How much RAM do you have?

[intense.ego]

I just received a 2gb RAM module I ordered and am going to install it on the weekend. It will increase my ram from 512mb to 2.5 gb. How much RAM do you have? Is it sufficient? With RAM as cheap as it is, will you upgrade soon?

[NightwishFan]

I have 1gb, but with only 883 mb available because of my integrated card. I barely use 1/3 of it with Kubuntu hardy. It would be nice to have 2gb though.


free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 883 764 118 0 29 496
-/+ buffers/cache: 238 645
Swap: 2588 0 2588

[agim]

1GB.
And with Ubuntu, I never use as much as half (except when i run googleearth).

[bilal.17]

1GB, but i never use most of it

[seatex]

2 GB. Usually only using about 1/3rd of it though.

[SuperSon!c]

2GB but crave 4GB

[tbrminsanity]

2GB
Ubuntu (never exceeds 25% usage)
Windows (never exceeds 75% usage)

[cubeist]

2Gb ... which is plenty for day to day activities (web, email, etc) but is not nearly enough for the large photo editing I do... I am always chewing into my 5GB of swap....'been meaning to buy at least another 2GB

[Superkoop]

1GB (technically 940MB because of my integrated graphics card) I can easily use up to 2/3 of it. I have a tendency to really max out things, and use some heavy programs.
So my next computer I will get for college will have 2GB. I am pretty sure that will be perfect for me, I don't think I could get usage out of 4GB...but I could try! =)

[Kingsley]

How cheap is RAM? I'm thinking about upgrading my home desktop from 1 GB to 2 GB.

[damis648]

I got 4 gb.. never more than 20% used by ubuntu by up to 80% in vista :P.

[Joeb454]

Only 2GB :p That's on my laptop.

I plan to build a desktop in future with 4GB (the motherboard I want supports 8 :D)

[-grubby]

Sadly, only 512 MB. I really need more. Image editing is a pain, now that I'm actually starting to get into using GIMP. I made a white background into transparency, I'm so proud :D

[sports fan Matt]

384 mb ram And I dont think I can upgrade..I have an intel cellron HP Pavillion 7920..Id love to upgrade but i think the pc is maxed out

[sisco311]

1GB - 128MB(graphic card)(800Mhz DDR2)
Xubuntu 8.04 + Compiz + Deluge + Firefox(7+ tabs) + mplayer(Formula 1 - Barcelona) + Skype + Pidgin + ... = fast


[acme] ~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 877 870 7 0 4 257
-/+ buffers/cache: 609 268
Swap: 1537 299 1237
[acme] ~$ uptime
01:57:58 up 11 days, 2:32, 2 users, load average: 1.38, 0.89, 0.82

[treehouse]

512, which isn't enough, and I'm not sure whether to move up speeds and give up that stick, or to stick with 3200.

[Yes]

How cheap is RAM? I'm thinking about upgrading my home desktop from 1 GB to 2 GB.

It's about $25 for DDR2 800.

I have 2 Gb, but I only ever use about 400 Mb.

[LaRoza]

How cheap is RAM? I'm thinking about upgrading my home desktop from 1 GB to 2 GB.

What type of RAM do you have? For a desktop, I recommend Kingston ValueRAM.

(The type of RAM will be on the model, but I don't recommend you take it out without ESD protection.)

RAM is rather cheap, if you look in the right places. Amazon is where I go.

For me:


Primary Desktop: 2.5 GB
Secondary Desktop: 256 MB
Primary Laptop (ThinkPad): 2 GB
Secondary Laptop (iBook): 700 (I don't remember exact number) MB

[Bruno Barrera]

1.5 Gb but i never use more than half of it.

[new2*buntu]

512 MB, I don't have the greatest frame rates in the world when i play Urban Terror. NEED MORE RAM!!!

[NightwishFan]

UT ftw. :popcorn:

[cardinals_fan]

I have 1 gig, upgrading to 2 soon.

[kerry_s]

256mb the max for this old laptop.


$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 250 242 8 0 4 182
-/+ buffers/cache: 55 195
Swap: 956 0 956

[NightwishFan]

Debian is great. :KS

[schauerlich]

4GB, but it only recognizes 3GB, even in a 64bit OS.

