Database Users

[Q] Average free memory in Nexus 10

Hi I just got a tablet but its not nexus 10 with 2gb of ram it only has 1gb of ram. I am contemplating on exchanging my tablet for a nexus 10 and I would like to ask you folks out there what on average is the available free ram on a nexus 10?
I think to average it out this post needs to have a lot of input.
PS Reply

I generally get 400-800 MB free of ram

Looking at free ram is a rather pointless measurement considering Android is Linux, and unix systems go by a "free ram is wasted ram" philosophy. With that said, mine is currently sitting at 541.5MB.

700M
kilopopo said:
Hi I just got a tablet but its not nexus 10 with 2gb of ram it only has 1gb of ram. I am contemplating on exchanging my tablet for a nexus 10 and I would like to ask you folks out there what on average is the available free ram on a nexus 10?
I think to average it out this post needs to have a lot of input.
PS Reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks
Thanks guys now i have an idea of how much memory is available on average.
I wonder if having 2gb is better than having 1gb of ram

Please search first, this question is near pointless and been asked a million times here, but to answer your question more ram never hurts but Android will hardly if ever run into low ram situations with 1gb of total system memory of more. Linux is different than a windows system and likes to use all available ram and when it needs ram for a task will kill tasks that have been idle for too long to free it up so task killers and monitoring free ram are time and battery eating tasks and you will be happier if you kick the habit ASAP
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

the nexus 4 has around 1800mb ram and the nexus 10 should have a similar amount

maxorelad said:
the nexus 4 has around 1800mb ram and the nexus 10 should have a similar amount
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Probably not, larger resolution means it needs more dedicated to vram
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

ECOTOX said:
Probably not, larger resolution means it needs more dedicated to vram
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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It's kind of false advertising then. For example, should I sell my computer as having 10GB of RAM, even though only 8GB is actually usable as System RAM, with the other 2GB as Video RAM? Kind of silly imo... should of just put 2GB in the thing and then a separate dedicated amount for video.
But in any case, is there any actual hard proof this is what is happening? I wouldn't know where to begin to look really, but I'd love to see a section of the kernel code that actually dictates this, instead of just hearing "assumptions"

espionage724 said:
It's kind of false advertising then. For example, should I sell my computer as having 10GB of RAM, even though only 8GB is actually usable as System RAM, with the other 2GB as Video RAM? Kind of silly imo... should of just put 2GB in the thing and then a separate dedicated amount for video.
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When you buy any computer without a dedicated video card you loose ram to the video processing. When you buy a 10gb computer you only get maybe 9gb usable. Same with hard drives due to formatting limitation, it's not false advertising that's how much it has. Consumer ignorance is not the same as false advertising. The system needs some dedicated to video, audio, radio, and anything else that can't have variable sizing. they told you the right amount but you didn't know that just like the desktop you buy in a store the total available isn't the same as user available because the system needs some of it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 PM ----------
espionage724 said:
But in any case, is there any actual hard proof this is what is happening? I wouldn't know where to begin to look really, but I'd love to see a section of the kernel code that actually dictates this, instead of just hearing "assumptions"
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Click to collapse
Yes there is a section of kernel code that dictates it go look at the source. If it's like the samsung vibrant it will be in the kernel config file
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

yes we can

ECOTOX said:
When you buy any computer without a dedicated video card you loose ram to the video processing. When you buy a 10gb computer you only get maybe 9gb usable. Same with hard drives due to formatting limitation, it's not false advertising that's how much it has. Consumer ignorance is not the same as false advertising. The system needs some dedicated to video, audio, radio, and anything else that can't have variable sizing. they told you the right amount but you didn't know that just like the desktop you buy in a store the total available isn't the same as user available because the system needs some of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose this does make sense; but even with the computers I owned that had integrated graphics, they had some kind of onboard memory attached to them. I could choose to alter how much additional VRAM I needed from system RAM, but didn't have to.
As for my Desktop, out of the 8GB installed in my system, only 1MB (according to Windows anyway) is unusable as "Hardware Dedicated".
Regardless, every other Android device I've seen has a specified amount of RAM it comes with on the box, and has "approximately" the same amount shown as usable in the OS itself. The Nexus 10 says 2GB, with only 1.6GB usable, which isn't nearly "as approximate" imo.

