You can use the command line option `E` to specify the memory scaling, for example in gigabytes: $ top -E g From the top help: -E :Extend-Memory-Scaling as: -E k | m | g | t | p | e Instructs top to force summary area memory to be scaled as: k - kibibytes m - mebibytes g - gibibytes t - tebibytes p - pebibytes e - exbibytes Later this can be changed with the `E' command toggle. OS: Ubuntu 20.04