Tuesday, November 13th 2007

Mozilla Still Perplexed as to Why Firefox Takes So Much RAM

Anyone who uses Mozilla Firefox in a Windows environment knows that Firefox can use a lot of memory. Now that Mozilla is getting a lot of requests to make a mobile version, they are working very hard to make a version that won't eat all of the mobile phone's memory. Christopher Blizzard, a member of Mozilla's development board, had this to say about Firefox's alleged memory issues.
As Mozilla starts down the path to running in the mobile space we are spending time looking at memory pressure issues more closely. . . (I)t sounds like the early data suggests that Mozilla really doesn't leak that much memory at all. But it does thrash the allocator pretty hard and that's what causes the perception of memory leaks.
Source: CRN
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56 Comments on Mozilla Still Perplexed as to Why Firefox Takes So Much RAM

#26
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
as someone else pointed out, it has more to do with where the memory goes after you close tabs. normally i will have 5 or 6 tabs open. when i close 4 of them out FF still uses the same amount of memory. very strange.
Posted on Reply
#27
MadCow
Mine does that too. Using 120mb with 2 tabs open.
Posted on Reply
#28
Wile E
Power User
Easy Rhinoas someone else pointed out, it has more to do with where the memory goes after you close tabs. normally i will have 5 or 6 tabs open. when i close 4 of them out FF still uses the same amount of memory. very strange.
Right, that's why I said "a lot of the reason", not the whole reason. If you limit the amount it caches, it doesn't build up near as much.
Posted on Reply
#29
OnBoard
I have limited it to 10MB from when I started using FF (just like I did with IE), default is 50MB. Earlier in this thread i said it uses 205MB, well now it uses 225MB (226MB..227MB) tomorrow more.. (now 228MB) Something is really wrong with it :) (230MB and I honestly typed those mem usages while I wrote this..)
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#31
p_o_s_pc
F@H&WCG addict
I am using 52mb right now that is with 3 tabs open and all add-ons disabled.
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#32
peach1971
55 MB | 3 tabs | 11 add-ons enabled.
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#33
Unregistered
Now 8 tabs open, 1.026GB of ram used for firefox, record ram usage is around 1.7GB for firefox on my system, it's on 24/7 mind you.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#34
Wile E
Power User
insiderNow 8 tabs open, 1.026GB of ram used for firefox, record ram usage is around 1.7GB for firefox on my system, it's on 24/7 mind you.
It has to be a problem with an extension or a setting. That's not even close to normal FF behavior, even with the memory leak.
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#35
Unregistered
Addons: 3, Real player plugin, talkback, Java runtime environment.

Disk cache is disabled on the browser.

RSS feeds: 19
Posted on Edit | Reply
#36
Wile E
Power User
insiderAddons: 3, Real player plugin, talkback, Java runtime environment.

Disk cache is disabled on the browser.

RSS feeds: 19
Diskcache won't effect ram usage. browser.cache.memory.* is what you are looking for.
Posted on Reply
#37
Unregistered
This is what I have:

Status Type Value
browser.cache.memory.enable true boolean true
Posted on Edit | Reply
#38
Wile E
Power User
insiderThis is what I have:

Status Type Value
browser.cache.memory.enable true boolean true
Here's mine.
Posted on Reply
#39
Unregistered
The browser.cache.memory.capacity is missing from my config!
Posted on Edit | Reply
#40
Wile E
Power User
insiderThe browser.cache.memory.capacity is missing from my config!
What version of FF are you on?
Posted on Reply
#43
Wile E
Power User
insiderVersion 2.0.0.9
It should be in there then. Right click in the about:config window somewhere, and select new-->Integer

Should walk you thru the step needed to make it.
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#44
Unregistered
Wouldn't create integer when I select it only a string value.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#45
Wile E
Power User
insiderWouldn't create integer when I select it only a string value.
That's weird. It works on mine. I created browser.cache.memory.capacity2 and it worked.

Did you put the dots in the name? You have to do that. And after you enter the name, it should let you input a value in another pop-up box. (The value for that setting is in KB, 1024=1MB)
Posted on Reply
#47
Wile E
Power User
insiderOfc. entered 262144 anyway for 256MB
Probably don't even need that much. Default is 64MB. I set mine to 32MB.
Posted on Reply
#48
Unregistered
Current FF ram usage 209MB after under 20 mins and increasing...
Posted on Edit | Reply
#49
Wile E
Power User
insiderCurrent FF ram usage 209MB after under 20 mins and increasing...
Are you still set for 256MB cache? If so, it should get to around 350MB. If it goes higher, you have an add-on problem for sure. Next step is to try to disable your add-ons, one by one, to find the culprit.
Posted on Reply
#50
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Firefox uses around 136,788 kbs of memory on my system everytime. Thats a bit ridiculous if you ask me as IE7.0 doesnt user near that much.
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