[toupeiro]

2GB on this computer (Ubuntu dedicated)
4GB on laptop (Ubuntu x64 Wubi / x64 Vista)
32GB on work computer (RHEL)

[LaRoza]

2GB on this computer (Ubuntu dedicated)
4GB on laptop (Ubuntu x64 Wubi / x64 Vista)
32GB on work computer (RHEL)

32 GB?

[herbster]

∞

[scxtt]

32 GB?we have blade servers here at work w/ 32Gb of RAM ... might even have a Sun box or two w/ 48 ... also a few HP VMware servers w/ 32Gb ...

my laptop has 2gb and my (personal) server has 4gb

[Sinkingships7]

2 GB

only use about 350 on avg

[Saint Angeles]

i have two 1GB modules.

with ubuntu running compiz while watching a movie on mplayer, browsing with firefox 3 with a couple tabs open, pidgin, and system monitor... I've never seen it go above 15% usage.

I was thinking about upgrading my RAM but I now realize theres no point.

[RazorEdge]

2 GB. Gives me room to move.

[diablo75]

I have 768 MB.... and I have never needed anymore than that, thanks to Ubuntu.

[Istonian]

I have two gigs so I can completely bloat my os!

[Ozor Mox]

Desktop: 1 GB (very fast Ubuntu!)
Laptop: 512 MB (fast Ubuntu)
Shared desktop: 256 MB (average Ubuntu, might try Xubuntu out on this one)

[bikeboy]

For the last several years I have lived with 384 mb, but recently built a new computer from scratch. Opted for 4 gb because:
- It was cheap at the time
- I rarely upgrade, so this will need to last me a long time
- Virtualisation fun :)
- Just gives me complete freedom to use the computer how I want

So far the highest usage I've achieved is about 1.9 gb, with the usuals + Planeshift open (using a load lots of stuff into RAM option). Am yet to go with Virtualbox, Google Earth, Planeshift and possibly OpenMoko under Qemu all at once - but will do it just for fun at some stage :)

[KaliVoid]

Ubuntu + compiz on 380MB Ram working very good
problems only with heavy games

i want to buy a new box , but im not in a hurry Linux
work great on old PCs :)

[digger95]

512MB with 8MB shared video.

Old clunker still works great so I can't see upgrading anytime soon.

:)

[wolfen69]

I just received a 2gb RAM module I ordered and am going to install it on the weekend. It will increase my ram from 512mb to 2.5 gb. How much RAM do you have? Is it sufficient? With RAM as cheap as it is, will you upgrade soon?

i hope your computer is a lttle older, as newer ones need the ram to be installed in pairs.

[bikeboy]

i hope your computer is a lttle older, as newer ones need the ram to be installed in pairs.

Only to run in dual channel mode, giving a small (~5% ?) performance increase. More often than not, more RAM will give greater benefit than faster RAM.

[NJC]

Recently upgraded from 640MB to a smokin' 768MB PC133Mhz RAM (AMD Duron). Not sure if it's just because I have a faster hard drive with my Hardy install, but Firefox 3 loads cached pages fast!

[freduardo]

I've got 2 GB's in my laptop, but with the prices of ddr2 ram being what they are right now, I'll probably upgrade to 4 GB's soon.

My server has got 1 GB, which is more than enough.

My old laptop only has 192 MB of PC133 SDRAM, but I'll only upgrade that if I can find it at a very low price.

[iSplicer]

3GB with desktop
1GB with Laptop

[xelink]

I have 4GB RAM. It is more than enough. 2GB did seem a bit long in tooth as of late, but the diference is not huge.
with RAM as cheap as it is I may buy more, but I really don't see a tremendous need.

[xelink]

Only to run in dual channel mode, giving a small (~5% ?) performance increase. More often than not, more RAM will give greater benefit than faster RAM.

depends. in some things there is no tangible benefit in others the benefit is in excess fo 20%. it's mroe relevant AMD side than intel side though since AMD CPUs have an IMC and less cache(thus making more calls on the system memory and being more sensitive to its performance) whereas intel CPUs lack an IMC but have tons of cache(thus reducing the number of memory accesses but having a larger penalty for those accesses and being less sensitive to memory performance in general)

referring to the newer CPUs though esp the higher end one. a 256kb cache northwood celeron is cache crippled AND FSB crippled

[hessiess]

3 gig but rairly use more than 512 meg.

[xelink]

How cheap is RAM? I'm thinking about upgrading my home desktop from 1 GB to 2 GB.

2GB kits go for as low as $30-40 for the reasonably good stuff(with micron chips in them).

I'm an overclocker though so I kinda ignore most other things.that said fortunately the good stuff is only a few percent more expensive than the cheapest garbage out there.

