Memory Usage

baldy3105 · 05-19-2003, 06:45 AM

Does anyone know any good links that explains how to interpret memory usage?

If I use 'free' i am told that 94 of my 96M of ram is used! I think not, not unless this OS is more memory hungry than NT!

If I add up all the processes listed in 'top' the total is more like 45%, still high but a lot more reasonable.

Some guidance on how to interpret this apparent contradiction would be cool.

Cheers

neenee · 05-19-2003, 07:10 AM

please... *sighs* please search. this question has been asked
and replied to in the past days / week. twice by me even.

good luck.

acid_kewpie · 05-19-2003, 07:11 AM

this gets asked an awful lot, and is understandably confusing.

you paid good money for your RAM right?
YES!

do you want half of it to just sit there and do absolutely nothing?
NO!

would you rather cache frequently accessed program data in the spare memory?
YES!

will this make your system run faster?
YES!

will this space be reclaimed when the memory is actually needing for currently running processes?
YES!

baldy3105 · 05-19-2003, 07:52 AM

Umm, OK good point, I should have searched first, but I'm not sure this answered the question. Are there any docs around describing how memory is handled - preferably in non-programmers speak? I need input!

So had I searched I would know that its normal to have 95% RAM utilisation, but how do I then know how much of the usage is real current processes and how much is being held on to "just in case".

Is this what the "cached" column means in the output from the free command ?

Cheers