Too Much RAM being used?

[FNelli]

I currently have an iMac mid 2007 running on Maverick. It appears that my ram is being used up, but on what I am not sure. What do you think?

 

[Intell]

Your memory use is fine and normal. It will only be too much when the memory pressure goes up enough to become red or orange.

 

[FNelli]

Then why do my apps take so long to open and the computer - runs slow?

 

[Intell]

Because you have a 7 year old hard drive inside that machine holding it back.

 

[mad3inch1na]

Then why do my apps take so long to open and the computer - runs slow?

Apps are loaded directly off the hard drive. RAM plays little to no role in that. Upgrade your hard drive to an SSD and you will see a significant performance boost.

Your RAM is also probably spiking every once and a while during moments of heavy usage, forcing your computer to page onto the hard drive. If you got more RAM, you wouldn't see such huge dips. An SSD will be a more comprehensive fix for your issue, and you will get more performance/dollar with it.

It is a 7 year old computer, you shouldn't be running Mavericks on it anyways. If you want to save some money just install Snow Leopard. If you really want to run Mavericks, get an SSD. You can probably find a cheap one, considering the transfer speed of SATA 1 is pretty low.

Best,
Matt

 

[FNelli]

It never responded like this before. I am not running heavy programs nor am I using a lot of hard disk space. So basically you're telling me - I just need to deal with it.

 

[Intell]

It never responded like that before because it never had 10.9 on it before. There's also the possibility that the hard drive is starting to fail. I've been having to replace a larger number of 2007-2008 iMac hard drives in the past year that I'd like to.

It is a 7 year old computer, you shouldn't be running Mavericks on it anyways. If you want to save some money just install Snow Leopard. If you really want to run Mavericks, get an SSD. You can probably find a cheap one, considering the transfer speed of SATA 1 is pretty low.

Best,
Matt

10.9 runs very nicely on a mid-2007 iMac with a SSD or a modern hard drive. The stock 2007 drive is a bit slower and causes slight slow downs. Even with a newer hard drive, it is as fast as 10.6 and much better than 10.4, 10.5, 10.7, or 10.8.

 

[FNelli]

Thank you - i will test my luck with a SSD

 

[RCAFBrat]

I currently have an iMac mid 2007 running on Maverick. It appears that my ram is being used up, but on what I am not sure. What do you think?

Actually you are doing quite fine for memory - while you may not be seeing it the memory allocated for File Cache can be used to speed up some of your apps as explained here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5890

Agree with other comments that an SSD would really make things "snappy"!

Cheers

 

[h9826790]

I am not running heavy programs nor am I using a lot of hard disk space.

You RAM usage looks completely normal to me. Your system only compress 3MB of RAM so far (bottom RH corner) and the swaps (bottom LH corner) stay at zero. Mavericks use RAM very aggressively to speed up the Mac, which is a good idea. There is no reason to let the RAM sits at there and doing nothing. However, I am sorry to tell you that Mavericks itself is heavy enough for your machine at this moment.

7 years old Mac is not a problem. However, lack of proper upgrade in 7 years is a real problem. Since iMac is not considered user upgradable. I guess you have not much choice but to deal with it.

I also recommend a SSD upgrade for your machine. Even though you don't have SATA 3, but you will still benefit from the high IOPS of SSD and which is actually the main factor of what makes your computer much more responsive.

 

[FNelli]

Thank you everyone - I will upgrade my hard drive and go from there. For 7 years the machine was worked very well and I do feel a need to get a new one quite yet. Thank you in advance.