espionage724 said:
I suppose this does make sense; but even with the computers I owned that had integrated graphics, they had some kind of onboard memory attached to them. I could choose to alter how much additional VRAM I needed from system RAM, but didn't have to.
As for my Desktop, out of the 8GB installed in my system, only 1MB (according to Windows anyway) is unusable as "Hardware Dedicated".
Regardless, every other Android device I've seen has a specified amount of RAM it comes with on the box, and has "approximately" the same amount shown as usable in the OS itself. The Nexus 10 says 2GB, with only 1.6GB usable, which isn't nearly "as approximate" imo.
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i can say with 100% certainty that any computer you have owned without a dedicated GPU that has been made within the past 5-6 yrs has at least 100-200mb dedicated to vram. If it even supports 8gb it is gernerally around 512mb that is dedicated as it probably is within 3-4yrs old and probably has an AMD radeon HD gpu or intel HD GPU which use 256mb at minumum. The only way you would have only 1mb taken is if you have a dedicated GPU or it is reading it wrong. I've worked with computer for over a decade and have had to explain this upwards of 100 times I can also say that every single android device with more than 256mb of ram has at LEAST 100-300mb of its ram dedicated to the GPU, the cell/wifi radio, hardware video decoder, camera, and anything else it needs. Samsung vibrant has about 200mb for those dedicated from the 512mb, galaxy nexus has about 300mb dedicated out of 1gb, hp touchpad about the same. Larger the resolution the more you need so 400mb to the system isnt very odd. Id say min 256mb for the resolution on the N10 for video, then probly 100-128mb for the hardware video decoder and 50mb or so for camera and for wifi radio. that totals to approximately 400mb depending on the exact amounts because i dont know them for the n10. If you really want to you can go into the kernel config and change the amounts, but you will break hd playback, picture taking,etc. Which is what would happen if i configured the amounts too low in my vibrant kernels.
---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
ps, why must auto correct fail me sometimes? ^ x3
and to add to that, look at the amount of user available storage. Do you have the entire 16 or 32gb you bought? no, you will loose about 1-2gb from formating then another 1-2gb for the system and app storage

New Nexus10 shows total ram as 1.2gb via android assistant

New nexus 10 user here. came from an htc flyer. Anyways, android assistant shows total ram on my device as 1.2gb or so. Specs say thing has 2gb. Does any ones else's device report that or is that the way android assitant reports it? I am just wondering if i have a new device with ram issues. Also, with not much running, this things shows available ram like my Vivid (about 300gb or so ) and it is supposed to have 2x the amount of Ram.
Thanks for any insight.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2

What your seeing is correct. The Nexus 10 has 2GB of RAM on the motherboard, but 800MB of it is reserved specifically for the GPU. I still think it's kind of cheap marketing, but meh.
Before 4.2.2, only close to 400MB was reserved for the GPU, but apparently you could go past that limit in some cases, and it would cause userspace RAM fragmentation.

espionage724 said:
What your seeing is correct. The Nexus 10 has 2GB of RAM on the motherboard, but 800MB of it is reserved specifically for the GPU. I still think it's kind of cheap marketing, but meh.
Before 4.2.2, only close to 400MB was reserved for the GPU, but apparently you could go past that limit in some cases, and it would cause userspace RAM fragmentation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could copy that everytime a new user asks about this ram "issue", which isn't, since I saw you answered like 7 times? the same thing.

espionage724 said:
What your seeing is correct. The Nexus 10 has 2GB of RAM on the motherboard, but 800MB of it is reserved specifically for the GPU. I still think it's kind of cheap marketing, but meh.
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Click to collapse
Not cheap marketing, laptop manufacturers have been doing this for ages with integrated video cards. It's a little deceptive but it's the norm for this. I the Galaxy Nexus also did it. I am not certain but I don't think any mobile device has dedicated video ram, I believe it just is not reported as missing.
The Galaxy Nexus shows as having 893mb of ram.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