[Canis familiaris]

I have 2GB RAM
It is a Corsair Value RAM 2 X 1 GB (Dual Channel) DDR2 667 and
Latency 5-5-5-15


free -m


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1899 1123 776 0 48 747
-/+ buffers/cache: 327 1571
Swap: 5561 0 5561

[Canis familiaris]

Out of my 2 GB however 128MB is shared for graphics.

[presston]

I have 1 Gb DDR 400 Dual (4x256) Samsung. as for video RAM - 128 Mb GeForce Fx5200 AGP

[tik]

4GB, but it only recognizes 3GB, even in a 64bit OS.

This is because of PCI device memory. PCI devices reserve memory at the top of the 4GB range for their own use. This is done in hardware to facilitate I/O to the devices. The side-effect of this is that not all of the 4GB space is usable by the operating system.

Many current mainboards have a configuration option 'remap memory' in the chipset-configuration section of the bios to make this memory available to the operating system.

... and by the way:

Workstation: 6GB
Notebook: 2GB
Server: 8GB

-Tim

[atomkarinca]

768 mb and it's more than enough since Dapper Drake. Actually Hardy is faster than Gutsy on this machine.

[popch]

PCI devices reserve memory at the top of the 4GB range for their own use. This is done in hardware to facilitate I/O to the devices. The side-effect of this is that not all of the 4GB space is usable by the operating system.

:lolflag:

"640 kB is more than enough for any one."

[Lightmaster]

2GB on this machine, and 512MB on my old Pentium 4.

[jespdj]

4GB, but it only recognizes 3GB, even in a 64bit OS.
My laptop has 4 GB and 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 sees about 3.9 GB.

jesper@jesper-laptop:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3961 1082 2879 0 29 563
-/+ buffers/cache: 489 3472
Swap: 8205 0 8205

There can be several reasons why the OS doesn't see all your RAM. The most common reasons are (1) you have a graphics card that uses part of the main memory (it doesn't have dedicated video memory), (2) you have memory remapping disabled in the BIOS (check your BIOS settings).

Less common reasons are that you have a motherboard that doesn't support 4 GB RAM properly (you could try updating the BIOS to the latest version), or that part of the memory is broken.

[Roberticus]

Acer Aspire 5520G: 2GB, need more when playing games :)
Since the graphics card (Geforce 8400G, dedicated 128MB) "loans" system memory when there are heavy graphics going on (up to 884MB).

Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo T (about 2-3 years old): 1GB, planning to install 2-3GB mem in autumn (the warranty goes out then).

[Jammerdelray]

2 gb, even 1 gb is more than plenty for Ubuntu in my experience, comes down to what your running on your system.

[Perfect Storm]

4GB DDR2 PC6400 800mhz Corsair


orion@orion:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3962 1776 2186 0 107 1013
-/+ buffers/cache: 654 3307
Swap: 713 0 713
orion@orion:~$

[insane_alien]

8GB, usually at 85% utilization. really helped me speed up renders and things.

[skymera]

So far i have 3GB.
Upgraded from 1GB standard to play some decent games without WinXP caching everything -_-


scott@scott-desktop:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3041 974 2066 0 210 308
-/+ buffers/cache: 456 2585
Swap: 1906 0 1906
scott@scott-desktop:~$


O, and my laptop has 192MB DDR ^_^

[cb951303]

2 GB. But I plan to upgrade it to 4GB just because CL5 800mhz rams are so cheap :D Also, it will help with my xp virtual machine

[amitabhishek]

2GB. 250 MB goes to nVidia. How do you guys find amount of RAM used?

[Saint Angeles]

system->administration->system monitor

[NightwishFan]

in terminal:

free -m

[Seventh Reign]

2 Gigs on this rig, and upgrading isnt an option on this MoBo. Havent touched the Swap in a week tho, so I guess its enough. I think the other rig has a Gig & a 1/2 with 2 slots available, but I barely ever use it.

[barbedsaber]

I have 2 gigs, in two 1 gig sticks.
I have a free slot, but I have never used more than a gig, EVER.
I will sell a gig of it, either that, or get into virtual machines to test out slightly more "hardcore" distros. (gentoo, maybe)

[xWHEELSx]

I just received a 2gb RAM module I ordered and am going to install it on the weekend. It will increase my ram from 512mb to 2.5 gb. How much RAM do you have? Is it sufficient? With RAM as cheap as it is, will you upgrade soon?

I have 2gb , and yes cheap ram is great, 2 gb will keep you happy for awhile and its so cheap, you cant go wrong :)

[Jack78]

1.5gb (2 sticks different sizes, brands and latency... but working perfectly :)) + 256mb for graphics.

[K.Mandla]

192Mb PC133. Still haven't used it all.

