Database Develop

[Q] Full RAM after using a some apps... with a little analysis

After fixing some lags with I/O system by using filesystem LagFix I still have a Lag problem in my system and I think it's not related to Samsung.
I think this could be an Android problem.
After a fresh reboot I get 124MB of free RAM.
BUT... every day I need to reboot the phone because after 3 hours it became laggy.
Now I analysed this and read a bit about the memory management on several forums and was able to reproduce the lag 2minutes after reboot.
I just need to use much applications one after another to raise the RAM usage for every application.
When the free RAM reaches 40MB I think the system clears some pieces for using it for the app I now want to use and there is the LAG.
Is there any fix for Android not caching every activity of an application in the RAM?
Now for me Android feels like: Usage -> Full RAM -> Lag
Sorry for the new thread but after 2 hours of research I didn't find anything useful over search function.

Yea, every program should have as much ram available as their size. 2gig for program storage on sgs, so there should be the same amount of ram ;D Anyway, theres still less memory for programs on the sgs than for example in the N1. I'd say there is about 384MB of ram total on the sgs and not the 512 claimed.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Not just the RAM for the apps... there's much more...all mails from internet, all google talk conversations, the wather I checked out from internet with any widget, feels like every interaction is cached into the RAM until it reaches the 40mb mark and after that every interaction on my system is laggy... for example: opening the notification bar needs 2-3 seconds.
I already talked to N1 users with the same problem

DasLeo said:
I already talked to N1 users with the same problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heading out the door in a minute so can't comment on the rest, but I strongly disagree with that part of your statement.
As an N1 owner I've NEVER seen lag like I suffer on the SGS. Never seen the absolute FREEZE in the GUI like the SGS gets.
I'm running FroYo on the N1 now, so can't compare side-by-side to the SGS things like memory usage, but I don't think that's the issue here if you're going to use the N1 as a comparison, despite other users complaining of lag.
You might try Autokiller or the free memory manager app from the Market and see if that improves thing, they'll keep more or less memory free depending on settings. You could test how soon lag comes with default, minimal, and aggressive settings.

I never testet Froyo because everyone said, it's unstable but for me it seems like froyo has other RAM management than Eclair when you said you can't reproduce this problem.
I'm already using a task killer... I have my main apps ignored or excluded and most time there are 2 or 3 apps which will be killed after lock or time or what else.
What's the problem here... if I would use a PC with 512MB RAM and use only 10 small applications, it won't cache everything in the ram until it's full.

Hi, didn't read all the posts, but u should look into the RFS file system, which is samsung proprietery file system. It has a very bad implementation on android (i could be wrong). As for ram, the phone has 512 mb, but 128 are reserved for Gsm/data connection. Just think if you had an incoming call and all your ram was in use, u had to wait for the system to clear up some memory before being able to receive the call physiclly. That would be a long wait.
I could be wrong and sorry for the bad english.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.

rkantos said:
. I'd say there is about 384MB of ram total on the sgs and not the 512 claimed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing

tra33372 said:
Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DAMN!!! Nice app... it does exactly what I need cleans my RAM so I'll get 120MB and after that loading of apps is much faster than starting apps with Android included RAM cleaning.
It just cleans my RAM like a reboot but without the reboot
This should be a temporary solution until someone finds a better solution or until froyo is released.
I would like to have an application like this with an autoclean option on 2 hours

Guys please,
Getting off-topic here. Here is Android Development.
Not Q&A or General.
Please post in the right section.
Here is getting too many off-topics that pose no relation to Android Development.
Too cluttered.
Thanks

DasLeo said:
DAMN!!! Nice app... it does exactly what I need cleans my RAM so I'll get 120MB and after that loading of apps is much faster than starting apps with Android included RAM cleaning.
It just cleans my RAM like a reboot but without the reboot
This should be a temporary solution until someone finds a better solution or until froyo is released.
I would like to have an application like this with an autoclean option on 2 hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto killer is better.Its exactly the same as minfreemanager but can be made to apply at boot.Minfree manager resets itself at boot.

I use Memory Booster Lite (free version) app to free up memory, must do that manually but it works very well, if you buy the app it free up memory automaticly.

Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone does have 512mb of ram. It just isn't used properly.
MOJO783010 said:
Hi, didn't read all the posts, but u should look into the RFS file system, which is samsung proprietery file system. It has a very bad implementation on android (i could be wrong). As for ram, the phone has 512 mb, but 128 are reserved for Gsm/data connection. Just think if you had an incoming call and all your ram was in use, u had to wait for the system to clear up some memory before being able to receive the call physiclly. That would be a long wait.
I could be wrong and sorry for the bad english.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, wrong. The reserved ram is in the form of a ram disk, which seems to be a bit oversized. Not really sure why a ram disk is needed at all, personally.
sammy555 said:
Auto killer is better.Its exactly the same as minfreemanager but can be made to apply at boot.Minfree manager resets itself at boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the correct solution. the JF* series of firmwares have very bad default settings for killing unused apps. Use this app to set them a bit better and you shouldn't have any problems.

Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does have 512 of ram, but some is partitioned off for the phone, so that you can always receive phone calls. Just about every device does this, because users would be more upset if they couldn't pick up the phone until they had closed a bundle of running programs. Don't you think that people here would have noticed earlier if the SGS physically had less ram than claimed ?
As far as the OP is concerned, sounds like you are just running too many programs at once. Its not an android problem, its user error.
Any task manager, but particularly an auto-killer will set you right, although alternatively you could try not leaving every app open when you're finished with it. You think your PC would run ok if you left one game open while you opened another ?

DasLeo said:
I never testet Froyo because everyone said, it's unstable but for me it seems like froyo has other RAM management than Eclair when you said you can't reproduce this problem.
I'm already using a task killer... I have my main apps ignored or excluded and most time there are 2 or 3 apps which will be killed after lock or time or what else.
What's the problem here... if I would use a PC with 512MB RAM and use only 10 small applications, it won't cache everything in the ram until it's full.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't comparing a N1 on FroYo to the SGS on Eclair. My comments were in regard to when I was on Eclair, which was several months...FroYo's only been available for a couple of months. What I said was since I'm on FroYo now, I can't compare side-by-side, but my experience with an N1 on Eclair was never any lag problem or GUI freezes.
Anyways, I also suggested you try Autokiller, and you missed that or misunderstood it by saying you already run a Task Killer (which is generally considered a bad idea, but I see you picked up on Autokiller after someone else suggested it. Enjoy.
Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, all phones advertise the actual chip size in it, not the amount the system actually lets you use.

tra33372 said:
Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. This removes almost all lag I'm experiencing.

[Q] ignore Apps in 2.2 Task Manager

how the title says how can someone ignore Apps which are need like (sms time fix) when one clears the memory and not having to restart the app every time after clear memory

Just don't use the level 2 clear and you'll be fine. Only apps you should ever kill are the ones that show up in "Active Applications". Except for your launcher of course. Killing system apps and services is like shooting yourself in the foot.

ryude said:
Just don't use the level 2 clear and you'll be fine. Only apps you should ever kill are the ones that show up in "Active Applications". Except for your launcher of course. Killing system apps and services is like shooting yourself in the foot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How so? Could you elaborate?
I'm sincerely curious as to why the L2 clear is a bad idea.
Thanks, dude!

Senor Forum said:
How so? Could you elaborate?
I'm sincerely curious as to why the L2 clear is a bad idea.
Thanks, dude!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clearing L2 level cache kills essential android processes too, and system would again need to restart all the needed ones again. Read abt 'android memory management' (link in my signature), and see if that helps.

Senor Forum said:
How so? Could you elaborate?
I'm sincerely curious as to why the L2 clear is a bad idea.
Thanks, dude!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App data is stored in RAM so that you use less CPU the next time you run that app. RAM uses much much less power than CPU, why would you want to have empty RAM?
If an app in your task manager shows cpu % next to it, then close it because you don't want the CPU to be used at all.

As the previous two said, why would you need to have RAM free?
This is not like BBOS, which needs like 25% memory free in order to start an app.
The whole reason for having high RAM is to use it, if it is always free (unused) what benefit do you get from it?
Using task killers or freeing up memory in order to save battery is only going to drain your battery more.
Android loads programs into memory based on what it deems needs to be available to run quickly... and once you kill it, it will use CPU to load it again shortly thereafter.
CPU is a bigger drain on power than letting programs hang in memory.

