As others have said, RAM that macos can see but can’t use will be listed as wired. See this yourself by removing 64GB of RAM without changing any software. Watch the wired RAM usage drop.

Edit: Looks like other beat me to the punch!

 

[neuropsychguy]

How to: 27-inch 5K iMac (2019) 128GB RAM Upgrade - Save $$$! - YouTube

That is a 2019 iMac, which can use 128GB of RAM. The 2017 cannot.

 

[btrach144]

That is a 2019 iMac, which can use 128GB of RAM. The 2017 cannot.

OP doesn’t even understand the difference between 2017 and 2019 iMac. Why are people going to extreme lengths to try and make OP realize they’re confused?

 

[saudor]

unrelated but that nvme 970 has broken trim in monterey and higher so it will either slow down over time, die quicker or both.

 

[rafark]

iv read and watched all about, from moderators on here and reliable websites. SO lets pretend that it does work and it has been working for around 11 months. that re installing your os would cause this and say my vm is maxed out. i dont know how to adjust it on a mac.

You can’t have a solution if you’re pretending.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

2017 IMAC did the normal upgrades samsung evo plus 2 tb, qvo 2tb, i7700k 4.2, 128 gb ram. thing has been working great, still is. did the upgrades little under a year ago.Been dual booting windows 11 on a external 256gb nvme m.2. gen 3 i took out of my laptop after i put a 980 pro in it. It was flying through the thunderbolt 3, still is. i thought it was time to do a fresh install of my mac os never did it when i put the new drives in and took of my pictures and the important stuff not much really maybe 25gb of stuff. wiped it all put monterey back on i was already updated all the way before i wiped it. went on vacation , supper busy with work and i had just been windows 11 for like 2 weeks getting caught back up after vacation i haven't even had a chance to download apps and load anything back on. i did notice on m monitor that i only had about half of my ram available when running windows but i had been playing with the virtual memory, and since it was install with wintousb, it thinks it is a pc to go/usb drive anyway i dint think anything of it. But i finally thought i would get it set up. first thing i noticed is that it booted fast but not like it should or was before, but it hadn't been fired up in a while so again didn't think much of it. started downloaded apps playing around getting things set back up. running fine quick but not fast like it should and i noticed on cleanmymacx that like 80gb of the 128 is being used and i have nothing running at all. grabbed another ram monitor, and turned on system monitor and all my ram is being allocated to wired memory and for having no apps open they are still drawing way more than they should. I cant figure out where it is going. all i did was reinstall monterey , the same version even. didn't change anything else. all the samsung drives have the latest firmware not that i think it matters. i haven't even loaded any of the files i had taken off. this thing used to have 8gb of ram now its using up 90gb with less running. TELL ME WHAT I DID PLEASE IM VERY ANNOYED WITH THIS! the pictures and videos should tell the story well.
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I've never seen anything like it.
Anyway, as stated above, i7-7700K can support up to 64 GB of memory.

 

[profcutter]

Here’s an idea: format your internal drive. Install the last version of the OS that you said worked for 11 months. Install nothing else. Once the install is complete, check your ram usage. If we’re right, and it’s a hardware limitation, you should see all the excess ram listed as wired. If we’re wrong, you can paste the screenshot showing all the 100gb of RAM free you have and we can all scratch our heads and try to help you.

 

[jav6454]

unrelated but that nvme 970 has broken trim in monterey and higher so it will either slow down over time, die quicker or both.

Completely unrelated as the SSD is not the fault here.

 

[haddy]

OP doesn’t even understand the difference between 2017 and 2019 iMac. Why are people going to extreme lengths to try and make OP realize they’re confused?

Also in 2017 were 32GB memory modules even available?

 

[Stevenyo]

Also in 2017 were 32GB memory modules available?

Don’t think so.

The Industry's First 32GB DDR4 SODIMM | Samsung Semiconductor Global

The new 32GB DDR4 SoDIMM doubles capacity and increases speed to 2,666Mbps with the reduction in power consumption of up to 39 percent.

semiconductor.samsung.com

Looks like 2018.

Unfortunately the 2017s aren’t like the 2011s, that officially supported only 16GB of RAM from apple but when 8GB SODIMMs came out could handle 32GB total RAM because Sandy Bridge supported 32GB.

 

[btrach144]

Don’t think so.

The Industry's First 32GB DDR4 SODIMM | Samsung Semiconductor Global

The new 32GB DDR4 SoDIMM doubles capacity and increases speed to 2,666Mbps with the reduction in power consumption of up to 39 percent.

semiconductor.samsung.com

Looks like 2018.

Unfortunately the 2017s aren’t like the 2011s, that officially supported only 16GB of RAM from apple but when 8GB SODIMMs came out could handle 32GB total RAM because Sandy Bridge supported 32GB.

Edit: Apple’s spec sheet on the 2017 iMac says 64 GB of RAM was available for BTO. So it was available day 1 as I remember.

I have a 2017 iMac bought day 1. I paid to upgrade the RAM myself to 32 GB within the first week or so.

I remember there being 64 GB available as well as I wanted to max everything out but couldn’t justify the insane price even from 3rd party RAM.

I have no proof to back this up unfortunately so all I can say is trust me and that I feel 90% right on this.

 

[Timpetus]

OP doesn’t even understand the difference between 2017 and 2019 iMac. Why are people going to extreme lengths to try and make OP realize they’re confused?

Because it's hilarious?

Basic summary of thread: OP can't do proper research, buys something that will never work, complains that it doesn't work. Everyone else does proper research, many of them share links to the research, and are told "nuh uh!" by OP. OP shares more incorrect research (2019 instead of 2017) to support original position, keeps complaining about how they've seen 40-50 people running 128GB ram in their 2017 iMacs (no evidence provided).