Do I need more RAM?

[djrod]

Hi, I have a 2009 iMac with 8GB RAM and I think I'm starting to run low on RAM.

With only 1 day of uptime I have more page outs than page ins.

Right now I have:

3,23 GB Page Ins
4,97 GB Page Outs

Free : 140MB
Wired : 838,5MB
Active: 2,99GB
Inactive: 4,04GB
Used : 7,85GB

I know Inactive memory is "free memory" waiting to be used for another program, but all that Page out means that sometime in the last day I ate all my ram, right?

 

[Hakiroto]

Before you get some new RAM (which is always a good idea if you're getting Page outs!) I'd look into what's using so much and only giving you 140MB free. If you're constantly running a couple of VMs then there's your answer but if not then there's something taking up a lot. I've never seen so many Page outs. What do you typically use the iMac for?

At the end of your message you mentioned the "last year". I presume you mean day, right?

 

[justperry]

Hi, I have a 2009 iMac with 8GB RAM and I think I'm starting to run low on RAM.

With only 1 day of uptime I have more page outs than page ins.

Right now I have:

3,23 GB Page Ins
4,97 GB Page Outs

Free : 140MB
Wired : 838,5MB
Active: 2,99GB
Inactive: 4,04GB
Used : 7,85GB

I know Inactive memory is "free memory" waiting to be used for another program, but all that Page out means that sometime in the last year I ate all my ram, right?

Bold: Wrong, you say your Uptime is 1 day, this means in the last day you had ~ 5 GB of page outs, pageins are not important, that is all the Data which is read from HD, page outs is data written to the disk from physical RAM.

The easiest way to find out is to keep Activity monitor open and check every now and then what Application is writing those page outs.

 

[djrod]

Before you get some new RAM (which is always a good idea if you're getting Page outs!) I'd look into what's using so much and only giving you 140MB free. If you're constantly running a couple of VMs then there's your answer but if not then there's something taking up a lot. I've never seen so many Page outs. What do you typically use the iMac for?

At the end of your message you mentioned the "last year". I presume you mean day, right?

Yep, last day, sorry, it's fixed now.

I do web design / development with my iMac.

Right now I have open:

Mail, Safari with this tab, Font Explorer, Photoshop with a 180MB PSD opened ( Big RAM cruncher ) , spotify, dropbox, growl and that's all.

Activty monitor reads now:

4,99 GB Page Outs

Free : 106,7MB
Wired : 848,3MB
Active: 3,57GB
Inactive: 3,44GB
Used : 7,89GB

Photoshop is eating 3,6GB all by itself.

----------

Bold: Wrong, you say your Uptime is 1 day, this means in the last day you had ~ 5 GB of page outs, pageins are not important, that is all the Data which is read from HD, page outs is data written to the disk from physical RAM.

The easiest way to find out is to keep Activity monitor open and check every now and then what Application is writing those page outs.

I suppose is Photoshop, he likes to crunch RAM , but how do I check if its photoshop the one causing the page outs? I mean, is there any panel that shows something like "Photoshop : X GB page outs" ?

 

[Hakiroto]

I don't think you can break the Page outs down to what's exactly causing them. You could, however, restart your iMac and open everything that's part of your typical workflow except for Photoshop. Have a look at the memory usage at that point then open your document in Photoshop. If then you see the Page outs beginning it's obviously Photoshop that's taking your memory usage above the amount of RAM you have. Regardless of that, you should definitely upgrade your RAM. I presume your iMac supports 16GB, right?

 

[Bear]

Hi, I have a 2009 iMac with 8GB RAM and I think I'm starting to run low on RAM.

With only 1 day of uptime I have more page outs than page ins.

Right now I have:

3,23 GB Page Ins
4,97 GB Page Outs
...

With only one day of uptime and that many pageouts, if you're noticing sluggish response, I'd say this was a case that need more memory. As a comparison, I have less than 100MBs of pageouts with about 5GBs of pageins on an 8GB iMac.

Without knowing in more detail what's going on, I'd say increasing to 12GB might fix your issue, but you would be safer going to 16GB.

And I don't think it matters what causes the pageouts unless you're willing to stop using that program or alter (possibly radically) your workflow which would probably take up more time than getting the pageouts do.

EDIT: You do need to check the maximum RAM for your model. as justperry points out below. 8GB vs 16GB depends on 21.5" vs 27" as well as early vs late 2009. I don't remember which models but there are some where the 21.5" has only 2 rams slots and the 27" has 4 rams slots - one of the 2009 models may be like that.