[Q] memory usage

Good day!
Im new to xda-developers forum, just found a link in youtube while watching some stuff about galaxy note.
I have not discovered my galaxy note thoroughly yet coz its still new to me. Just wondering, the usage of memory without running any apps will go about 60%-70% percent. My temporary solution for this is to run task application and kill all exciting apps. Just wanna ask what kind of problem this may be?

No need to get alarmed by that. That's the way Android runs: it keeps apps in cache, so you can access them faster. When there's too much of them cached, the system kills off some apps.

chasmodo said:
No need to get alarmed by that. That's the way Android runs: it keeps apps in cache, so you can access them faster. When there's too much of them cached, the system kills off some apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your reply.
in this case, i cannot access on other apps that i'll run. just manually kill all the apps every-now-and-then.

Just remember: free memory is wasted memory. This is true for almost every piece of computing machinery out there.

inkanyamba said:
Just remember: free memory is wasted memory. This is true for almost every piece of computing machinery out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.
the only thing is, when i access on other apps like games. loading on the apps takes longer or even it crashes. maybe its because of the memory allocation of the apps or just there is no enough memory space to allocate the app.

JoshuaTumanda said:
Thank you.
the only thing is, when i access on other apps like games. loading on the apps takes longer or even it crashes. maybe its because of the memory allocation of the apps or just there is no enough memory space to allocate the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While what the other member said is true, unused memory is wasted memory, but the issue is exactly that. Android ends apps that you may be running to be able to open more apps, which I find bad.
While it is normal to find the amount of ram you have said already loaded and being used, I still don't like it.
There are times that I'm trying to multitask and I open an app and right away jump back into the previous app to find that Android OS has decided to close it, within 3 seconds of hitting the home button. It makes multitasking a little harder. But there are ways around this .
But still, I hope ICS fixes this issue. I don't need 200 of the 1 gig of ram in use, what I would like is to have 300 or so free to be able to multitask normally.

zkyevolved said:
While what the other member said is true, unused memory is wasted memory, but the issue is exactly that. Android ends apps that you may be running to be able to open more apps, which I find bad.
While it is normal to find the amount of ram you have said already loaded and being used, I still don't like it.
There are times that I'm trying to multitask and I open an app and right away jump back into the previous app to find that Android OS has decided to close it, within 3 seconds of hitting the home button. It makes multitasking a little harder. But there are ways around this .
But still, I hope ICS fixes this issue. I don't need 200 of the 1 gig of ram in use, what I would like is to have 300 or so free to be able to multitask normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats exactly my point. Thank you!

zkyevolved said:
There are times that I'm trying to multitask and I open an app and right away jump back into the previous app to find that Android OS has decided to close it, within 3 seconds of hitting the home button. It makes multitasking a little harder. But there are ways around this .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you please elaborate on the workarounds so that Android doesn't kill the background apps especially opera mobile

6Gb RAM utilization option

Just a thought about memory utilization....
So Oneplus 3 is the first mainstream (not the first overall) android phone with 6Gb. Apparently all that memory is not currently utilized. Most likely it is not fully utilized even on 4Gb phones. There is really no point in wasted RAM. Having a lot of open apps in memory is truly great and could be the best use for it, but it also can present some issues. Background apps on android are not always suspended in the best way and can waste resources (CPU, battery). Of course if app and system are optimized correctly this shouldn't happen, but unfortunately it is not always the case. While google optimizes the system with dose features etc, I'm wondering about a simpler option until the better one is built into the system.
RAM is 10 times faster than storage, so why not use a portion of it as a RAMDISK, like in old days (MS DOS times). For those who don't know, RAMDISK is a portion of RAM that is used as a temporary storage (like flash memory), that will be 10 times faster than permanent flash storage.
Basically out of 6Gb RAM that phone has (Oneplus 3), 3Gb would be used as regular RAM and 3GB would be used as a RAMDISK. RAMDISK completely looses all the data after reboot, but the good thing is that phones don't really need to be restarted often. So RAMDISK would be almost permanent. Lets say you have 100 apps on your phone. Out of those you use 30 all the time. It is a bit inconvenient when app that you use often (for example Facebook) is kicked out from the memory and has to reload from flash storage (slow). Instead you could have those 30 apps to be loaded/copied/synchronized to the RAMDISK during initial boot. If app is kicked from regular RAM and needs to be restarted/resumed it would load 10 times faster from the RAMDISK. During regular intervals and before reboot data/cache from RAMDISK can be permanently saved (synchronized) back to the flash storage. If you have your favorite app that keeps misbehaving in the background (uses too much CPU, doesn't let phone to go into deep sleep and kills battery) you can just have it removed from background processes (swipe away, greenify, kill it etc), but then it will be almost instantly reloaded from RAMDISK when you need it later. So in the end you would have all your favorite apps loading super fast, even if it is not currently running in the background. You would sacrifice some RAM for faster app loading, possibly also minimizing battery loss due to some bad apps.
My knowledge of Android system is very limited and I might be very mistaken regarding this option, it's implementation and benefits. I would love to hear what people with better knowledge can say on this topic.