lKBZl said:
You could copy that everytime a new user asks about this ram "issue", which isn't, since I saw you answered like 7 times? the same thing.
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Is there a problem with how I'm describing it? The Nexus 10 does have 2GB of RAM, with close to 800MB (I forget the exact amount but I know I reported it before) being reserved strictly for the GPU, and not userspace apps. I know it's not an "issue", but how I feel about it doesn't really mean too much at all though.
altimax98 said:
Not cheap marketing, laptop manufacturers have been doing this for ages with integrated video cards. It's a little deceptive but it's the norm for this. I the Galaxy Nexus also did it. I am not certain but I don't think any mobile device has dedicated video ram, I believe it just is not reported as missing.
The Galaxy Nexus shows as having 893mb of ram.
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Click to collapse
I agree it's kind of normal, but it's how much is missing that still bothers me. The Galaxy Nexus is said to have 1GB of RAM, and if what you say is true, you're missing only a tiny bit over 100MB (which, is nothing imo). The Nexus 10 on the other hand is missing nearly half the advertised amount (not literally "missing" but not usable under normal conditions).
I'm pretty sure most laptop GPU's don't take "that" much RAM either when it's not dedicated (most I've seen was 512MB shared video memory, on laptops containing 4GB of RAM; very small amount really)

espionage724 said:
What your seeing is correct. The Nexus 10 has 2GB of RAM on the motherboard, but 800MB of it is reserved specifically for the GPU. I still think it's kind of cheap marketing, but meh.
Before 4.2.2, only close to 400MB was reserved for the GPU, but apparently you could go past that limit in some cases, and it would cause userspace RAM fragmentation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the more i know and read about the n10 the more i feel being ripped off

Ripped of? For around $400-$500, you're getting a device with extremely high resolution (highest in its class EVER), a 1.7 GHz CPU with up to 2.1 possible, a software and hardware support guarantee from Google, an extremely competitive GPU, and future-proofing with the latest Android versions for years to come.
That sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me. I know I've loved my N10.
If you're having issues with your device its likely a manufacturing fault, just return it to Google and get a new one.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app

hpl912 said:
the more i know and read about the n10 the more i feel being ripped off
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Rip off?
Have you checked how much usable space you have after formatting a 1GB drive? The N10 delivers the specified HW but there is always overhead required to use it, no matter which OS you have. That is just a fact of computing. I would argue that you get to use ALL of the N10 hardware when you accurately account for the a running OS and apps.
Compared to Win8 RT, Android (Linux) is a skinny fashion model. Go look at the Win8 RT tablet specs then see how much usable HW is left after it boots up. Here is just one example.

espionage724 said:
Is there a problem with how I'm describing it? The Nexus 10 does have 2GB of RAM, with close to 800MB (I forget the exact amount but I know I reported it before) being reserved strictly for the GPU, and not userspace apps. I know it's not an "issue", but how I feel about it doesn't really mean too much at all though.
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Lol why do you take it like this? I just said you answered a lot of times the same, and you could copy it since i'm sure you'll have to answer that again' Where's the problem?

espionage724 said:
Is there a problem with how I'm describing it? The Nexus 10 does have 2GB of RAM, with close to 800MB (I forget the exact amount but I know I reported it before) being reserved strictly for the GPU, and not userspace apps. I know it's not an "issue", but how I feel about it doesn't really mean too much at all though.
I agree it's kind of normal, but it's how much is missing that still bothers me. The Galaxy Nexus is said to have 1GB of RAM, and if what you say is true, you're missing only a tiny bit over 100MB (which, is nothing imo). The Nexus 10 on the other hand is missing nearly half the advertised amount (not literally "missing" but not usable under normal conditions).
I'm pretty sure most laptop GPU's don't take "that" much RAM either when it's not dedicated (most I've seen was 512MB shared video memory, on laptops containing 4GB of RAM; very small amount really)
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I stand corrected about the Galaxy Nexus. It reports at 693 available ram.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

Enormous RAM usage

Since updating to KitKat RAM usage has been awful, 700 MB is minimum. It kills my multitasking because every background app is killed.. Any sollutions? Thanks

Same here. Google said they will improve ram usage with kitkat but they made it more trash.

matejilic said:
Since updating to KitKat RAM usage has been awful, 700 MB is minimum. It kills my multitasking because every background app is killed.. Any sollutions? Thanks
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Interesting as I'm using a custom ROM (see my signature) which is android v4.4.2 and I'm consistently seeing the lowest used memory since v4.3 took more for graphics. With 4.3 I was seeing 76% used now I see as low as 53%. With regular 66%.
If apps are restarting it is not noticeable.