 

[justperry]

Yep, last day, sorry, it's fixed now.

I do web design / development with my iMac.

Right now I have open:

Mail, Safari with this tab, Font Explorer, Photoshop with a 180MB PSD opened ( Big RAM cruncher ) , spotify, dropbox, growl and that's all.

Activty monitor reads now:

4,99 GB Page Outs

Free : 106,7MB
Wired : 848,3MB
Active: 3,57GB
Inactive: 3,44GB
Used : 7,89GB

Photoshop is eating 3,6GB all by itself.

----------



I suppose is Photoshop, he likes to crunch RAM , but how do I check if its photoshop the one causing the page outs? I mean, is there any panel that shows something like "Photoshop : X GB page outs" ?

Which model iMac you have (You forgot to say), if you have the late 2009 iMac, 21.5" or 27" they can take 16 GB Maximum, the mid and early 2009 models 8 GB Max.

 

[djrod]

Which model iMac you have (You forgot to say), if you have the late 2009 iMac, 21.5" or 27" they can take 16 GB Maximum, the mid and early 2009 models 8 GB Max.

27" late 2009

 

[justperry]

27" late 2009

Good for you.

Before buying more RAM I suggest you to keep an eye on it, if you get over 4 GB page outs daily 4GB extra won't do.

 

[djrod]

Good for you.

Before buying more RAM I suggest you to keep an eye on it, if you get over 4 GB page outs daily 4GB extra won't do.

I think I've solved the problem, after one regular day of work my page outs are 1,47GB, far less than the almost 5gb of the other day.

I reset Photoshop preferences (cmd + option + shift while opening the app) and my ram usage felt down these new stats.

I'll keep monitoring the system for days to come hoping it stays this way.

Thank you all!

 

[Giuly]

Hi, I have a 2009 iMac with 8GB RAM and I think I'm starting to run low on RAM.

With only 1 day of uptime I have more page outs than page ins.

Right now I have:

3,23 GB Page Ins
4,97 GB Page Outs

Free : 140MB
Wired : 838,5MB
Active: 2,99GB
Inactive: 4,04GB
Used : 7,85GB

You'd tremendously benefit from more RAM.

27" late 2009

The maximum amount of RAM on that machine is 4x4GB 1066MHz DDR3, they shipped with 2x4GB installed and two empty slots. Install one of these 2x4GB 1066MHz Kingston for Mac kits in the empty slots and enjoy.

 

[LaunchpadBS]

The simple answer to this question is always YES.

It's cheap and will in most cases be the first step to resolving whatever issue it is you're having with performance, please note I said most cases.

 

[Yukume]

Same problem here

I have the same problem.

In my case, I don't use photoshop, and, without opening any programs, I have this:

Free: 9,01 MB
System: 1,02 GB
Active: 3,48 GB
Inactive: 3,48 GB
In use: 7,99 GB

I don't know what else to do, I've used the free memory program, and it for a moment seems to work, but when it frees about 1,5 GB stops, and the active and inactive memory began to absorb all the free ram memory again, returning to the initial stats.

I am thinking about format, but I want, if it's possible to solve it in another way. I don't think it's a Ram capacity problem, I have 8 GB...

Thank you very much, I hope we can find a solution.


Edit:

After writting this, I think I've solved the problem, so I post here in case it is for help.

The hp printer was taking about 6,5 GB of RAM!!! XD

I've closed the proces and is solved!

 

[justperry]

I have the same problem.

In my case, I don't use photoshop, and, without opening any programs, I have this:

Free: 9,01 MB
System: 1,02 GB
Active: 3,48 GB
Inactive: 3,48 GB
In use: 7,99 GB

I don't know what else to do, I've used the free memory program, and it for a moment seems to work, but when it frees about 1,5 GB stops, and the active and inactive memory began to absorb all the free ram memory again, returning to the initial stats.

I am thinking about format, but I want, if it's possible to solve it in another way. I don't think it's a Ram capacity problem, I have 8 GB...

Thank you very much, I hope we can find a solution.

Restart, then right after clicking Enter when you login hit the Shift key, look if the problem persists, if not one of your Login Items is eating the RAM, they are in Users & Groups>Login Items

 

[KaraH]

Always get more ram if you can afford it and your machine can use more. Even if you do not need it today tomorrow's you will thank you for it. Ram prices are on an upswing right now so if you are debating buying more ram I would buy now.