Droff said:
Just a thought about memory utilization....
So Oneplus 3 is the first mainstream (not the first overall) android phone with 6Gb. Apparently all that memory is not currently utilized. Most likely it is not fully utilized even on 4Gb phones. There is really no point in wasted RAM. Having a lot of open apps in memory is truly great and could be the best use for it, but it also can present some issues. Background apps on android are not always suspended in the best way and can waste resources (CPU, battery). Of course if app and system are optimized correctly this shouldn't happen, but unfortunately it is not always the case. While google optimizes the system with dose features etc, I'm wondering about a simpler option until the better one is built into the system.
RAM is 10 times faster than storage, so why not use a portion of it as a RAMDISK, like in old days (MS DOS times). For those who don't know, RAMDISK is a portion of RAM that is used as a temporary storage (like flash memory), that will be 10 times faster than permanent flash storage.
Basically out of 6Gb RAM that phone has (Oneplus 3), 3Gb would be used as regular RAM and 3GB would be used as a RAMDISK. RAMDISK completely looses all the data after reboot, but the good thing is that phones don't really need to be restarted often. So RAMDISK would be almost permanent. Lets say you have 100 apps on your phone. Out of those you use 30 all the time. It is a bit inconvenient when app that you use often (for example Facebook) is kicked out from the memory and has to reload from flash storage (slow). Instead you could have those 30 apps to be loaded/copied/synchronized to the RAMDISK during initial boot. If app is kicked from regular RAM and needs to be restarted/resumed it would load 10 times faster from the RAMDISK. During regular intervals and before reboot data/cache from RAMDISK can be permanently saved (synchronized) back to the flash storage. If you have your favorite app that keeps misbehaving in the background (uses too much CPU, doesn't let phone to go into deep sleep and kills battery) you can just have it removed from background processes (swipe away, greenify, kill it etc), but then it will be almost instantly reloaded from RAMDISK when you need it later. So in the end you would have all your favorite apps loading super fast, even if it is not currently running in the background. You would sacrifice some RAM for faster app loading, possibly also minimizing battery loss due to some bad apps.
My knowledge of Android system is very limited and I might be very mistaken regarding this option, it's implementation and benefits. I would love to hear what people with better knowledge can say on this topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never mind, wrong post.

gee2012 said:
Did you read this http://www.xda-developers.com/how-t...-management-almost-double-the-apps-in-memory/.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not about fixing the number of apps that can be held in memory, it is about different use for the RAM. When you have 40 apps in the background some of them can kill the battery. That is probably why Oneplus limited the number of apps. RAMDISK could potentiality minimize the battery wasted by background apps (if they are not suspended correctly) by removing them from active memory and still allow fast restart when needed.

Droff said:
Did you read the post? It is not about fixing the number of apps that can be held in memory, it is about different use for the RAM. When you have 40 apps in the background some of them can kill the battery. That is probably why Oneplus limited the number of apps. RAMDISK could potentiality minimize the battery wasted by background apps (if they are not suspended correctly) by removing them from active memory and still allow fast restart when needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I corrected my post didn`t i?

gee2012 said:
I corrected my post didn`t i?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote reply while you did the correction. I think it is good to leave my reply there anyways, in case if someone else misreads the topic. Let me know if you think otherwise.

