Mavericks memory management is amazing

[coldjeanzzz]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

 

[AeroZ]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

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I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

You get it wrong.
The easiest way to understand it is "Free memory is wasted memory"
Swap used is 0 bytes - that's great.

 

[djtech42]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

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I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

Like AeroZ said, OS X always tries to make the most out of what RAM is available. It will typically use close to the maximum amount, but not go over if the memory management is solid. I see you are using the Sevenesque icons like me. I hope Apple follows the same style for icons in the next version of OS X.

 

[coldjeanzzz]

Just strange to me because the OP is explaining how the OS is using less RAM and yet with my system it's using way more RAM.

 

[throttlemeister]

You get it wrong.
The easiest way to understand it is "Free memory is wasted memory"
Swap used is 0 bytes - that's great.

Free memory is wasted memory is entirely correct. However, Mav is also wanting to use swap more than any previous release.

I have never seen so much swap usage with 16GB of physical memory. At least not with my typical use. Not that I care much, since it is so fast and snappy. (read: I have never even noticed that it accessed swap)

 

[djtech42]

Whoa. Here's my usage with just Safari open. It hasn't used swap at all though.

 

[throttlemeister]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

Image

I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

Subtract 2.5GB for caching (bottom right column). Feel better now?

You should look at the "Memory Pressure" column. If that is low (as it is with you), there is nothing to worry about.

 

[matthewadams]

Speaking of memory management in Mavericks, this is slightly off-topic but does anyone know what the IconServicesAgent is good for? (Since it eats up quite a bit of memory and hadnt been there in ML)

 

[D A]

Speaking of memory management in Mavericks, this is slightly off-topic but does anyone know what the IconServicesAgent is good for? (Since it eats up quite a bit of memory and hadnt been there in ML)

It seems to cache the thumbnails for files in Finder. If you use Icon View with a large icon size it can grow quite large.


I've barely seen any swapping running Mavericks, only seen Swap go above 0 bytes a couple of times actually. Never really noticed that it was swapping to disk at all.

 

[throttlemeister]

The funny thing is, even though mine said 720MB swap in use (currently 805), I have zero page outs according to iStat. So dunno what it does. But whatever it is, it does not affect performance just takes a bit of disk space.

Maybe (big assumptions) because the cache can grow quite large when it has plenty memory available, and that cache is cleared when the computer goes to sleep (as is evident by looking at the numbers before and after waking the computer), some of that is dumped to swap.

 

[maflynn]

The funny thing is, even though mine said 720MB swap in use (currently 805), I have zero page outs according to iStat. So dunno what it does. But whatever it is, it does not affect performance just takes a bit of disk space.

I would think a reboot will fix that by removing the swap files.

 

[mayuka]

Couldn't it be that the Activity Montior now just combines the Real Memory and Cached Memory into one Memory indicator? The OOM scheduler is not that different in Mavericks than under ML.

It can be checked with the "ps ax -v" command in Terminal. Just multiply the value under RRS with 1024 and you have the size of the real memory of the corresponding app.

 

[bwat47]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

Image

I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

Memory usage does not equal bad memory management. Mavericks uses as much memory as possible as cache, and when it needs to it just compresses unused memory. What mavericks does far better than ML, is avoiding swap usage and being responsive, and not slowing down like ML when multi-tasking on low ram systems. I have only 4 gigs and I still haven't seen mavericks use swap on my system, but it always uses almost all my ram and stays responsive. This is a good thing, this is how memory should be managed. Unused memory is wasted memory.

 

[throttlemeister]

I would think a reboot will fix that by removing the swap files.

Probably, but it ain't bothering me. Just reporting what I see. As long as it is not interfering with my work or play, it can do pretty much anything it wants.

 

[Jelite]

It's the exact opposite for me! I just updated and I can't believe how much memory is being used

I don't have anything unusual open that I never had in the past. I would frequently only use 3-4 GB RAM on average and now all of a sudden I'm using nearly 6 GB? WTF?

Give it time to settle, i was wondering why some things (mds_stores, Iconservicesagent etc) were using so much ram but they will drop down after a while.

 

[pinkoos]

So do you guys think a 2013 Macbook Air with 4GB and Mavericks running will suffice for routine activities (web, email, photos, video watching/streaming, iTunes, Office, etc.)?

