Arch Linux

dyscoria

Member

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 1,007

Unusually high use of RAM [SOLVED]

On my old desktop (1.5GB RAM + 1.5GB SWAP), general RAM usage peaked at about 350MB.

On my current laptop (3GB RAM + NO SWAP), general RAM usage starts at 200-300MB, but after a few hours use, it shoots up to around 1.5GB and stays there. Anyone got any idea why?

Last edited by dyscoria (2008-02-10 17:22:16)

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Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,395

Website

Re: Unusually high use of RAM [SOLVED]

You can use "top" and order (press capital O) by memory usage to investigate.  Also, using the "free" command, you can see if it is really used or just cached?

Last edited by Allan (2008-02-10 15:13:35)

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dyscoria

Member

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 1,007

Re: Unusually high use of RAM [SOLVED]

Output for 'free -m':

--------------total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3017       1256       1760          0         35       1077
-/+ buffers/cache:        144       2872
Swap:            0          0          0

Seems like the difference between 'used' and 'cached' gives something more normal. Is this cache referring to disk cache?

Last edited by dyscoria (2008-02-10 15:40:07)

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freakcode

Member

From: São Paulo - Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 410

Website

Re: Unusually high use of RAM [SOLVED]

dyscoria:

You can find a good explanation on how Linux manages RAM here: http://gentoo-wiki.com/FAQ_Linux_Memory_Management