[Perfect Storm]

192Mb PC133. Still haven't used it all.

Amateur :mrgreen:

[aaaantoine]

My laptop came with 1GB, but I decided to upgrade to 4GB. Buying 4GB laptop memory only cost me $100. With it, I was able to kick my video memory back up to 128MB, and my Windows VM memory up to 512MB (with 32MB video memory).

So far, I have yet to use more than 60%, which is fine because before the upgrade, that would have been half my swap.

[forceofnature]

I have 4G on my desktop and laptop both running 64-bit also have a server running 1G with 32 bit OS version. And I have a spare 4 G of laptop ram laying in the drawer collecting dust.

[-grubby]

What type of RAM do you have? For a desktop, I recommend Kingston ValueRAM.

(The type of RAM will be on the model, but I don't recommend you take it out without ESD protection.)

RAM is rather cheap, if you look in the right places. Amazon is where I go.

For me:


Primary Desktop: 2.5 GB
Secondary Desktop: 256 MB
Primary Laptop (ThinkPad): 2 GB
Secondary Laptop (iBook): 700 (I don't remember exact number) MB


I think that would be 768 MB if I'm not mistaken, or if somebody hasn't already answered (I don't feel like reading 4 or 5 more pages of thread).

[OrangeCrate]

512 meg with Hardy/Enlightenment e-17. For everyday tasks, it's quick as a weasel.

[rickyjones]

My laptop came with 2GB of RAM and I'll be replacing that with 4GB in the near future.

-Richard

[billgoldberg]

1 gb of ram, but a little more than 300mb are for the graphics card.

With hardy (and previous ubuntu installs) I never once used more than 75% of that 7xxmb.

The only game I play is counterstrike source and I don't have problems running that at all.

[drascus]

I have one gig of ram and with all the processes I run at once I haven't even come close to using all of that memory. I might get a few more ram chips I want to switch to 64 bit distro but it is not worth doing unless you have more RAM. I think 2 GB is more then sufficient anything above 3 is overkill unless you are doing graphical design or lots of programming that requires you to run virtual machines. Or unless you want to run a 64 bit Distro and want all the power you can get.

[LaRoza]

I think that would be 768 MB if I'm not mistaken, or if somebody hasn't already answered (I don't feel like reading 4 or 5 more pages of thread).

That is it, thanks.

(And I did go back and read everything)

[arsenic23]

Main PC - 4gigs DDR2-800
2nd PC - 1gig PC3200
Family PC - 1gig PC2700
Server - 512mb PC3200
Laptop - 512mb PC3200
LaptopII - 512mb PC3200

[intense.ego]

For those that have RAM to spare, this (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BootToRAM) looks interesting.

[RiceMonster]

2GB. It's a nice amount :).

[pbpersson]

2GB is my new standard for all the Linux machines here. I was horrified to discover when I popped the hood on the one desktop that it only had 1GB, it is being upgraded to 2 this weekend. :)

I am planning to do development work with Oracle databases so I thought RAM might be a good thing to have

[cartisdm]

a wonderful 2GB:)

[NonPermissive]

1.5 GB. Running Xfce on Mint 4, I find I usually use between one third and one half of it, but that's mostly because of my 1600x1200 + 1024x768 display setup.

[OrangeCrate]

I see a lot of Windows mentality exhibited in this thread. The more the better seems to be the consensus, which is true of course, if you're a gamer, and/or dual booting Windows, but Linux is much more efficient with memory, which is why is performs well on older hardware, with limited RAM.

Linux Memory Management

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-175419-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-0.html?sid=619cda6e4dae2a0651c474f9f5e4dfcf

[Skorzen]

Actually, my laptop has 2 GB. It's recent.

[SuperSon!c]

I see a lot of Windows mentality exhibited in this thread. The more the better seems to be the consensus, which is true of course, if you're a gamer, and/or dual booting Windows, but Linux is much more efficient with memory, which is why is performs well on older hardware, with limited RAM.

Linux Memory Management

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-175419-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-0.html?sid=619cda6e4dae2a0651c474f9f5e4dfcf

or if you run VM's like me.

[gameryoshi600]

2GB of ram for me.

[happyhamster]

I have bo ram, and I must say bo ram kicks ***. A big improvement over en ram, which I had previously, although I admit it tasted much better. Total disasters were p ram (which didn't seem to work straight), page ram (which caused all kinds of havoc), and bler ram (which wouldn't stick to its socket for some reason)

I'm looking forward to jet ram though: that one should just fly...

[sports fan Matt]

What the hell is bo ram?

