Aperture 2 using too much memory? Should I upgrade to 8 gigs?

[SLR2009]

Hi I'm trying out Aperture 2 for the first time, I always used Iphoto. I have imported my large library into Aperture. Activity Monitor says that Aperture takes up 1.3 gb of memory when being used and 600 mb when It's not being using it.

Is it normal for Aperture 2 to being using this much memory? Iphoto uses 350 mb of memory. My 2.66 Ghz Quad Core has 6 gig's of memory. I run aperture alongside Iphoto, Firefox, Itunes, New York Times reader, Rhapsody's flash player, etc.

Should I be concerned about the amount of memory being used? Would you guys recommend that I upgrade to 8 gig's? Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[melchior]

that is relatively small so i doubt your library is so large.

on the one hand, upgrading to 8 gig is cheap and you may occasionally see a performance boost, but i don't think so, really.

in your activity monitor under memory, are your page outs out of control? what does it say for your swap disk? these are your indicators along with amount of inactive memory available.

 

[SLR2009]

Thanks for the comment. Right now the Activity monitor is showing Page outs as 0 bytes. inactive memory is showing as 590 mb. The amount of free memory is 1.68 gb. It also says 4.29 gb used. I'm not sure what you mean by swap disk.

 

[melchior]

Thanks for the comment. Right now the Activity monitor is showing Page outs as 0 bytes. inactive memory is showing as 590 mb. The amount of free memory is 1.68 gb. It also says 4.29 gb used. I'm not sure what you mean by swap disk.

if your pageouts are 0 and you have been using aperture and your other applications normally then you definitely would not benefit from more memory.

in the activity monitor under memory there is a field for 'swap used' swap is a kind of virtual memory that indicates a possible need for more memory.

 

[SLR2009]

I appreciate your help. I see it now, Swap Used says 0 Bytes. The reason I was concerend about the amount of memory I have is because when I have all those applications open my computer tends to get a bit sluggish. Applications Don't seem as instantaneous as when I restart the computer and the computer first loads.

Update: right now Page Outs is at 28 and swap used is 6 mb. Is that a high number? Should I be concerned? What number would tell me that I need more memory?

 

[MAC-PRO-DEMON]

I have known Aperture to run fine on 2GB's let alone on anything more!! I don't see why you should upgrade, if it runs fine!!!

 

[eXan]

I appreciate your help. I see it now, Swap Used says 0 Bytes. The reason I was concerend about the amount of memory I have is because when I have all those applications open my computer tends to get a bit sluggish. Applications Don't seem as instantaneous as when I restart the computer and the computer first loads.

Update: right now Page Outs is at 28 and swap used is 6 mb. Is that a high number? Should I be concerned? What number would tell me that I need more memory?

If you have over 500 MB of swap used, alongside with basically no free RAM and very little inactive RAM, then you need more memory.

Edit: monitoring page-outs number is also important. If you get over 500 MB quickly, you definitely need more RAM

 

[SLR2009]

Okay right now free memory is showing 194 mb, inactive is 2.10 gb, page outs is 216 mb and Swap used it 300 mb. I haven't restared my computer in a couple of days. These are the program's I have open right now: Aperture 2, Iphoto, New York Times Reader, Itunes, Activity Monitor, Firefox. Thanks

 

[alphaod]

Okay right now free memory is showing 194 mb, inactive is 2.10 gb, page outs is 216 mb and Swap used it 300 mb. I haven't restared my computer in a couple of days. These are the program's I have open right now: Aperture 2, Iphoto, New York Times Reader, Itunes, Activity Monitor, Firefox. Thanks

You have no problem; don't worry about.

My Mac mini reads 53MB free, 3MB inactive, 12.5 million page ins, 16.8 million page outs, and my swap is 8GB in size. That that's when you know you need more RAM