RAM Usage???

nperjanik · 08-26-2003, 01:02 AM

Hi I'm fairly new to OSX and was curious if there is a window or utility you can use to see how much RAM is taken up by each open application??
In OS 9 you could go to 'about this computer' in the apple menu but in OSX there is nothing about RAM in the window.

Thanks,

nperjanik

scaryfish · 08-26-2003, 01:54 AM

Your easiest bet is to go to Process Viewer (in the Utilities folder) and sort them by memory usage.

Or, if you're feeling technical, go into Terminal and type "top" (without the quotes) - that'll give you heaps of info about your currently running programmes. But if you're new to it, probably best to stick to Process Viewer.

Welles Goodrich · 08-26-2003, 11:29 PM

I've used three resources to get a handle on memory in X and then forgot about it as I'm running 1.5GB anyway. For close held specifics you can launch the Process Viewer, a component of the Mac OS found in your Utilities folder.

Two freeware graphical interfaces are MemoryStick and System Manager.

MemoryStick
tool to graphically display RAM usage data

www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13636

Understanding MemoryStick

Mac OS X uses RAM very intensively, and the amount of stress placed on your RAM can make a huge difference in performance. Yet Mac OS X provides no equivalent to the "About This Mac" display of RAM usage that was present in earlier systems. Thus, you can't even tell whether you've got enough RAM for your daily tasks. The purpose of MemoryStick is to make up for this by providing a graphical display of RAM usage.

A Mercifully Brief and Wildly Over-Simplified Lecture on How Mac OS X Uses Memory

The first thing you'll notice when you start up MemoryStick is that there are no applications listed. This is because in Mac OS X there are not distinct application heaps as in previous systems. Instead, every application is given the illusion that it has huge quantities of RAM available to it (much more than you probably have). Mac OS X maintains this illusion by means of its memory management system.

Under this system, Mac OS X loads into RAM the resources (bits of code, data, and so forth) that are actually needed. An application's actual RAM usage is thus dynamic. If an application loads all the data from a small document, it uses a small amount of RAM; if it loads all the data from a large document, it uses a large amount of RAM. If an applications quits, some of these resources are no longer needed, and RAM usage goes down (but, as MemoryStick reveals, not as much as one might expect).

This architecture has two chief advantages over earlier Mac systems. First, you can run lots of applications without necessarily using all that much RAM, because an application is not compelled to ask in advance for a big block of RAM that it might not need all of. Second, an application basically never runs out of memory, because there isn't some fixed block of memory beyond which it can never go. So you'll never see one of those messages saying that an application is running out of memory and can't open this document, complete this operation, or whatever. This, in fact, is probably one of the main reasons you're using Mac OS X as opposed to an earlier system.

Nevertheless, the fact is that your RAM is finite, so Mac OS X must do something if RAM gets tight (which could happen because there are a lot of windows open or a lot of applications running or whatever). What it does is to spool some less used resources off to the hard disk (into /var/vm, if you must know). This is called a "pageout". The idea is that in this way Mac OS X can use all the actual RAM available to it, and then if a resource is needed that was paged out to the hard disk, it can be read from the hard disk, exchanging it for some other less used resource. This is superficially similar to the earlier notion of "virtual memory". For example, if you're running AppA in the background and you open AppB which needs a lot of actual RAM, some of AppA's resources might get paged out; then if you switch back to AppA and do something that needs those resources, they are read back in, in exchange for some of AppB's resources.

The problem is that this process of pageout-and-swap is slow. For this reason, more RAM is better. So, you can run Mac OS X with just 128MB of RAM, but after a while you might start to see a lot of delays, with the dreaded "spinning cursor" showing up often. That's because Mac OS X is having to pageout and swap a lot of material in order to keep open all the applications you're using. On the other hand you might do the same work with 256MB of RAM and never see any delays at all.

System Manager
Monitor cpu, memory, load, processes, network, Classic...

www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14227

Memory Monitor show the memory usage under Mac OS X. There are 4 main components to memory usage based on the total amount of memory installed:

* Free Memory: This is memory available for use immediately by an application or the system.
* InActive Memory: This is memory that has been used, and could be used again if needed. Swappable.
* Active Memory: This is memory currently in use. Swappable.
* Wired Memory: This is memory currently in use. UnSwappable.

As paging (Disk Swapping) occurs, these values are displayed along with graph plots based on the amount of paging. There are a range of other memory statistics displayed as well. (Information on these stats are forthcoming)

nino · 08-27-2003, 10:08 AM

There is a freeware app called "Do I need more memory?" that you can get via www.macupdate.com. It's minimal, just shows a window that tells you how much ram is spare and estimates how much your system is getting slowed down if you have insufficient ram.

simX · 08-27-2003, 04:23 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by nperjanik Hi I'm fairly new to OSX and was curious if there is a window or utility you can use to see how much RAM is taken up by each open application?? In OS 9 you could go to 'about this computer' in the apple menu but in OSX there is nothing about RAM in the window.

Based on this comment, I think that nperjanik was looking for an application that would separate memory usage BY APPLICATION, not all lumped together into "wired", "active", "inactive", and "free" memory usage.

