I learned that virtual memory (SWAP) was only used when RAM had reached its maximum capacity (or near). But, I realize that it is not quite like this, according to this image that I took of the performance of my computer:
Why does this happen? Am I not wasting my RAM (8GB)? What advantage does it have for the computer to use the virtual one before filling all of the physics?
Each operating system has its strategy for using swap. If you have even more memory left over, your system is probably saving parts of the memory in the swap even without needing it. If there is an urgent need for memory, be quick to release this memory as it is already "Swap".
RAM consumption will always be 100% even at light load because the system leverages the leftover cache.
Operating systems 15 or 20 years ago were still getting their hands dirty with these things, and it could happen that a system slows down with swap than without, with memory left over. There were the pajelaves to use swap the size of RAM, swap with twice the RAM, etc. Nowadays it is no longer relevant.
