kernel_task taking boatloads of memory.

[Ishayu]

I want to ask if this is normal - and if it is, why? And if it isn't, how to fix it?

My kernel_task is, as of this writing, using 591MB of memory, and constantly growing. (By the time I finished writing this it is using 593MB) It has PID 0, is run by the root, using ~2% of CPU and operating 91 threads.

I am using OS X Lion on my Hackintosh setup with:
10.7 (not 10.7.1)
ASUS Sabertooth X58
8GB PC3-12800 RAM, Kingston HyperX.
Intel Core i7-950 @3.07GHz - 4 cores with multithreading
ATi Radeon HD5850 OC

Is this normal? It seems incredibly excessive.

 

[captainreynolds]

Bumping this. Running OSX mavericks and kernel_task is repeatedly running over 1GB of memory. Anyone have a solution? Every single other thread has been completely ignored with other people having this issue.

 

[marcopoll]

Also bumping this. Also running Mavericks, anyone with insight as to the cause for so much memory being used by a kernel task?