There are only two applications that I know of that do this. The first is the aforementioned Process Viewer -- which you can find in the "Utilities" folder which is inside the standard "Applications" folder. I don't prefer this application, though, because it doesn't graphically display the memory usage.

The other application is called Memory Usage Getter, and I highly recommend it.

You can get more information about it and a free trial of it at Ellipsis Productions' website.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I created Memory Usage Getter. See my sig.

)

08-26-2003, 01:02 AM	#1
nperjanik Prospect Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 13	RAM Usage??? Hi I'm fairly new to OSX and was curious if there is a window or utility you can use to see how much RAM is taken up by each open application?? In OS 9 you could go to 'about this computer' in the apple menu but in OSX there is nothing about RAM in the window. Thanks, nperjanik

08-26-2003, 01:54 AM	#2
scaryfish Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 56	Your easiest bet is to go to Process Viewer (in the Utilities folder) and sort them by memory usage. Or, if you're feeling technical, go into Terminal and type "top" (without the quotes) - that'll give you heaps of info about your currently running programmes. But if you're new to it, probably best to stick to Process Viewer. __________________ =) <><

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08-26-2003, 11:29 PM	#3
Welles Goodrich Triple-A Player Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Posts: 223	I've used three resources to get a handle on memory in X and then forgot about it as I'm running 1.5GB anyway. For close held specifics you can launch the Process Viewer, a component of the Mac OS found in your Utilities folder. Two freeware graphical interfaces are MemoryStick and System Manager. MemoryStick tool to graphically display RAM usage data www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13636 Understanding MemoryStick Mac OS X uses RAM very intensively, and the amount of stress placed on your RAM can make a huge difference in performance. Yet Mac OS X provides no equivalent to the "About This Mac" display of RAM usage that was present in earlier systems. Thus, you can't even tell whether you've got enough RAM for your daily tasks. The purpose of MemoryStick is to make up for this by providing a graphical display of RAM usage. A Mercifully Brief and Wildly Over-Simplified Lecture on How Mac OS X Uses Memory The first thing you'll notice when you start up MemoryStick is that there are no applications listed. This is because in Mac OS X there are not distinct application heaps as in previous systems. Instead, every application is given the illusion that it has huge quantities of RAM available to it (much more than you probably have). Mac OS X maintains this illusion by means of its memory management system. Under this system, Mac OS X loads into RAM the resources (bits of code, data, and so forth) that are actually needed. An application's actual RAM usage is thus dynamic. If an application loads all the data from a small document, it uses a small amount of RAM; if it loads all the data from a large document, it uses a large amount of RAM. If an applications quits, some of these resources are no longer needed, and RAM usage goes down (but, as MemoryStick reveals, not as much as one might expect). This architecture has two chief advantages over earlier Mac systems. First, you can run lots of applications without necessarily using all that much RAM, because an application is not compelled to ask in advance for a big block of RAM that it might not need all of. Second, an application basically never runs out of memory, because there isn't some fixed block of memory beyond which it can never go. So you'll never see one of those messages saying that an application is running out of memory and can't open this document, complete this operation, or whatever. This, in fact, is probably one of the main reasons you're using Mac OS X as opposed to an earlier system. Nevertheless, the fact is that your RAM is finite, so Mac OS X must do something if RAM gets tight (which could happen because there are a lot of windows open or a lot of applications running or whatever). What it does is to spool some less used resources off to the hard disk (into /var/vm, if you must know). This is called a "pageout". The idea is that in this way Mac OS X can use all the actual RAM available to it, and then if a resource is needed that was paged out to the hard disk, it can be read from the hard disk, exchanging it for some other less used resource. This is superficially similar to the earlier notion of "virtual memory". For example, if you're running AppA in the background and you open AppB which needs a lot of actual RAM, some of AppA's resources might get paged out; then if you switch back to AppA and do something that needs those resources, they are read back in, in exchange for some of AppB's resources. The problem is that this process of pageout-and-swap is slow. For this reason, more RAM is better. So, you can run Mac OS X with just 128MB of RAM, but after a while you might start to see a lot of delays, with the dreaded "spinning cursor" showing up often. That's because Mac OS X is having to pageout and swap a lot of material in order to keep open all the applications you're using. On the other hand you might do the same work with 256MB of RAM and never see any delays at all. System Manager Monitor cpu, memory, load, processes, network, Classic... www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14227 Memory Monitor show the memory usage under Mac OS X. There are 4 main components to memory usage based on the total amount of memory installed: * Free Memory: This is memory available for use immediately by an application or the system. * InActive Memory: This is memory that has been used, and could be used again if needed. Swappable. * Active Memory: This is memory currently in use. Swappable. * Wired Memory: This is memory currently in use. UnSwappable. As paging (Disk Swapping) occurs, these values are displayed along with graph plots based on the amount of paging. There are a range of other memory statistics displayed as well. (Information on these stats are forthcoming)

08-27-2003, 10:08 AM	#4
nino Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 111	There is a freeware app called "Do I need more memory?" that you can get via www.macupdate.com. It's minimal, just shows a window that tells you how much ram is spare and estimates how much your system is getting slowed down if you have insufficient ram.