[Dark Hornet]

I'm rockin' 8 GB of PC6400 RAM in this box right now...and I tend to use about 60% or more of of it at times. But I like to play around with many different Virtual Machines, and other things :-# at the same time.

Darkhornet

[ubuntwinkel]

4 GB on a desktop, 1 GB on another desktop, and 1 GB on laptop. Will upgrade the laptop to something more, probably 4 GB. Though everybody seems to be saying 2 GB is enough. We'll see...

[cubeist]

What the hell is bo ram?

+1

and what is bler ram?

[scxtt]

it's a joke, and not that bad of one :p

[toupeiro]

32 GB?

Haha sorry, I almost forgot I posted in this thread.

Yes, our standard linux desktop has 32GB of ram in it. A recent bump from 16 because people were complaining about running out of RAM too frequently.

[SuperSon!c]

...

this is the best avatar on these forums.

[TenPlus1]

768mb total and 256mb of that is used for VirtualBox to run WinXP (for testing purposes only) hehehe...

Ubuntu runs perfectly...

[stinger30au]

i have 1 gig of ram on board, but wish i had 4 gig

[mips]

Desktop: 3GB
Laptop: 512MB, soon 1.25GB as I have a 1GB module in the mail.

[scouser73]

I have 1Gb of RAM but would love to get 4Gb.

[rolando2424]

512 mb

Enough for me. I rarely pass the 400 mb usage

[qazwsx]

Debian here as well

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 941 930 10 0 8 267
-/+ buffers/cache: 655 285
Swap: 972 41 931
:)
I need more. Constanly using swap sometimes +500 Mbytes.:(

[cubeist]

Debian here as well

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 941 930 10 0 8 267
-/+ buffers/cache: 655 285
Swap: 972 41 931
:)
I need more. Constanly using swap sometimes +500 Mbytes.:(


I understand your pain!

[aamukahvi]

4GB as of today. I had an Asrock mb which only supported 2GB but today I got a new (Asrock) motherboard which supports 4GB. (even 8GB but that's not the point).

Installed Ubuntu Hardy amd64 to take full advantage of it. And indeed, even flash works with clicks, no cli... :)

[PartisanEntity]

I bought 4GB of RAM yesterday for my laptop, paid €70.

[markp1989]

i have 2gb, and i hardly ever use then more then 1/4 of it

[intense.ego]

I just installed the RAM and the system automatically took advantage of it. Conky reports that 547mib/2.47gib is being used, but "free -m" reports these figures:


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2534 1160 1373 0 123 500
-/+ buffers/cache: 537 1996
Swap: 1160 0 1160


Does anyone know the reason for these differences?

[eragon100]

1 GB

More than enough, even for intense gaming (enemy territory: quake wars) :popcorn:

[intense.ego]

How is this possible?:


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2534 2463 70 0 139 1476
-/+ buffers/cache: 846 1687
Swap: 1160 30 1130


I am only using amarok, firefox 2, and ktorrent (and some other small applications). No VM or CS3, so why the high usage?


EDIT: conky (desktop system monitor thingy) only reports 828 MB usage.

[capink]

How is this possible?:


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2534 2463 70 0 139 1476
-/+ buffers/cache: 846 1687
Swap: 1160 30 1130


I am only using amarok, firefox 2, and ktorrent (and some other small applications). No VM or CS3, so why the high usage?


EDIT: conky (desktop system monitor thingy) only reports 828 MB usage.

conky is consistent with the above. conky reports only the amount of memory taken up by applications. It does not count buffers and cache. If you look at the results from free -m you will notice the value of memory minus cache and buffers (the first field in the second row) is about the same as what conky reports.

[Depressed Man]

2 GB for my laptop
1 GB for my desktop

[intense.ego]

conky is consistent with the above. conky reports only the amount of memory taken up by applications. It does not count buffers and cache. If you look at the results from free -m you will notice the value of memory minus cache and buffers (the first field in the second row) is about the same as what conky reports.

Oh, okay. Then, why is it that just before, only about 1gb was being used (including buffers and cache)? I opened amarok (with a 25,000 song library played off an external hard drive) around that time, so could this be the cause?

[vexorian]

768 MB

To me, it is more than enough.

[capink]

Oh, okay. Then, why is it that just before, only about 1gb was being used (including buffers and cache)? I opened amarok (with a 25,000 song library played off an external hard drive) around that time, so could this be the cause?

Maybe, I'm not sure. htop can shed more light on what is using so much memory in your machine.

