maximum number of tabs in a single window of IE9?

Special K · 09-21-2011, 11:03 PM

Is there a limit to the number of tabs that can be opened in a single window of IE9? I have noticed that once I have a certain number of tabs open in a single window, any more tabs I try to open beyond that point will simply open a blank page that never loads the website.

The number of tabs at which this occurs seems to not be constant. Once this occurs in one window, I have no problem opening new IE windows or opening more tabs in other existing windows that don't have as many tabs.

What really puzzles me is that if this is a resource limit, I'm not sure what the limitation might be, as I'm only using 6/18GB when it occurs.

Any ideas? Has anyone else noticed this?

lxskllr · 09-21-2011, 11:25 PM

Are you using 64bit IE on a 64bit O/S?

Special K · 09-21-2011, 11:27 PM

I'm running Vista 64 bit. How do I know if my IE9 is 64-bit? It doesn't say in the "About" page.

lxskllr · 09-21-2011, 11:47 PM

Crap, I'm not sure right off hand. I haven't used Vista in awhile. I do know that 32bit is default, but you also have a 64bit IE. Look in the Programs folder for IE, and launch the .exe from there. That'll definitely be the 64bit version.

Special K · 09-21-2011, 11:55 PM

OK, I figured it out. If I go to Start->All Programs, I see both an "Internet Explorer" and "Internet Explorer 64-bit" shortcut. If you launch the 64-bit version and go to the "About" screen, it says "64-bit". The version I have been using doesn't have that, so I have been using the 32-bit version this entire time.

Given that 32-bit apps have either a 2GB or 4GB memory limit (depending on if they are "large address aware" - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.85).aspx), I guess that could explain my tabs limitation, especially if each IE window represents a separate process.

Special K · 09-22-2011, 12:00 AM

Now I remember why I quit using IE9 64-bit in the first place - there was no flash support for it. It looks like there is a 64-bit Flash v11 RC1 available now. I'll go ahead and give that a try.

lamedude · 09-28-2011, 07:22 AM

49?

GaryJohnson · 09-30-2011, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lamedude

49?

That is 49 separate browser windows all sharing the same process and not just 49 tabs.

The limit on GDI objects is 10000 and each new window seems to take up around ~200 GDI objects in IE7 & IE9. Hence the limit of ~49 windows. New tabs in IE9 seem to only use ~6 GDI objects on my PC.

So for IE9, as far as the GDI limit is concerned, the maximum number of tabs in a single window/process should be around ~1600.

Dude111 · 10-01-2011, 06:26 PM

I know on MyIE2 i can set the maximum # allowed.. Right now i have it set @ 100 (I havent ever had near that many open at once

)

MrChad · 10-03-2011, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Special K

Now I remember why I quit using IE9 64-bit in the first place - there was no flash support for it. It looks like there is a 64-bit Flash v11 RC1 available now. I'll go ahead and give that a try.

Performance is also not great compared to the 32-bit version. A number of the speed improvements in their JS engine are not available in the 64-bit version.

Dude111 · 10-06-2011, 09:44 PM

And the MORE TABS open the more ram it takes i believe!

Special K · 10-19-2011, 12:16 AM

Grr, IE9 64-bit is doing the same thing. I have 22 tabs open across 5 windows and now it won't let me open any more, even though I'm only using 7.6/18 GB of RAM. Anyone else have any ideas?

MrChad · 10-19-2011, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Special K

Grr, IE9 64-bit is doing the same thing. I have 22 tabs open across 5 windows and now it won't let me open any more, even though I'm only using 7.6/18 GB of RAM. Anyone else have any ideas?

Could you be reaching a cache size limit maybe? Can you bump up the Temporary Internet Files size and see if that helps?

GaryJohnson · 10-20-2011, 04:10 PM

You're not by any chance running Vista Home Basic are you? Even in 64-bit it caps the usable memory at 8GB which you're right up against.

Also, can we get more detailed specs on your PC? I'm curious about your 18GB of RAM. Typically you would either have 16GB or 24GB. Which is not to say that you can't possibly be running 18GB - it's just atypical.

Special K · 10-20-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrChad

Could you be reaching a cache size limit maybe? Can you bump up the Temporary Internet Files size and see if that helps?

If I go to the Temporary Internet Files setting in IE9 64-bit, it says:

Disk space to use (8-1024MB)
(Recommended: 50-250MB)

Mine is currently set to 250MB. I never set that myself, so it must be a default. If I go to the actual Temporary Internet Files folder in Windows Explorer, the folder itself has 1.41 GB for "size on disk".

Does that help any?

Special K · 10-20-2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryJohnson

You're not by any chance running Vista Home Basic are you? Even in 64-bit it caps the usable memory at 8GB which you're right up against.

Also, can we get more detailed specs on your PC? I'm curious about your 18GB of RAM. Typically you would either have 16GB or 24GB. Which is not to say that you can't possibly be running 18GB - it's just atypical.

No, this is Vista Business.

My PC is:

core i7 920
18 GB triple channel DDR3 (6 slots total - 3x2GB + 3x4GB)
EVGA X58 SLI motherboard

MrChad · 10-20-2011, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Special K

If I go to the Temporary Internet Files setting in IE9 64-bit, it says:

Disk space to use (8-1024MB)
(Recommended: 50-250MB)

Mine is currently set to 250MB. I never set that myself, so it must be a default. If I go to the actual Temporary Internet Files folder in Windows Explorer, the folder itself has 1.41 GB for "size on disk".

Does that help any?

If you set it to 512 MB, does it affect the number of tabs you can open?

Dude111 · 10-21-2011, 03:20 PM

It shouldnt matter,i have my cache size set to 1MB and i have had 30 tabs open @ once... (Not very often though)

Special K · 10-28-2011, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrChad

If you set it to 512 MB, does it affect the number of tabs you can open?

I'll try it and see. There doesn't seem to be a single fixed limit to the number of tabs, I just notice that eventually I can't open anymore even though I have 9 GB of RAM free. The number of tabs open when this occurs varies.

Special K · 10-30-2011, 12:03 PM

This is a very difficult problem to solve because it isn't consistent at all. I just now tried to open as many tabs/windows as I could and got well above the maximum number I've ever actually had open before and IE9 was still lettting me open more.