Or, still worth it to get 8GB RAM in the Haswell Air?

I took shipment of both a 1.3i5/4GB/512GB and a 1.7i7/8GB/512GB Haswell Air and am trying to decide which one to keep. The price delta is about $240.

Thanks.

 

[kappaknight]

Great stuff... but I'm not sure this cures my desire to upgrade to 16GB of RAM.

I'm currently at 8GB and everything is running swimmingly... but still.

 

[MikhailT]

So do you guys think a 2013 Macbook Air with 4GB and Mavericks running will suffice for routine activities (web, email, photos, video watching/streaming, iTunes, Office, etc.)?

Or, still worth it to get 8GB RAM in the Haswell Air?

I took shipment of both a 1.3i5/4GB/512GB and a 1.7i7/8GB/512GB Haswell Air and am trying to decide which one to keep. The price delta is about $240.

Thanks.

Depends on how long you plan to keep that Air. If more than a year, you should keep the 8GB as that'll hold the resale value better and also support future OS X.

Mavericks may be better but who knows what they'll do in OS X 10.10. Just because Apple and Microsoft knocks out a great release doesn't mean it can't go downhill there until they release another great one. (SL > Lion, XP > Vista, 7 > 8 are examples of that).

Great stuff... but I'm not sure this cures my desire to upgrade to 16GB of RAM.

I'm currently at 8GB and everything is running swimmingly... but still.

If it's not going to cost you much, plan/save for it over the next month and get it for yourself as a holiday gift.

 

[randolorian]

Put the memory manager to the test with /usr/bin/memory_pressure.

It's fun to watch the compressor kick in and the file cache dropped when it needs to be (unlike ML).

 

[bwat47]

So do you guys think a 2013 Macbook Air with 4GB and Mavericks running will suffice for routine activities (web, email, photos, video watching/streaming, iTunes, Office, etc.)?

Or, still worth it to get 8GB RAM in the Haswell Air?

I took shipment of both a 1.3i5/4GB/512GB and a 1.7i7/8GB/512GB Haswell Air and am trying to decide which one to keep. The price delta is about $240.

Thanks.

I have similar activities to what you listed, and so far mavericks has been running perfectly for me with 4 gigs of ram, very smooth. So to answer your question, yes 4 gigs is enough for mavericks (unless you are doing heavy stuff like virtualization). more ram is never bad though and could help future proof in case apple pulls another ML with a post-mavericks release xD.

 

[yegon]

Very glad to hear this. I've got a 2012 maxed Mini with 16gb ram for crunchy stuff, but still use a 2011 mba with 4gb ram for the basics, which I'm still entirely satisfied with. My only concern was possible ram issues with Mavericks, but it appears I'll be fine with the mba for a while yet.

Long term, I want an rMBP but I'm waiting till my mba starts to chug (it still flies for what I use for and I still get about 5hrs batt) so I can get a later revision rMBP. Actually tempted to go 15" next time, ala my prior laptop (late 08 mbp), as the laptop rarely leaves the house, my iPad Mini being sufficient for portable duties.

 

[sampers]

Does the difference in memory management show in applications like video editing software?

 

[Manic Harmonic]

I can't wait until Mavericks is stable enough for my DAW rig... I'm switching back and forth between alternatives in Logic X and Mountain Lion keeps filling up my RAM with inactive memory, and eventually it starts swapping and paging. If I only had 4 or 8 GB of RAM I would understand, but this is something that should never happen with 32 GB.

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I can't wait until Mavericks is stable enough for my DAW rig... I'm switching back and forth between alternatives in Logic X and Mountain Lion keeps filling up my RAM with inactive memory, and eventually it starts swapping and paging. If I only had 4 or 8 GB of RAM I would understand, but this is something that should never happen with 32 GB.

 

[bwat47]

Does the difference in memory management show in applications like video editing software?

None of the new memory management stuff is application dependent afaik. Mavericks handles it all at the OS level. It should help in any scenario where memory is low.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Does the difference in memory management show in applications like video editing software?

Using FCPX, and Screenflow I tend to run near max RAM.

That tiny page out doesn't bother me, although I wonder if the new FCPX from Apple will integrate with some features like memory managed from OS 10.9.