[abuakel]

I had two 256MB of RAM.. which wasn't enough with Windows.. so I switched to Ubuntu.. and it worked nicely :) Then I switched one of the 256 MB with a 1GB.. and it's become a lot nicer :biggrin:
However, I'm dying for 2GB or more ;)

[HunterThomson]

When I ordered my computer I was planing on upgrading to 4GB with next pay check but I don't even need all of the 2GB I have now. I could see how video editing would need as much RAM as you can get but other then that it seems 1GB or maybe 1.5GB is all that Ubuntu needs. I am starting to wonder why I made a 4GB /swap that I never use

[zachtib]

4GB!

I figured there was no reason to get any less than the max on my new laptop

[MasterNetra]

1GB wish for 4GB (2GB for Native System and 2GB for Virtualbox)

I use 3Ds Max 8 for my College Classes and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Upgrade? Not likely, I'm on a Laptop. (Unless Ubuntu/Kubuntu starts using USB drives as RAM.)


4GB!

I figured there was no reason to get any less than the max on my new laptop

Last i heard there is up to 8GB of Ram not sure if thats one stick..might be...

[tashmooclam]

512mb RAM. Seems OK for the time being. Does more RAM speed up Google earth? I guess I need more then :)

[intense.ego]

1GB wish for 4GB (2GB for Native System and 2GB for Virtualbox)

I use 3Ds Max 8 for my College Classes and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Upgrade? Not likely, I'm on a Laptop. (Unless Ubuntu/Kubuntu starts using USB drives as RAM.)



Last i heard there is up to 8GB of Ram not sure if thats one stick..might be...

Upgrading the RAM on a laptop is actually pretty easy. I am a relative noob, and I had never changed the RAM on a desktop (let alone a laptop) before, but I managed to install the RAM on my laptop without any difficulty.

Look on your manufacturers website for a specific guide or a video. It makes it a lot easier.

[PartisanEntity]

Just realized that Ubuntu is only reporting 3gb of my 4gb?


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3000 486 2513 0 11 257
-/+ buffers/cache: 217 2782
Swap: 4182 0 4182

[NovaAesa]

I've got 2 GiB. I don't think I've ever gone over the 500MiB mark though :S
@PartisanEntity - are you running 32 bit edition? That might have something to do with it.

[Canis familiaris]

Just realized that Ubuntu is only reporting 3gb of my 4gb?


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3000 486 2513 0 11 257
-/+ buffers/cache: 217 2782
Swap: 4182 0 4182

You are using Ubuntu 32bit right? Unless I'm mistaken 32bit OSes do not recognise RAM over 3.2 GB.

[sharks]

I have 2 gb ddr2 ram and nvidia 9600 graphics and it isnt sufficient for my gaming in windows.

[mips]

Upgrade? Not likely, I'm on a Laptop. (Unless Ubuntu/Kubuntu starts using USB drives as RAM.)


What brand & model laptop do you have?

It's relatively cheap & easy to upgrade ram on a laptop.

[prshah]

Just realized that Ubuntu is only reporting 3gb of my 4gb?


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3000 486 2513 0 11 257
-/+ buffers/cache: 217 2782
Swap: 4182 0 4182

Enable PAE (Physical Address Extension) by compiling a custom kernel to get full use of 4Gb RAM in 32bit.

Or you can install ubuntu-server (PAE enabled by default) and then
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop to pull in the rest of the packages.

[Lostincyberspace]

wow all over you havequite abit more than me rifht now I only have a bout 154 right now not sure how I got that. I also have a whoping 266 mhz pocessor lets me do everything but power up!

[justifier]

well, 4gb ram in my (this) laptop its for the vista gaming (ducks)

[szymon_g]

How much RAM do you have?

not enough

[LaRoza]

Upgrade? Not likely, I'm on a Laptop. (Unless Ubuntu/Kubuntu starts using USB drives as RAM.)


USB devices can't be used as RAM.

Look at the bus speeds of RAM and USB. Look at the writing limitations of USB devices. The best thing USB can do it be a really slow swap (hard drive access is much faster), and wear down the drive.

[Joeb454]

Just realized that Ubuntu is only reporting 3gb of my 4gb?


total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3000 486 2513 0 11 257
-/+ buffers/cache: 217 2782
Swap: 4182 0 4182

You're only using 217Mb RAM??!! Are you using a lightweight DE by any chance?

[BradwJensen]

2.5 GBs :)

[regomodo]

7.5GB in total

[regomodo]

You're only using 217Mb RAM??!! Are you using a lightweight DE by any chance?

if done right gnome and kde3.5 can use less than that

[PartisanEntity]

You're only using 217Mb RAM??!! Are you using a lightweight DE by any chance?