3DSammy said:
Interesting as I'm using a custom ROM (see my signature) which is android v4.4.2 and I'm consistently seeing the lowest used memory since v4.3 took more for graphics. With 4.3 I was seeing 76% used now I see as low as 53%. With regular 66%.
If apps are restarting it is not noticeable.
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How much ram is that percent out of though? Third tablet is supposed to have 2 GB ram and I know they say the GPU takes some but I'm also only seeing about 800 mega bytes actually used and out of that only around 200-300 free. It's not really an issue for me but why dues the GPU need so much
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

abdel12345 said:
How much ram is that percent out of though? Third tablet is supposed to have 2 GB ram and I know they say the GPU takes some but I'm also only seeing about 800 mega bytes actually used and out of that only around 200-300 free. It's not really an issue for me but why dues the GPU need so much
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
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I was referring to a Nexus 10, so 2GB. Performance/screen resolution is the reason for so much memory allotted to the GPU. Combined with the OS requirements it seems as if there should be more available but PC's have been allocating memory to GPUs for years.
We have already seen some tablets with 3GB and soon with 64 bit ARM processors and an Android OS to match we'll see 4GB tabs.
As you mentioned unless you are impacted this is much to do about nothing.

3DSammy said:
I was referring to a Nexus 10, so 2GB. Performance/screen resolution is the reason for so much memory allotted to the GPU. Combined with the OS requirements it seems as if there should be more available but PC's have been allocating memory to GPUs for years.
We have already seen some tablets with 3GB and soon with 64 bit ARM processors and an Android OS to match we'll see 4GB tabs.
As you mentioned unless you are impacted this is much to do about nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was talking about my nexus 10 too.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Why only 3.5 GB Ram? Mismanagement of RAM?

So my question for the XDA community is why are only 3.5GB of the 4GB DDR4 available? Is this just poor optimization or mismanagement on Samsung's end?

cepheid46e2 said:
So my question for the XDA community is why are only 3.5GB of the 4GB DDR4 available? Is this just poor optimization or mismanagement on Samsung's end?
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Click to collapse
It's neither mate. It reserves 432mb....so that's 4gb lol
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

I don't know about, I have desktops and laptops than run on 4GB, why would a stupid phone need that much ROM.

ilogik said:
I don't know about, I have desktops and laptops than run on 4GB, why would a stupid phone need that much ROM.
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A PC uses DDR while a mobile uses LPDDR RAM. A PC RAM performance is considerably higher than a power optimized mobile RAM. Also, do consider it's a 64-bit processor, so it will eventually consume more RAM compared to a traditional 32-bit processor due to its 64-bit address width & more.
So a 64-bit PC using 4 GB is equivalent to a mobile running on 4 GB. And so would be the reserved memory.

The Nexus 10 is suppose to have "2GB" of ram, but my Nexus 10 only have "1099"

The Nexus 10 is suppose to have "2GB" of ram, but my Nexus 10 only have "1099"
The Nexus 10 is suppose to have "2GB" of ram, but my Nexus 10 only have "1099"
what is problem?
android 5.1.1

Round it up and it's 2gb

Mine is also showing 1GB of Ram and its runs slow. Is it supposed to have 2?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

In later software releases, they decided to allocate more of the ram to the video. Search this forum for a more detailed answer if interested.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

if i recall correctly, about 900mb is reserved for the gpu.

veitograf said:
if i recall correctly, about 900mb is reserved for the gpu.
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I remember finding this out a few years ago and being pretty upset at the time. The tablet advertises 2GB of RAM, and yet about 1GB of it is only usable for the expected advertising purpose.
It's like me advertising my computer has 12GB of RAM, meanwhile, 4GB of that is dedicated to the GPU (which on it's own isn't really a problem, but it would make more sense to advertise 8GB)

Even then it would still be 12GB.
Let me get a little technical.
If you have an APU based PC, the GPU is on the same die as the processor. So when you use the GPU portion of the APU, it will use the RAM. How much? It depends on the load.
You can still use all of it though, so it isn't a problem. When you aren't using the GPU, all of your RAM is available.