I think that Ubuntu already does a great job with RAM management. I only have 1024 RAM memory, not very fast RAM too, but my swap space is rarely used for system operations, and I do not have issues with a faster boot or usual system operations. The problems I have are generated by my CPU, which is kind of ancient, but even so it gets the job done with honor :) .

If you really want to optimize Ubuntu for speed and RAM management you could install first a few extra packages with Synaptic Package Manager or in the terminal emulator:

Preload is one of them, faster boot, better service management:
```
      sudo apt-get install preload
```

Bum is another package that you can use to get rid of all the services that you do not need at startup, services and daemons that you do not use at all. Use BUM with extreme care, it can have a negative impact on your system if you disable wrong services. Test BUM first by disabling services one by one, I mean all those system services that you don't use at all! Install BUM with this code:
```
      sudo apt-get install bum
```

You can also disable graphical boot which adds a few extra seconds to total boot time. To do that you need to edit the grub file located in /etc/default/grub:
```
      gksu leafpad /etc/default/grub
```

Go to the line saying:

         # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)

         #GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Once there, remove the '#' to uncomment line GRUB_TERMINAL=console and get a faster boot in a non-graphical console. The result should look like this:

         # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)

         GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Save the file located in /etc/default/grub and close it. Very important, update grub immediately after that using this code:

         sudo update-grub

Finally, change your swappiness value from 60 to 10 as follows:

Edit sysctl.conf file by typing in the terminal this code:

 gksu leafpad /etc/sysctl.conf

Once the file is opened, go right to the end of the file and add your swappiness and cache parameters. If there are similar lines in there and vm.swappiness is already 10, you don't need to do anything, otherwise you have to add the following lines right at the end of the file:

# Decrease swap usage to a workable level

vm.swappiness=10

# Improve cache management

vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50