Is Firefox Really a Memory Hog?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Howard Schwartz
  • Start date Start date
ms said:
Thanks, Kalle. That will help.

Mike Sa
Click to expand...

Or here is an idea, use a browser such as Opera that doesn't suck the
hell out of your memory. Don't worry about tweaks, don't worry about
modifications, don't worry about backing up changes and remembering what
changes you have made.

I have tried every trick there is to stop the flood of memory suckage
while using Firefox, no luck. On the other hand I love Thunderbird and
am using it right now. But how many times does your system have to be
drained of it's juice before you get sick of the memory blasting Firefox?

Alt
 
Heres the firefox memory usage explained:
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009749.html
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/14/2154224
Click to expand...

Some of the memory issues can be explained that way, but not all.

There's a list of bugs which have been fixed on the trunk but not in
1.5.0.x at
And here's some tips to control memory usage by manually editing
about:config:
http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/3/1004292531/ShowPost.aspx

Seems that your options are to a) switch the memory cache off, b)
allow fewer cached pages c) manually set maximum cache sizes

I've yet to try these myself so I can't say if they're any good,
and as always: use at your own risk and memorize what you've
changed, in case you have to revert to defaults :)
Click to expand...

Some more tips are at
<http://kb.mozillazine.org/Reducing_memory_usage_(Firefox)>.
 
(Ctrl¤+/Alt+¤/Del¤+) said:
Or here is an idea, use a browser such as Opera that doesn't suck the
hell out of your memory. Don't worry about tweaks, don't worry about
modifications, don't worry about backing up changes and remembering what
changes you have made.

I have tried every trick there is to stop the flood of memory suckage
while using Firefox, no luck. On the other hand I love Thunderbird and
am using it right now. But how many times does your system have to be
drained of it's juice before you get sick of the memory blasting Firefox?

Alt
Click to expand...

I guess thats a kinda question of flavour. I myself like FF more stable
and usable than opera, and I also like being given option to customize
the browser with plug ins.

As a matter of fact I fooled around with my FF1.5 after my last post:
With adding integer value browser.cache.memory.capacity and boolean
config.trim_on_minimize to about:config Memory usage dropped to about
40MB from 100+ with about ten tabs open and when minimized it takes only
about 5-20MB of RAM. As discussed in the aforementioned post there's a
slight loss of responsiveness compared to defaults.

Although I don't have the numbers from opera for comparison, I'd guess
it's pretty much on the par. I'd say FF doesn't drain your resources as
such, it's question of configuration, as we've seen :) ..and with a
modern workstation with gig or more of RAM FF's memory usage is more of
a nuisance than a real problem. ;)

-K
 
Kalle said:
I guess thats a kinda question of flavour. I myself like FF more stable
and usable than opera, and I also like being given option to customize
the browser with plug ins.

As a matter of fact I fooled around with my FF1.5 after my last post:
With adding integer value browser.cache.memory.capacity and boolean
config.trim_on_minimize to about:config Memory usage dropped to about
40MB from 100+ with about ten tabs open and when minimized it takes only
about 5-20MB of RAM. As discussed in the aforementioned post there's a
slight loss of responsiveness compared to defaults.

Although I don't have the numbers from opera for comparison, I'd guess
it's pretty much on the par. I'd say FF doesn't drain your resources as
such, it's question of configuration, as we've seen :) ..and with a
modern workstation with gig or more of RAM FF's memory usage is more of
a nuisance than a real problem. ;)

-K
Click to expand...

Kalle,

That is great that you seem to have fixed your problem. I, on the other
hand, have tried what you are suggesting months ago. On top of the
browser.cache.memory.capacity set to about 60MB, I also implemented the
trim on minimize trick as you have. Additionally, I fell for the hype
about the memory leak being related to flash also and downloaded flash
block.

Now, after each one of these fixes or workarounds or tricks or whatever
you wish to call them to attempt to make Firefox work like other
browsers, it does well for awhile. Then, even with the .memory.capacity
setting set to 60MB, it creeps over it, all it takes is a little time.

But, good luck on the settings you have put into place sticking. I hope
that they do. I wanted to be able to use Firefox, I liked it too. I
only have 512MB of memory though. I can't see going to buy more memory
than that just to be able to use a massively leaking browser. I only
have a few extensions like Fasterfox, Flashblock, Search Plugins, Tab
Mix Plus, Dictionary Search and AdBlock Plus. I hear a lot of people
claiming that if you have too many plugins that it will kill your
memory. I wouldn't think 6 would be too much. What are the great
advantages to being able to use plugins if you can't really use them
because they hog every last bit of memory you have?

All I know is that I am not the only one, and it could not always be
something the user is doing wrong to create such horrible memory issues.
So, I like many others I am sure, just don't have time or the
inclination to break down and dig deep into Firefox to try to fix the
problem, whatever it may be, ourselves. It is much easier to just pick
another browser.

Alt
 
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