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Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

dotnetperls.com

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Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#11

Post by chops »

During the experiment, 384 memory checkpoints were taken, which amounts to 1152 seconds or 19.2 minutes.

My problem with Firefox has always been with having the browser open for a long time (days) and running multiple tabs, including having an open Gmail window constantly.

By that point, Firefox is always sluggish and painful. Closing the browser the natural is a waste of time because it takes so long for the memory to free up, and killing the process altogether is the only thing that does anything to buy me some clock cycles.

I'd like to see the results of a long-term test of that nature.

Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#13

Post by barrkel »

dflock wrote: post #9
lutorm wrote: post #2

Is the huge memory use from Chrome just because it opens separate processes for each tab? If so, can't some of that memory actually be shared by the OS even though it shows up as duplicated (like what happens if you do vfork?)

Nope - the huge memory usage for Chrome is because this analysis is complete rubbish - it's double counting all the shared memory for each process, as you suggested.

He talks about his utility on this page:

http://dotnetperls.com/browser-memory

"It uses the PrivateMemorySize64 long value from the Process collection in .NET."

You can get his memory watcher from this page:

http://code.google.com/p/dotnetperls-controls/downloads/list

The relevant lines from the "MemoryClass" class:

    long size = singleProcess.PrivateMemorySize64;
    double megabytes = ConvertBytesToMegabytes(size);

Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#14

Post by sarvesh »

scscsc wrote: post #8
sarvesh wrote: post #4

You really can't compare a beta or Release Candidate with final versions of other browsers that most definitely will put your numbers off.

Do you have any strong data stating that the final release of some software is in general more memory friendly as opposed to the beta version? I don't have data for the counterpoint either, but I'm willing to bet the developers have other priorities (i.e. bug fixes as opposed to optimization). Once you've maldesigned your software w.r.t. performance, you can't do much except to wait for hardware to catch up.

Beta versions of software include debug information. This is pretty much a standard practice, even I do it. It helps me understand where things went wrong and how it could be improved. When you do the final version you generally get rid of the debug information which more often than not will reduce memory consumption. This is different from optimization.

Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#18

Post by catch23 »

notaddicted wrote: post #5

4 GB of memory can be had for $50. When I use a computer I usually use: browser + music, OR browser + emacs. I want my browser to be fast and responsive, and the memory isn't being used for anything else.

Sadly the majority of motherboards out there can't handle more than 8GB of memory. Single 4GB chips around $80 now (fully buffered), so it should seem like normal motherboards with 4 slots should support 16GB normally.

Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#19

Post by scscsc »

sarvesh wrote: post #14
scscsc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any strong data stating that the final release of some software is in general more memory friendly as opposed to the beta version? I don't have data for the counterpoint either, but I'm willing to bet the developers have other priorities (i.e. bug fixes as opposed to optimization). Once you've maldesigned your software w.r.t. performance, you can't do much except to wait for hardware to catch up.

Beta versions of software include debug information. This is pretty much a standard practice, even I do it. It helps me understand where things went wrong and how it could be improved. When you do the final version you generally get rid of the debug information which more often than not will reduce memory consumption. This is different from optimization.

I doubt the beta comes with debug information (not your beta, theirs). I don't use Windows -- it should be easily checkable by someone who does.

Re: Chrome and Firefox 3.5 Memory Usage

#20

Post by bmj »

chops wrote: post #11

During the experiment, 384 memory checkpoints were taken, which amounts to 1152 seconds or 19.2 minutes. My problem with Firefox has always been with having the browser open for a long time (days) and running multiple tabs, including having an open Gmail window constantly. By that point, Firefox is always sluggish and painful. Closing the browser the natural is a waste of time because it takes so long for the memory…

Are you using the latest FF 3.5 release candidate? I noticed this issue with previous versions, but it seems like the latest RC is much better.
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