Firefox Memory Usage

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,591
3
81
Ok...so, I've really been noticing that Firefox chews up RAM recently....I mean, I've easily peaked over 100 mb of RAM. So I poked around, and tried a few things...I changed the RAM caching variables, set it to use no more than 64 MB of RAM. I checked about:cache and sure enough, it recognized what I set as the max RAM it was allowed to use....but still went over it. So I turned caching off. Still seeing huge RAM usage....

So, I got curious, went nuts, clicked lots of links, open a few tabs, got the RAM usage about 100 mb in a minute or so. Is this a memory leak or what??? I'm seriously finding Firefox to be more of a POS than IE is....

I've gotten this on both the most recent version of 1.5, as well as Firefox 2 RC3.

Thanks for any help.
 

Cerpin Taxt

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
11,940
542
126
You might try disabling Firefox prefetching. Google for an FAQ that describes how to disable it.
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
18
81
i have had firefox use up over 300megs.

its because it keeps a cache of all the sites you have visted supposedly.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Open up the same sites in Internet Explorer simultaneously and compare the RAM usage of all your IEXPLORE.EXE processes.
 

Sid59

Lifer
Sep 2, 2002
11,879
3
81
i hate that i have 256 MBS of ram running XP Home. On the other hand, my friend has 2GBs of ram and he hates it when Firefox uses his 100MBs of ram. We both hate waste.


 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
0
Originally posted by: Sid59
i hate that i have 256 MBS of ram running XP Home. On the other hand, my friend has 2GBs of ram and he hates it when Firefox uses his 100MBs of ram. We both hate waste.

Unused memory is wasted memory.
 

Sid59

Lifer
Sep 2, 2002
11,879
3
81
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: Sid59
i hate that i have 256 MBS of ram running XP Home. On the other hand, my friend has 2GBs of ram and he hates it when Firefox uses his 100MBs of ram. We both hate waste.

Unused memory is wasted memory.

Exactly. I always love Firefox "OMG my memory is being used" threads.
 

mb

Lifer
Jun 27, 2004
10,233
2
71
I have 8GB ram and FF is using 150MB of it... I'm pissed!!!!! :cry;
 

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,591
3
81
Originally posted by: hans007
i have had firefox use up over 300megs.

its because it keeps a cache of all the sites you have visted supposedly.

In about:config I turned off caching....didn't work. Still hit 200 some megs in less then 10 minutes.

Tried to limit the cache size...exceeded the cache size in less than 60 seconds.

Turned off ALL forms of caching, including the HD, still....doesn't affect RAM usage...just makes loading pages really slow.

My solution? config.trim_on_minimize = true
I've just gotta remember to minimize FF. heh.
 

Sid59

Lifer
Sep 2, 2002
11,879
3
81
also, depending on which extensions / addons you have installed, those add to the memory usage.
 

CTho9305

Elite Member
Jul 26, 2000
9,214
1
81
Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
Originally posted by: hans007
i have had firefox use up over 300megs.

its because it keeps a cache of all the sites you have visted supposedly.

In about:config I turned off caching....didn't work. Still hit 200 some megs in less then 10 minutes.

Tried to limit the cache size...exceeded the cache size in less than 60 seconds.

Turned off ALL forms of caching, including the HD, still....doesn't affect RAM usage...just makes loading pages really slow.

My solution? config.trim_on_minimize = true
I've just gotta remember to minimize FF. heh.

Get on IRC (irc.mozilla.org #firefox) and ask about how to help track down memory leaks. The only people who can reproduce these "leaks" never want to help developers find them.... and since developers tend not to experience 20MB/minute growth like you claim, it makes it hard to track down.

trim_on_minimize does not meaninfully reduce Firefox's impact on your system.
IIRC, setting the cache to 64MB is bigger than the default it pics.
Link prefetching is almost never used.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
I've NEVER had memory leakage problems with FireFox, or gargantuan VM sizes for that matter. And I'm the type of person who opens about 10 FF windows with 10 tabs each. What gives? I think FF addons are to blame since I use none but AdBlock.
 

EarthwormJim

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2003
3,239
0
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Originally posted by: xtknight
I've NEVER had memory leakage problems with FireFox, or gargantuan VM sizes for that matter. And I'm the type of person who opens about 10 FF windows with 10 tabs each. What gives? I think FF addons are to blame since I use none but AdBlock.

Probably the op has a million pron tabs open, you just browse "normal" pages.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
Originally posted by: supafly
I have 8GB ram and FF is using 150MB of it... I'm pissed!!!!! :cry;

Hmmm, using a company workstation to post eh? Geez that is a crap load of RAM.