General Question About Memory and Performance

[splais]

I have a Macbook Pro with 8GB of memory. Since I downloaded "Memory Clean" I have noticed that I generally have around 3.5-4.0GB of free memory. I was surprised at just how much memory was being used when I wasn't really doing anything.

A general question. If I increased my memory to 16GB would that noticeably improve my computers performance?

System Report for my computer:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,3
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.70f5
Serial Number (system): C02FW0S8DF93
Hardware UUID: DD8D9037-5C8F-5327-910D-B7DFAF442C79

 

[bobtomay]

If you generally have 3.5-4GB free out of 8GB, increasing to 16GB will do nothing toward providing any noticeable performance improvement.

 

[McBie]

Main question here is ..... what are you using your computer for ?
Internet browsing & Mail or are you doing video work or database work ?
If your machine is currently not swapping memory from and to the swap file on the disk ( use Activity Monitor to verify this ) then there is no need to add memory. You could add memory but it will not be cost efficient.

Cheers ... McBie

 

[bobtomay]

^^^ better answer

 

[vansmith]

I have noticed that I generally have around 3.5-4.0GB of free memory.

If you've got free memory already, adding more isn't going to reduce how much you're using (just like adding more gas to a car doesn't make it more fuel efficient). In fact, adding more memory may result in increased usage. For example, the kernel_task process, which often uses more memory than anything else, will likely use more if it's available.

 

[splais]

thanks for all the answers, what i wanted to know

 

[splais]

A followup question just for information. I've noticed that as I do things the RAM use obviously goes up and down. What does the computer do when it runs out of available RAM?

 

[McBie]

It will start writing memory ( RAM ) to disk ( the swap file ) and load it back when needed.
This will slow the machine down as it can only write and read at the speed of the disk, which is a lot slower than memory.

Cheers ... McBie

 

[harryb2448]

Memory Clean is a real poser. Some tell us it is an outstanding utility, whilst others say it is nothing but the worst kind of snake oil, like so many utilities and applications available today. Personally would never use it, rely on Activity Monitor in Utilities.

 

[splais]

thanks, will check out Activities Monitor.

 

[harryb2448]

Where is chas m my backup authority on Memory Clean?

 

[chas_m]

Put me in the "snake oil" camp.

Memory "cleaners" don't do anything the system wouldn't do on its own in time. OS X does a great job of managing RAMA all on its own, these "cleaner" apps are just putting on a show for you IMO.