I believe you are reading the data wrong. I am using 486MB RAM and in addition to this 217MB RAM as buffer or cache.

This on a normal Ubuntu install using GNOME. No applications were running at the time.

[SupaSonic]

I believe you are reading the data wrong. I am using 486MB RAM and in addition to this 217MB RAM as buffer or cache.

This on a normal Ubuntu install using GNOME. No applications were running at the time.

I always thought that 217 is actual RAM usage, 486 is with cache added.

[PartisanEntity]

I always thought that 217 is actual RAM usage, 486 is with cache added.

I am not sure actually, I assumed the two numbers were separate.

[lamborghiniwang]

I have 4GB installed on my 64bit Hardy machine. With compiz, Skype and Pidgin automatically turned on at bootup, usually around 400MB memory is used.

[intense.ego]

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2534 2463 70 0 139 1476
-/+ buffers/cache: 846 1687
Swap: 1160 30 1130


I am only using amarok, firefox 2, and ktorrent (and some other small applications). No VM or CS3, etc., so why the high usage?



Why? I notice that other people with lots of RAM don't seem to have the same problem.

[Joeb454]

I'm pretty sure (around 90%) that it's the middle line you need to be looking it, -/+ buffers/cache

I assume this because it would most likely be telling you the amount used MINUS the buffers/cache.

My conky reports the same as that middle line as well (just checked)

[Magnes]

I have 4GB, but I use only 3GB because I don't have time to install 64-bit version of Ubuntu right now (and I don't need that much memory to be honest).

[Dan_Dranath999]

2Gb.

Tried to install another 1 GB (two 512 Mb sticks) on a MSI K8T Neo2 Motherboard, but can't get the purple slots to work. (Need a BIOS upgrade maybe?)

[regomodo]

I have 4GB, but I use only 3GB because I don't have time to install 64-bit version of Ubuntu right now (and I don't need that much memory to be honest).

you don't have to use 64bit to use 4GB. If you compile your own kernel and enable PAE you should be fine.

[intense.ego]

I'm pretty sure (around 90%) that it's the middle line you need to be looking it, -/+ buffers/cache

I assume this because it would most likely be telling you the amount used MINUS the buffers/cache.

My conky reports the same as that middle line as well (just checked)

I understand that, but why is it that so much is taken for buffers/cache on my computer, but not on others' computers? Also, why does the OS resort to using Swap if there is ample RAM?


you don't have to use 64bit to use 4GB. If you compile your own kernel and enable PAE you should be fine.

That would probably take just as much time, if not more.

[regomodo]

That would probably take just as much time, if not more.

I guess if you haven't done it before, you could make a horrible mess


I understand that, but why is it that so much is taken for buffers/cache on my computer, but not on others' computers? Also, why does the OS resort to using Swap if there is ample RAM?

One word, swappiness. For some reason Ubuntu uses swap a lot whereas others don't.

[original_jamingrit]

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 506392 497880 8512 0 21268 138884
-/+ buffers/cache: 337728 168664
Swap: 995988 38184 957804
about 512 mb. All I need. All I really want. Laptop power.

[phr0ze]

5GB of RAM on the desktop, though I think the mismatch is causing a problem so 1GB will be coming out. Besides I think 32bit ubuntu isn't even coming close to using it.

I have 2GB in my EEE and that is capped at 1GB right now due to the default OS.

[capink]

I understand that, but why is it that so much is taken for buffers/cache on my computer, but not on others' computers? Also, why does the OS resort to using Swap if there is ample RAM?

As far as I understand, the buffer is used to store information that has been already loaded from the harddisk. So, whenver they are required again, they can be accessed much faster without needing to read them again from the harddisk.

So I think the amount of buffer depends more on how you are using your pc, rather that what applications you are using at the moment. For example if you opened a huge files to edit in open office, they are likely to take more buffer. Same goes for loading multimedia files. On the other hand, if you are just browsing the internet or typing short letters, you will not need a lot of buffer no matter how much ram is taken by the applications you are using.

What happens when the ram is full? The oldest piece of information in the buffer is discarded to allow space for applications if needed or for more recent information to be loaded in buffer. So the buffer will never take up RAM in expense of applications. The Idea here is to always utilize the maximum amount of RAM to run your system faster.

[intense.ego]

As far as I understand, the buffer is used to store information that has been already loaded from the harddisk. So, whenver they are required again, they can be accessed much faster without needing to read them again from the harddisk.

