[G4] RAM Advisory

[sr ferenczy]

with os x, extra ram is used for things such as disk caching as well as 
application use. this is what makes os x appear to be a "memory hog" as 
the memory sub system in os x leaves little if any ram "free"


does the following make any sense??--

unlike os 9, os x likes to be in complete control of the ram and 
processor, especially due to its multi tasking nature-this allows it to 
more readily divide resources up. os 9 worked more like a regular 
application (a regular worker) taking the resources it needs and 
leaving the rest for everyone else (any other apps) to fend for 
themselves, whereas os x works more like a talented manager-able to 
quickly and effectively regulate who (what app) is doing what job, and 
how much resources they will need (ram and processor time)    it will 
also borrow resources promised for app1 if it sees they arent in use, 
in order to give app2 a bigger chunk, then as soon as app1 says "yo" os 
x will send it back over.

this is part of the reason that processor intensive apps could "freeze" 
os 9-the apps were in complete control of the resources, and the os 
didnt have much of a say. in os x this all changed, allowing the os to 
disallow apps to hog resources and bog down the entire system.

the above is quite an elementary definition of cooperative 
multitasking, protected memory and such, but might help some....?  so 
in conclusion, get more ram, because os x will make sure it gets put to 
use somewhere for something-os x thinks outside the os 9 box when it 
comes to ram.

sandor


On Friday, October 17, 2003, at 05:33  PM, lavode at comcast.net wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> OK, I know that more RAM is good.  However, I also know that there is 
> a point of diminishing returns.  I have 600+ mb in my PowerMac 7300 
> running OS 8.6, and it could just as well have 400 mb and it would 
> still work just as well.
>
> I also have a Yikes with 300mb RAM running 10.2.8.  The question is, 
> will I get a noticeable increase in performance by adding more RAM?  
> Not knowing how much of a memory hog X is, I don't want to add RAM 
> when it won't do me much good.  I don't render, and don't have a lot 
> of memory intensive applications.
>
> TIA,
> Lavode
>