Droff said:
I wrote reply while you did the correction. I think it is good to leave my reply there anyways, in case if someone else misreads the topic. Let me know if you think otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its cool

Droff said:
Apparently all that memory is not currently utilized. Most likely it is not fully utilized even on 4Gb phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you explain further why you think it is not being utilised ?

Droff said:
RAMDISK could potentiality minimize the battery wasted by background apps (if they are not suspended correctly) by removing them from active memory and still allow fast restart when needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android can not address any RAMDISK, it just makes no sense here.

One Twelve said:
Could you explain further why you think it is not being utilised ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the amount of free RAM in average use. There will be plenty that is unused. Keeping lots of apps cached is the best use for the free ram, but in some cases those background apps need to be removed from the active memory to prevent app from keeping device awake (and killing battery as a result). For example RAMDISK would allow to greenify all the bad written apps, stopping them from draining the battery, but then reloading them back to the active RAM almost instantly (much faster than from flash storage), when user wants to access the app again.
This situation (RAM "waste") can sure change with advances in android system itself, but as of now I just think RAMDISK is not a bad option for new devices with a lot of RAM onboard. Apparently we will see android phones with 8Gb Ram pretty soon.
dragon-tmd said:
Android can not address any RAMDISK, it just makes no sense here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no such thing currently, but it doesn't mean that it cannot be created (at least in my understanding) and implemented via kernel or just an application (background service).
Here is info from WiKi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_drive
Here are the examples of programs/apps for PC:
http://www.radeonramdisk.com/software_downloads.php
http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk
Here some more info:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/260918/how_to_supercharge_your_pc_with_a_ram_disk.html
Plenty more can be found online.

I remember we used to do that on the HD2 - it was pretty cool!

blackalice said:
I remember we used to do that on the HD2 - it was pretty cool!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pity it was just Windows Mobile OS.

Droff said:
Look at the amount of free RAM in average use. There will be plenty that is unused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The impression i got that was not all that ram was not available and was reserved for the system. To the point one questioned that 6GB was available, felt like less.
How much RAM does the OP3 mention as free after a restart ?

One Twelve said:
The impression i got that was not all that ram was not available and was reserved for the system. To the point one questioned that 6GB was available, felt like less.
How much RAM does the OP3 mention as free after a restart ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shows about 4.5Gb free. I'm yet to fully test OP3 and see my average memory usage, but I doubt that I will have less than 2Gb free

Droff said:
It shows about 4.5Gb free. I'm yet to fully test OP3 and see my average memory usage, but I doubt that I will have less than 2Gb free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4.5GB free implies its working as stated.
You're saying in use that memory gets reserved and drops, that is more than it should.

Do u have any ideas how can that be done?
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------
That would be really cool
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Xperia U Lover said:
Do u have any ideas how can that be done?
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------
That would be really cool
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, there is no RAMDISK app for android at this time. I would love try it out myself. Unfortunately I don't have much coding experience to create this app (or kernel).
On a side note, after more time with a 6Gb phone I can see that this RAM can get utilized quite a bit. After editing the build.prop to magical number 42 and running bunch of apps (regular operation, nothing really extreme), the free cache reported by OS (developer options) is 1.2GB - 1.3GB. at the same time in RUNNING SERVICES it shows 2.8GB free. SYSTEM got bloated to 2.0GB
From what I can see, the apps that I use didn't misbehave so far and even with such heavy load on RAM, my battery didn't take a hit. As a matter of fact I'm very surprised by battery performance so far, but I'm only 1/4 way through.
That being said, I would still love to create 2Gb RAMDISK from that 6GB and play with it more.

Man your battery life is really good!
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Actually, my RAM is well used and i am grateful for having 6 GB in the phone, that is, because i am using two profiles and on 4GB phones they were always operating at the limit. with the oneplus 3 finally this is over.
Praise the lord.