So I think the amount of buffer depends more on how you are using your pc, rather that what applications you are using at the moment. For example if you opened a huge files to edit in open office, they are likely to take more buffer. Same goes for loading multimedia files. On the other hand, if you are just browsing the internet or typing short letters, you will not need a lot of buffer no matter how much ram is taken by the applications you are using.

What happens when the ram is full? The oldest piece of information in the buffer is discarded to allow space for applications if needed or for more recent information to be loaded in buffer. So the buffer will never take up RAM in expense of applications. The Idea here is to always utilize the maximum amount of RAM to run your system faster.

Thank you. What you said really cleared up everything.

One more question: if the RAM is full, only then is the Swap used, right? I think I read somewhere that if the swap is being used, it is a sign of bad RAM performance. Is there any truth to this?

[Dakiraun]

On three machines...

Dell Precision M65 Notebook: 2G (expandable to 4G) - even pushing it, no where near capacity

Compaq Presario R3000 AMD Notebook: 1.25G (maximum RAM for the AMD version, the P4 R3000 can do 2G) - works great, lots of RAM left over.

PC (AMD Athlon64 X2 3800): 3G (expandable to 4G) - needless to say, no RAM issues whatsoever. Unlike XP, Ubuntu can actually use the full 3G properly. :)

[capink]

Thank you. What you said really cleared up everything.

One more question: if the RAM is full, only then is the Swap used, right? I think I read somewhere that if the swap is being used, it is a sign of bad RAM performance. Is there any truth to this?

I am by no means an expert on these matters, this is just my casual understanding. So don't take anything I say as an absolute fact.

To answer your question, I think it is more sign of not enough RAM. The more swap the system is forced to use, the worse the performace is going to be.

When the system needs more memory for applications and none is availabe, it will first flush the cache/buffer which is why it is essentially a free memory. At this point the system performance is not suffering. But when there is no more buffer to be flushed, the system starts using swap, and here the perfomance starts to suffer.

Also there are special circumstances when it is normal for the system to use a lot of swap like sleep and hibrenation. As all the contents of the RAM are pushed to swap to save energy (Well, most of it. I think the kernel cannot be swapped, but I am not sure). This is why the swap must be larger than RAM to accomodate all its contents in situations like these. When I first used linux, all guides I read recommeded making the swap twice the size of my RAM.

[EnergySamus]

1 GB of RAM. I am thinking about 1.5 GB though...

[intense.ego]

1 GB of RAM. I am thinking about 1.5 GB though...

With the price of RAM these days, I don't see why you shouldn't.

[uknowho008]

2G's but i have 8 waiting for my next build :P

[rickh57]

I have 1.5 gb for my Ubuntu box. (I got the box with 512mb, but got a 1gb DIMM from Fry's for $23 after rebate)

[chris4585]

My desktop 2gb, my laptop 4gb

[Maybe_Factor]

1GB of RAM, no swap in ubuntu....usually use about 300MB
in windows I frequently need upwards of 1.5GB so obviously Im using a large page file for that.

[BOZG]

3GB

I upgraded from 1GB a few months ago because of Vista.

[markp1989]

I just ordered 2gb for my eee, and as soon as that gets here, the old ram from the eee will be added to the other laptop, giving me a gig of ram in the other laptop.

got 2gb for £26, including postage

[intense.ego]

I just ordered 2gb for my eee, and as soon as that gets here, the old ram from the eee will be added to the other laptop, giving me a gig of ram in the other laptop.

got 2gb for £26, including postage

From where? I got mine for £22.79 (including post) from play.com . It was by far the best deal I could find, it was at least £28 from everywhere else.

[Twitch6000]

1gb ram hoping to get another 1gb soon.

[lswest]

2GB of DDR2 (128MB of it goes to my graphics chip)

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1899 777 1121 0 30 373
-/+ buffers/cache: 373 1526
Swap: 1027 0 1027

[markp1989]

From where? I got mine for £22.79 (including post) from play.com . It was by far the best deal I could find, it was at least £28 from everywhere else.

i got mine from play.com aswell

[dada1958]

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2014 1999 15 0 79 624
-/+ buffers/cache: 1294 719
Swap: 1937 0 1937Running Ubuntu and Kubuntu KDE 4 in a virtual box; I can live with 2 GB :)

[nkri]

2gb, which suits me very well for my specific needs.

[jimrz]

5504 Mb, of course that's across several boxes ;)

[FuturePilot]

My main PC has 2 GB
New laptop has 2 GB
My old laptop has 768 MB ← What I'm using right now.
My old PC has 192 MB

[acelin]

4GB Patriot EP+ Low Latency Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB