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Posted By: artie505 Max out RAM in Early 2009 White MacBook? - 08/15/09 10:04 AM
Regarding your RAM caveat...

I'm running an Early 2009 White MacBook/2.0GHz Core 2 Duo/2Gb RAM/OS X 10.5.7 (Build 9J61), and not only do I *never* see swapfile1 (0 being the default), but MenuMeters *never* shows more than a bit less than 1.8Gb of my 2.0Gb in use.

I've frequently wondered whether, under those circumstances, maxing out my RAM would be of any value to anybody other than Crucial?


Edit: This was originally a reply to joemikeb in PChaterosx's "About my TiBook..." topic and is now a separate thread with a new subject.
Swapfile usage is virtually worthless as an indicator of how much RAM is needed.
  • There is a lot of "stuff" that must be in RAM memory when an application is running including executable code/instructions and data
  • When an application is rolled out of active memory to make room for another application to run only the data is rolled out to the swapfile(s) and not even that if it is already on the disk in an application cache file. The executable code is simply overwritten.
  • When the rolled out application is rolled back in the data is read from the swapfile(s) but the code is recalled from the application files where it was in the first place
  • data may be rolled out to the swapfile(s) even while there is free or inactive RAM because the total free and inactive RAM is insufficient to meet the needs of the application that is being rolled in.
  • RAM is allocated by blocks, not word by word, so it would be very unusual not to have at least some free and some inactive RAM at any given point in time.
So depending on the applications you are running and the particular job they are doing, the size of the swapfile may represent only a small fraction of the what has to be rolled back into active RAM.

So I will stand by my recommendation to max out the RAM. Regardless of the size of the swapfile(s) the more RAM you have the less likely the necessity for rolling code back into RAM after it has been overwritten. The efficacy of more RAM is better has been proven empirically too many times. I have 4 GB of RAM on my iMac and it is not unusual for me to have four or even five swapfiles. My wife keeps all her apps open all the time and multiple files in each app and in spite of the 4 GB of RAM on her MacMini she generally has a ridiculous number of swapfiles.
OK... I'm sold! (You may expect your commission check from Crucial sometime before the turn of the century.)

I'll report back.

Thanks
Posted By: artie505 Installed new RAM today - 08/21/09 11:06 AM
Reporting back...

I installed by new RAM today...went from 2Gb to 4GB.

The first thing I noticed, immediately after booting, is that my apps used no more RAM than they'd ever used, but system processes were using 200-300Mb more than before.

Now, after having run my deuced Mac(hina) for 4-5 hours my apps are still not using any more RAM than before, and system processes are still using about the same increased amount they did when I booted.

Not that MenuMeters ever showed many pageouts, but tonight I've had *zero*, and system performance is snappier, so I guess that while the improvement isn't as dramatic as I'd hoped against hope for, I didn't waste my money having upgraded.

Thanks for your input and support.
Posted By: dianne Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/21/09 12:07 PM
artie505,

I have detached your post from PChaterosx’s thread, About my TiBook..., made it a separate topic and edited the subject line because your update is not related to troubleshooting the original poster’s question.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/21/09 12:58 PM
As it stands, dianne, I have to take issue with what you've done; the post you've moved is directly descended from my post #1143 and joemikeb's response, post #1167, in the original thread, and it loses pretty much all of its significance without its context.
Posted By: Sturner Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/21/09 03:00 PM
With the way the OS handles RAM and assigns it to application and system usage, the amount of RAM used by a specific application shouldn't increase past what it requests for standard usage. Additional RAM should mean that virtual memory usage is reduced, and that you can run more programs simultaneiously.

In my case, I run multiple applications, including VMWare, so I need a large amount of RAM for efficient operation, and snappy response.
Posted By: cyn Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 01:02 AM
From my perspective your query to JMB should itself have been posted as a separate thread. I've now detached it and its branch of replies from PChaterosx's "About my TiBook..." and merged your recent follow-up with it so your RAM upgrade now has its own topic.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 05:54 AM
> From my perspective your query to JMB should itself have been posted as a separate thread. I've now detached it and its branch of replies from PChaterosx's "About my TiBook..." and merged your recent follow-up with it so your RAM upgrade now has its own topic.

I appreciate your having recognized and followed up on that, cyn; had you not done so I'd have edited "Reporting back..." to include the posts you've now moved.
Posted By: cyn Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 06:52 AM
Perhaps in the future you could start the new topic yourself to begin with. Provide a link to the post that prompted your query and you should stand a good chance of getting the follow-up you're looking for, without taking another poster's thread off on a tangent.

Just a thought. wink

Posted By: artie505 Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 07:13 AM
> Just a thought. wink

And a good one, which I'll store away for future use, at that!

In the present instance, though, I felt that joemike's *very* general statement

Quote:
"Max out the RAM [....]."

merited exploration/discussion within the context of the original thread, and since I still feel that way I've linked it to this one.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 03:35 PM
Since I seem to have inadvertently contributed to the genesis of this thread and even though at this point I am not sure it doesn't belong in the lounge I would like to amend/edit my original comment. That comment was made in the context of a specific thread and specific machines and was not intended as a universal rule of thumb. A more accurate general statement would be something like...
Quote:
In general for Apple consumer level Macs such as the MacMini, MacBook, and iMac; you will get optimum performance by maxing out the RAM. Because the professional level Macs such as the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro can have very large amounts of RAM their needs should be carefully considered in light of the applications and tasks they will be performing, but always get more than you think you will need and you will never regret it.
Posted By: cyn Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/22/09 04:34 PM
This thread is where it belongs.

Aside: Artie, your posts would be easier to read if you used italics for emphasis rather than a pair of asterisks.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/23/09 08:36 AM
Great!

Thanks.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Installed new RAM today - 08/23/09 08:40 AM
> Aside: Artie, your posts would be easier to read if you used italics for emphasis rather than a pair of asterisks.

I picked up the habit from Hal, but since both you and dk have now made the same comment I'll revert to either italics, bold-face, or both. (Personally, I find that ** catches my attention better than simple italics.)
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