I keep running out of RAM!

[MacNoobGuy]

hey guys, i've got a Mac Mini 2011 with 8GB of RAM here. it seems like every 30 minutes i need to use the 'purge' command in Terminal. does anyone know why this is the case? i keep running out of RAM. when i use Win7 i've got 4GB of RAM, but i never run out of it.

i know Mavericks will address this issue, but what can i do in the mean time?

thank you!

 

[gr8tfly]

How do you know you're "running out"? If you're looking at inactive memory space in Activity Monitor, keep in mind that allocation is essentially the same as free. If an app needs more ram than can be allocated out of free area, it will use ram from the inactive space.

Also, look at page-outs. If that is low or zero, you really aren't running low of RAM. It's mainly when there is no available RAM from either free or inactive and the system needs to swap pages out to mass storage that will cause a noticeable slowdown.

This has a brief description on how to interpret what's seen in Activity Monitor: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342

 

[benwiggy]

it seems like every 30 minutes i need to use the 'purge' command in Terminal.

Why do you think you need to use the purge command? There is nothing wrong, in itself, with having lots of inactive RAM.
You may have a problem if that Inactive RAM is not being released to Active RAM when needed, and if you are swapping out.

Activity Monitor in Mavericks does not give details about Inactive RAM usage, so it does fix the problem of worrying about it.

 

[chown33]

i keep running out of RAM.

What program or programs are running at the time?

Post a screenshot of Activity Monitor, with "All Processes" showing in the list.