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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > How much memory is your 'kernel_task' using?

How much memory is your 'kernel_task' using?
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is not
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Apr 15, 2012, 12:24 PM
 
I am impressed. I remember the old days when it used less than 100 MB.

This is under Lion.



Cheers!
     
angelmb
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Apr 15, 2012, 12:41 PM
 
It's half that here.

OS X Lion
Mac Pro 8 GB RAM
     
richwig83
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Apr 15, 2012, 12:41 PM
 
370mb
MacBook Pro 2.2 i7 | 4GB | 128GB SSD ~ 500GB+2TB Externals ~ iPhone 4 32GB
Canon 5DII | EF 24-105mm IS USM | EF 100-400mm L IS USM | 50mm 1.8mkII
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is not  (op)
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Apr 15, 2012, 12:44 PM
 
Forgot to say, is a 16GB RAM fast silver machine.
     
mduell
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Apr 15, 2012, 04:54 PM
 
Why are you impressed by the Real Mem usage?
     
sek929
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Apr 15, 2012, 08:06 PM
 
About 300MB, 4GB RAM on a C2D
     
Camali
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Apr 16, 2012, 12:11 AM
 
2.54 gb on a 32gb machine! WTF!
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 16, 2012, 01:47 AM
 
So:

32 GB RAM - 2500 MB
16 GB RAM - 850 MB
8 GB RAM - 370-450 MB (600 MB on my machine)
4 GB RAM - 300 MB

I see a rough pattern here.
     
is not  (op)
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Apr 16, 2012, 02:45 AM
 
More:

2GB RAM 10.5.8 - 84 MB
     
is not  (op)
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Apr 16, 2012, 02:53 AM
 
same machine

2GB RAM 10.4.11 - 63MB
     
angelmb
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Apr 16, 2012, 03:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
Why are you impressed by the Real Mem usage?
It is not like it is a ridiculously small sum, without a proper explanation it might be perceived as excessive bleeding of RAM.
     
P
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Apr 16, 2012, 03:51 AM
 
There are little stubs that keep track of each page of virtual memory and there is the disk cache - I suspect that those two are most of what we're seeing.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
OreoCookie
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Apr 16, 2012, 04:47 AM
 
My kernel memory usage has exploded after installing tenscomplement's ZFS implementation. But I know what it is used for and that my installed memory is going to good use.

Remember: free memory is wasted memory. All you want to avoid is having too many page-outs.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
mduell
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Apr 16, 2012, 12:12 PM
 
850MB kernel_task Real Mem on a 12GB machine.

Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
It is not like it is a ridiculously small sum, without a proper explanation it might be perceived as excessive bleeding of RAM.
It's a completely irrelevant sum. What, exactly, do you think this quantity represents?

Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Remember: free memory is wasted memory. All you want to avoid is having too many page-outs.
This isn't even a free memory issue; useful uses of free memory generally don't go into kernel_tasks's Real Mem.
     
angelmb
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Apr 16, 2012, 01:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
850MB kernel_task Real Mem on a 12GB machine.

It's a completely irrelevant sum. What, exactly, do you think this quantity represents?
I have no idea, no geek here.
     
Thorzdad
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Apr 16, 2012, 02:55 PM
 
218.5MB
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mduell
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Apr 16, 2012, 04:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
I have no idea, no geek here.
Real counts all sorts of pages shared with various other processes. If you add the Private Mem column you can see how much memory kernel_task is actually using exclusively.

It's like when people open Activity Monitor and see the "VM size" is 200+ GB and freak out about memory usage or swapping or whatever. It's completely irrelevant.
     
chabig
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Apr 16, 2012, 06:06 PM
 
I have a 13" MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and my kernel task is using the "correct" amount. How do I know? Because Apple engineers built it that way.
     
Don Pickett
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Apr 17, 2012, 01:21 AM
 
1.5 GB on a Mac Pro with 16 GB RAM.
The era of anthropomorphizing hardware is over.
     
angelmb
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Apr 17, 2012, 04:34 AM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
Real counts all sorts of pages shared with various other processes. If you add the Private Mem column you can see how much memory kernel_task is actually using exclusively.
Look at that !!
Private Mem. for kernel_task: 83,5 MB
Real Memory for kernel_task: 409,8 MB
     
OreoCookie
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Apr 17, 2012, 05:00 AM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
This isn't even a free memory issue; useful uses of free memory generally don't go into kernel_tasks's Real Mem.
My point was that complaining about how much memory the kernel process uses is akin to complaining that OS X eats up all free RAM: it's not an issue the average user should ever worry about.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
mduell
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Apr 17, 2012, 10:52 AM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
Look at that !!
Private Mem. for kernel_task: 83,5 MB
Real Memory for kernel_task: 409,8 MB
Real 730MB / Private 47MB with 12GB RAM
     
CharlesS
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Apr 17, 2012, 12:19 PM
 
Good news: if you're quick, you can buy this Mac, and then the OS and all your apps will take up no more than 128 KiB, guaranteed!

Ticking sound coming from a .pkg package? Don't let the .bom go off! Inspect it first with Pacifist. Macworld - five mice!
     
Waragainstsleep
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Apr 17, 2012, 12:24 PM
 
845MB with 8GB RAM on Lion.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
msuper69
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Apr 19, 2012, 03:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by CharlesS View Post
Good news: if you're quick, you can buy this Mac, and then the OS and all your apps will take up no more than 128 KiB, guaranteed!
He got 0 bids.
$99,995 for an old Mac is just stupid.
     
   
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