3.75GB ram instead of 4GB ram ???

[geta]

hi,
long time reader, but first time poster....

few day ago i sow on my MBP 13"\2.53GHz\OSX 10.6.3 after i installed iFreeMem that i got 3.75GB ram ????
i opened Active Monitor and all so there under the "cake" it say 3.75GB,so i looked at "about this mac" it say i got 4GB ram ????
but in the left side in active monitor, where it say free,wired,active... ,if i calculate the free+used its equal to 4GB?

in my other\older macs i never had this problem before, so i was looking at friends mac's (MB\MBP) with OSX 10.5\10.6 and it sow the correct ram (what ever they got) in Active Monitor \ iFreeMem...?

so way i can't see the 4GB that i got every where?
is it coz of the GPU that share 256MB with the main ram ? and if so way i didn't see the same on other mac's?

tnx.

 

[Hellhammer]

Did you calculate inactive memory? Not all MBPs' GPUs' use shared RAM so that will affect too. The fact it that 9400M uses 256MB of your RAM, like it or not

 

[geta]

Did you calculate inactive memory? Not all MBPs' GPUs' use shared RAM so that will affect too. The fact it that 9400M uses 256MB of your RAM, like it or not

tnx for the quick response,

when i calculate the free+used its equal to 4GB, when i calculate the free+wired+active+inactive its equal to 4GB...
so way under the "cake" and in iFreeMem it say i got 3.75GB ???

i have no problem that the GPU 9400M use 256MB form my ram,my problem is that it don't sow me that i got 4GB under the "cake" (and all so in iFreeMem).

ps- as far as i know all so the MB's share 256MB, but still over there it sow the correct ram.

 

[Hellhammer]

tnx for the quick response,

when i calculate the free+used its equal to 4GB, when i calculate the free+wired+active+inactive its equal to 4GB...
so way under the "cake" and in iFreeMem it say i got 3.75GB ???

i have no problem that the GPU 9400M use 256MB form my ram,my problem is that it don't sow me that i got 4GB under the "cake" (and all so in iFreeMem).

ps- as far as i know all so the MB's share 256MB, but still over there it sow the correct ram.

I think it only shows you the RAM it can use i.e. 4GB minus 256MB. It can't free up 9400M's RAM

 

[dr. shdw]

Stop worrying.

 

[geta]

Stop worrying.

somebody with MBP 13", osx 10.6, can check and let me know if he\she got the same problem as me - in Active Monitor under the "cake" it say 3.75GB ram instead of 4GB ram (or 1.75GB instead of 2GB) ?

 

[Josias]

somebody with MBP 13", osx 10.6, can check and let me know if he\she got the same problem as me - in Active Monitor under the "cake" it say 3.75GB ram instead of 4GB ram (or 1.75GB instead of 2GB) ?

First of all, chill.

Nothing's wrong with your computer - so stop saying you have a problem.

Your computer has 4 GB RAM in total.

0.25 GB is used as video memory, and 3.75 GB is used as RAM.

I have a 13" MBP with Snow Leopard and 4 GB RAM. The pie in Activity Monitor shows that we have 3.75 GB, because that is how much of it is actually used as RAM.

 

[LedCop]

tnx for the quick response,

when i calculate the free+used its equal to 4GB, when i calculate the free+wired+active+inactive its equal to 4GB...
so way under the "cake" and in iFreeMem it say i got 3.75GB ???

i have no problem that the GPU 9400M use 256MB form my ram,my problem is that it don't sow me that i got 4GB under the "cake" (and all so in iFreeMem).

ps- as far as i know all so the MB's share 256MB, but still over there it sow the correct ram.

Free+ wired+active+inactive = 4GB perhaps because the 256MB of video RAM is included in the "active" part. Don't worry, my computer shows the same thing.

 

[geta]

tnx for the help,

i was thinking its coz of the GPU, but still it's strange that i can't see under the "cake" 4GB - it suppose to show all the RAM that i got in the mac and not only the actual used as RAM...

all so i think the 256MB the video card use is include in the "wired" part coz this is the difference between Active Monitor and iFreeMem, but still its part of the 4GB - the total RAM that i got,so way i can't see it like before (like in the old osx) ???

 

[LedCop]

tnx for the help,

i was thinking its coz of the GPU, but still it's strange that i can't see under the "cake" 4GB - it suppose to show all the RAM that i got in the mac and not only the actual used as RAM...

all so i think the 256MB the video card use is include in the "wired" part coz this is the difference between Active Monitor and iFreeMem, but still its part of the 4GB - the total RAM that i got,so way i can't see it like before (like in the old osx) ???

Oh yeah! It is wired. I remember thinking "wired" months ago but forgot when I posted.

Well, if we can't see it like before it's just the way the information that's displayed that has changed, nothing more. Just like how the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard measures disk space differently from the old Mac OS X. It's not like the the actual amount of storage has changed per se; just a different method of calculation.

 

[Timur]

When you run bootcamped Windows then you can use the whole 4 GB. On OS-X the 256 MB of the 9400M is *always* marked as used even when you are using the 9600M. The later obviously doesn't really make much sense.

 

[LedCop]

When you run bootcamped Windows then you can use the whole 4 GB. On OS-X the 256 MB of the 9400M is *always* marked as used even when you are using the 9600M. The later obviously doesn't really make much sense.

The 256MB shows up as wired even when using the 9600M due to (I THINK) Mac OS X being able to use both graphics cards simultaneously for the purposes of OpenCL stuff being run on the 9400M.

 

[ayeying]

The 256MB is NOT WIRED. It's not seen in the OS as System Memory. It is Video shared memory, which means it's going to be taken without the OS really knowing.

You have 4GB - 256MB = 3.75GB, it's simple math. There's nothing wrong with your computer.

If you have a system with 9400M and 9600GT, the same applies. The 256MB is going to be taken no matter what.

 

[dsprimal]

my pie chart in activity monitor says 3.88gb if that makes you feel better lol. nobodies mbp is going to have exactly 4gb available.

 

[0eyvind]

3.75 GB in Activity Monitor.
4 GB in About this Mac.

I'm sure it's perfectly normal.

 

[Wehrwolf]

Perfectly normal for machines with either the 9400M or Intel HD integrated GPUs.
My old 13" showed the same thing.
My new i7 reports 3.88GB in Activity Monitor, 4GB in System Profiler.

 

[m85476585]

my pie chart in activity monitor says 3.88gb if that makes you feel better lol. nobodies mbp is going to have exactly 4gb available.

Mine says 6.00GB because I have an 8600 and no integrated card.