RAM always at 70% on MI5

Hello fellow MI5 users,
I received my phone one week ago and I start having some issues with the RAM. In fact, at the start of the phone, it's already at 70% filled up which is too much for me. Indeed I use a lot of RAM and I'm that type of guy who let the apps running in background everytime because I keep opening them everytime. I was wondering if it was possible to have a link to a better ROM because I guess it's the problem and also a link for a tutorial on how to flash it I'm a newbie in this type of manipulation but I'm very interested so I hope you will help me guys. By the way, my MIUI version is the MIUI 8 Global 6.8.18. I honestly don't know what can i give as information but I'll answer ASAP at any questions
Have a good day

This is working as design - Android keeps apps in RAM to reduce I/O on resuming from background - faster & more energy efficient.
You can change the number of background processes via the development settings or you can kill apps on closing.

adwinp said:
This is working as design - Android keeps apps in RAM to reduce I/O on resuming from background - faster & more energy efficient.
You can change the number of background processes via the development settings or you can kill apps on closing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen that indeed but it was set at standard so I'll probably put it at 3 I guess. How should I set the memory optimization? I've read it should be set off, altough I tried middle and I feel comfortable like that?
Is it normal to start at 70% without anything started ?

Unitae said:
I've seen that indeed but it was set at standard so I'll probably put it at 3 I guess. How should I set the memory optimization? I've read it should be set off, altough I tried middle and I feel comfortable like that?
Is it normal to start at 70% without anything started ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the 3GB version? Pretty much. MIUI is horrible.
After booting I typically had 1.3GB / 3.0GB free but after a while this averaged to around 650MB free.

free ram is useless ram , which cant accelerate anything

ps2lover said:
free ram is useless ram , which cant accelerate anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that but I need more because I use multi-task a lot. Is there a way to change the ROM so I have more space to work with? Even if the ROM itself is beautiful.
Indeed it's the 3gb version 32gb. It have lags sometimes and I think it's due to the full RAM. Can I have a link to a custom ROM which works fine on this device?

I'm a little confused, you want as much RAM available but you want as many processes in the background as well? That sounds contradicting to me. Memory optimization maps to ZRAM, if you set it off there will be no memory compression and thus even less processes will be kept in the background. If you set it high, you can have as many processes as possible, but there could be lag due to (de)compression time overhead.

Try different Rom
Try to use a different Rom. On the Stock Rom is a lot of bloatware which is using your RAM too.
First you need to get an Bootloader unlock permission and have to unlock the BL.
It could take up to 10 Days to get the permission from Xiaomi
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/how-to/unlocking-xiaomi-mi-5-bootloader-t3336243
After that you have to flash a recovery like trwp via ADB. Google it for videos or threads how to do it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/development/recovery-twrp-xiaomi-mi-5-t3412123
After that you can flash a developer Rom.
I use the Resurrection Remix and it works fine. The CM 13 stucks in Bootloop. Maybe because I made a full wipe and had to sideload my rom.
Because you don't have a SD card option you have to have the room installed on your hard drive. But just follow the description below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/development/unofficial-resurrection-remix-m-5-6-9-t3395945
It took me just 1 day to get the unlock permit but don't try do do it without it. You brick your phone.
The RR Rom works really fine. Fingerprint and everything. It has no bloatware and you have to get the gaps like in the description. Arm64 nano seems enough.
Good luck and fun with a great phone.
Normally the android system kills the unused apps even in background. But i also experienced lack in multitasking.

leledumbo said:
I'm a little confused, you want as much RAM available but you want as many processes in the background as well? That sounds contradicting to me. Memory optimization maps to ZRAM, if you set it off there will be no memory compression and thus even less processes will be kept in the background. If you set it high, you can have as many processes as possible, but there could be lag due to (de)compression time overhead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible apps in the background.

lapocompris said:
I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible app in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup exactly

Try trwp 3.0.2.0 with 3.0.2.1 people experience bootloop

Omied said:
Try trwp 3.0.2.0 with 3.0.2.1 people experience bootloop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact, I'm just doing some research before asking because I'm very new. I have found some videos but they are pretty old and not on this phone but I guess it works more or less the same way

lapocompris said:
I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible apps in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, in that case, just open Security->Permissions->Autostart and disable those which aren't immediately needed upon start. I have 18 autostart items (mostly system monitoring & social media apps) and I usually start with 1.5 GB free RAM.