high memory usage fedora 3

[Nigel Wade]

sid wrote:
> Hi..
> I am new to linux. I recently installed fedora 3 on my laptop (Dell
> latitude D600, 1.6 Ghz, 1 GB RAM and 1 GB swap).This a scenario that i
> face. i login into my system for about 30-40 minutes working with
> eclipse java ide, evolution, a couple of terminals and one or two other
> programs. The memory usage shoots to 90%...i close all applications. and
> open just one terminal to run top. I still see more than 70% memory
> usage. Why is this. Is there a problem with my installation or do you
> guys face the same problem?
> The partial output of top after I have closed all applications is given
> below. I have used x and M to sort by memory usage  to show you the
> processes using significant memory. Plz help...
> thanks
> Sid
> 
> Tasks:  84 total,   1 running,  83 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  0.7% us,  0.3% sy,  0.0% ni, 98.7% id,  0.0% wa,  0.3% hi,
> 0.0% si
> Mem:   1035268k total,   702652k used,   332616k free,    33816k buffers
> Swap:  1108444k total,        0k used,  1108444k free,   419888k cached

The "419888k cached" is the important figure. This tells you that the system 
currently has 400MB of physical memory being used for caching the 
filesystem, thus greatly reducing the latency of filesystem access (if the 
file is in the cache).

This is a Good Thing.

If the memory being used for the cache is needed for running programs it 
will be released.

-- 
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
             University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail :    nmw at ion.le.ac.uk
Phone :     +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555