GraphiTI.. AGAIN?!?

leofox · Post by **leofox** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 8:34 am

Firefox can eat a lot of RAM, at this moment it's eating 61 megs while only this page is on. I think it started with maybe 20 megs.

But at least it runs fine, i have to agree with darkauron that java often crashes, especially on old comps.

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 12:09 pm

We put Java on every computer at work (we process all the old computers that ocme off of campus and sell them), because we put OpenOffice on them, and we don't have ANY problems with ANY of them, and we deal with a fair number of Pentium II's. I hate to say it, but your "Java doesn't like [old] computers" argument doesn't hold ANY water whatsoever.

As for memory usage, Opera is using 53 196K of RAM and 49 528K of VM with _3_ tabs open, two of which are image intensive (my storm damage photo gallery and a forum post with a lot of animated screenshots). I think that makes it pretty clear which browser handles RAM better. I can post a screen shot if you think I'm trolling.

Timendus · Post by **Timendus** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 12:35 pm

at this moment it's eating 61 megs while only this page is on

If I understand correctly, the problem with Firefox is that it doesn't free the designated memory when you close a tab, only when you close the program. So it's no wonder it uses a lot of RAM with only one page open if you visited other websites earlier without restarting, and Andy's RAM usage comparison is pretty invalid. My Firefox currently uses 50MB of RAM and I've been working a lot with it since yesterday morning.

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 12:48 pm

Here's a solution: Buy more RAM.

I'm running 2gb in a dual channel setup, and I couldn't be happier. So even if Firefox uses up a gig, I could care less.

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 5:04 pm

Timendus, how? I didn't restart Opera since I booted the machine, which was about 2 days, and I used it extensively. I had quite a few tabs open at one point. I don't see how that isn't a valid comparision.

CompWiz. ... that isn't a solution at all. You shouldn't have to have more than one gig of RAM for a single program to be happy! Granted, I have a gig and it's not enough, but I run quite a few programs all the time, not just one.

leofox · Post by **leofox** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 5:48 pm

CompWiz wrote:Here's a solution: Buy more RAM.
I'm running 2gb in a dual channel setup, and I couldn't be happier. So even if Firefox uses up a gig, I could care less.

Yes, that's what most companies now-a-days think. Our program doesn't work, well, buy a new computer. Nevermind that it's a word processor that for some reason requires a pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent to work properly...

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Tue 27 Jun, 2006 11:31 pm

leofox wrote:Nevermind that it's a word processor that for some reason requires a pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent to work properly...

hey, if you have something worse than a P4 3ghz(banish the thought) you really need to upgrade. I'm sure the employee getting the new computer would be happy about it.

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 1:31 am

... P3 500's with 256 RAM are plenty for word processing, email, and web browsing (with win98 or 2k)...

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 1:55 am

AndySoft wrote:... P3 500's with 256 RAM are plenty for word processing, email, and web browsing (with win98 or 2k)...

true, as long as you don't go onto windows xp(as you stated). But I'd rather be the employee getting a new computer because of a bloated word processor program, than the employee with the 1337 optimized word processor that gets stuck with old hardware.

And BTW, I have 36 tabs open in Firefox now, across several windows, and I've been using it for a while now. It's using 291mb currently. Even though I have quite a few other things open, including google earth, I still have well over half of my 2gb free. So as far as I'm concerned, firefox is no more than a drop in the bucket.

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 3:22 am

It's an 8th of your memory, a lot more than a drop in the bucket.

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 3:44 am

wow, an 8th. Well, ok, it's more than a drop in the bucket, but I could care less. I still have over a gig free, even with other programs open. More than enough for pretty much anything I'm going to do.

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 4:29 am

You seem to think like modern day game developers. Instead of optimising everything size wise ... they just dont care.

"DVD's can hold anywhere from ~5GB to ~8GB or even more! ... lets use 3 of them!"

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 4:29 am

My Opera has 36 tabs open. It is taking up 128mb. MUCH smaller. And it is STILL faster than Firefox.

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 4:47 am

ok, when firefox runs through 2gb of ram and crashes, I'll switch over to opera. Until then, I'll just stick with what I have. So far, it hasn't given me any trouble. Plus, Google has those nice little firefox add ons, like the browser sync. That is a huge time saver.

Post by **benryves** » Wed 28 Jun, 2006 10:55 am

AndySoft wrote:... P3 500's with 256 RAM are plenty for word processing, email, and web browsing (with win98 or 2k)...

I manage to do that with 114MB RAM and an oh-so-speedy 166MHZ P1 (Win 2K, of course).

CPUs are not really the limiting factor for the majority of applications. RAM is at a premium, though. :\