What is Digg?269 Comments
- agiletech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30I was curious enough to compare FireFox memory usage to Internet Explorer 7 Build 5122.
about:blank
FF 1.5 uses 21,484kb
IE 7.0 uses 26,340kb
digg.com (front page)
FF 1.5 uses 27,156kb
IE 7.0 uses 43,752kb
So far its pretty clear which is winning, though I'm not surprised because IE is a beta (and I know it's a pig anyway). I was recording the numbers in Excel and noticed FireFox all of the sudden jump in memory usage, literally I watched the memory usage go from 27,156kb to 47,664kb for what seems like no reason. Hmmm. So I opened a new tab in each and compared memory usage with a new tab at about:blank and digg.com loaded.
with new tab + digg.com
FF 1.5 uses 47,888kb
IE 7.0 uses 45,476kb
I then logged into gmail.com on each in the new tab and checked memory again.
with gmail.com + digg.com
FF 1.5 uses 55,896kb
IE 7.0 uses 52,712kb
Surprising considering IE 7.0 is still a beta - it's the only real comparison in my humble opinion because IE 6.0 does not support tabs.
After browsing to this digg and starting my comment, I've seen FF 1.5 memory fluctuate between 35,896kb used up to it's current count of 58,508kb with digg.com and gmail.com open.
Just figured I'd throw this out there for those who cared (instead of posting it my blog and trying to digg myself). ;D - ct2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11reason for hi mem use - http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers
- Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm gonna post this again just so people don't miss it.
To the people saying firefox takes up too much resources, just change your Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers to 1 or something.
You can do so by typing "About:config" in the url bar at the top. Then find Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers and modify the number to 1 or even 0.
You can find more info at:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers
(firefox is currently using only 24MB of ram for mine) - adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6There is always Opera ;-)
- Iccanui, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3ok guys think this out a second.
When i have like 10 tabs open in FF it takes up around 100mb or so.
Go open 10 instances of IE and add up the memory your using then look at FF again. - spikes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Guys, update your adblock extension if you're using it. The older version has a major bug that does not free images from the internal pixmap cache, so it just grows bigger and bigger.
- Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3To the people saying firefox takes up too much resources, just change your Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers to 1 or something.
You can do so by typing "About:config" in the url bar at the top. Then find Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers and modify the number to 1 or even 0.
You can find more info at:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers
(firefox is currently using only 24,000 kb of ram for mine) - polo3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sound like you got extension bloat.
neGtFer - cheesyboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i think ive read somewhere that the reason m$'s IE uses less RAM is that because embedded in the operating system, it shares most memory with other system tasks and processes.. can anyone confirm that?
- larryg1964, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes i agree. Firefox does not release any resources back when tabs are closed. I have been using opera 8.51. with 5 tabs open, 11,072k.
- WorldBuilder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+257,356k with 10 tabs open.
RAM consumption is a known problem, but for most folks, there IS a solution. And it was already mentioned above:
"I'm gonna post this again just so people don't miss it.
To the people saying firefox takes up too much resources, just change your Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers to 1 or something.
You can do so by typing "About:config" in the url bar at the top. Then find Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers and modify the number to 1 or even 0.
You can find more info at:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers"
Personally, I'm set at 8. - cavicster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Try the 1.5.0.1 update. It is an improvement but only a good start.
Go to: C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxdefaultsprefchannel-prefs.js
Change the update channel to "beta"
Then run firefox update. - szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I never get above 100mb for FF and i regularly open 10+tabs and use four windows. But sometimes it does tend to hog my resources but that happens like once every 18 hours or so...much better than winxp
- Pentarix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1220,160 with 7 tabs. It often hangs, takes increasingly longer to load and crashes. I love firefox but sometimes it just kills my 3.4ghz system. It's the only application running and my CPU fan just sped up. Perhaps it is an extension problem?
- JMJimmy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29 tabs, 136mb... and oh look... 350mb of ram that has yet to be used up... and 1.8gb worth of paging file not used... I better run away and fill my system with spyware! oh wait... that screws my system and doesn't report itself in memory... oops!
- falloutsyndrome, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1woah no kidding. 100,000kb of my ram!
- udha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"i think ive read somewhere that the reason m$'s IE uses less RAM is that because embedded in the operating system, it shares most memory with other system tasks and processes.. can anyone confirm that?"
Of coarse it does, IE IS explorer, just type C: in your IE address bar, or open my computer then type a web address, it's resources are just an illusion. - agiletech, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1I've got one window, 5 tabs open and I'm missing 224,256KB of RAM at the moment... Seems to keep every bit it gets along the way too, until it eventually dies from gluttony.
- tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The exact reason why I hate Firefox. Although it's better than IE in security, it fails to outperform IE. This is why I don't use Firefox. Opera is my choice of browser. Right now I'm in Firefox because I wanted to test how much memory it was using, so here I am typing this with 3 other open tabs and it's using 82,052 K. Now most of you posted numbers and as I have, but these numbers vary from system to system depending on how much RAM you have, the processor, what Firefox version, extensions, what websites you're visiting, etc...
In Opera with the same websites, it uses only 24,000 K. What a difference, not to mention which browser opens up faster - Opera and which renders pages faster - Opera. Clearly, you can tell why I chose Opera. - Zzzzzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Suggesting another browser is kinda unrealistic, especially when FF is not even broken, or the real problem. What was said earlier regarding:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers totally fixes this problem. I suggest everyone who has the high mem usage problem set their browser from the default (-1, or 50) to a much lower number like 4. I don't know why Firefox doesn't do this automatically. This feature that speeds up back and forward buttons page loading aren't nearly as used as they are in IE because of the Tabbed browsing!
Basically only geeks use the tabbed browsing, while the rest of the users use the back and forward buttons. This setting should set itself or allow you to set it in Options.
I have also seen Firefox Extensions and plugins like Adobe cause similar problems. Adobe can be a real memory drain too. I used extensions in FF for a little while but they were almost as annoying as Norton Internet Security and other script blockers, so I got rid of them. - chiklit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can also download 1.5.0.1 here: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.5.0.1rc1/win32/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%201.5.0.1rc1.exe I haven't tried it yet though.
- hardran3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I agree totally. I switched to Camino after FF 1.5. It was a pig. And ugly. +Digg
- SakisRakis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have noticed this as well...cut the fat please Mozilla!
- veracon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's pretty sick. I have like 15 extensions plus 20 Greasemonkey scripts, I can run about 15 tabs without it ever going above 64 MB.
- panique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Watch the diggsheep as they all flock to uphold a story whining about a version of software that is nearly a year old and has been superseded by about 3 or 4 versions already.
- unicom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0so opera the way to go? ill try it
thanks - snugsoho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I switched to Camino from Firefox, the resource problems are much more poignant with the Mac version.
- h2d2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The highest I have found FF to be running at is 292MB. And I'm not talking about 0.9, I am talking about 1.5 with like 3 very small extensions. Sometimes it almost takes down my whole system, and then I switch back to IE for a while before returning to read Digg and Slashdot headlines on my Live Bookmarks... frankly, Live Bookmarks are the only thing keeping me away from Maxthon and IE.
- MasterIamNot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0DIGG! While trying to digg this story, FF hogged my resources so I had to reboot. Please fix firefox
- ynggrsshppr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't get the problem but it is a very serious problem that needs to be fixed pronto. Maybe in 2.0?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0maybe your pc is just *****, it really isn't that expensive to upgrade to 1gb of RAM from newegg, and based on what I have witnessed firefox really isn't much of a pig, it barely goes over 100mb with 5 tabs open, sometikmes it doesn't even get to 100mb with 5. I can see this being a problem if you only have 256mb of RAM, but how difficult is it to double that? I have 512mb and I am upgarding as soon as I get my check next friday.
- usergentoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This must only happen to windows users. i dont see any problems in Linux with it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A couple times firefox froze on me, and won't let me close it. Ctrl+Alt+Del shows that it is using over 250 mb of ram and counting very fast, like an extra 5mb per second. I don't remember the sites, but they weren't shady. It was like Digg and the front page of Newgrounds in another tab. It happened maybe 5 times since the day 1.5 came out. The reasons I use firefox still outweight IE though. Tabs, plugins, better CSS suport, open source, etc...
- spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@whizga and others:
Did you know, you can disable extensions by right clicking them and hitting Disable? Most people don't know that!! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am using 64k right nwo just looking at digg.
- unicom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0what browser you guys reccomend cuz firefox is taking 81,145 K at 2 tabs for me!!!! I need a diffrent browser any ideas?
- Cronus6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0One word "Opera"
I miss the extensions...but not the system hangs. - celeronxl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For those of you having problems who have been using Firefox since version 1.0 and have been upgrading each step of the way to 1.5 with the same Fx profile, I would highly recommend you completely uninstall Fx and ensure that your profile is completely wiped and start anew. It helps most issues except those which arise from the use of an HT-enabled processor.
- mesostinky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I love FF but its a freaking PIG when it comes to memory. The memory leaks are just terrible.
Example.
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6817/firefoxpig4vr.jpg - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0At least firefox usually uses less memory than Azureus..
- mousky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have a problem with FF. It has never made my bookmarks dissappear. It has never consumed so much RAM and CPU as to cause my computer to slow down and force me to restart Windows. It has never had any issues with java, javascript or flash. Please somebody help me solve this problem.
There, I feel better. Is FireFox a resource hog? For the overwhelming majority of users, no it is not. But for a very small number of users it is. Many issues/problems have been difficult to duplicate (hard to fix something if you don't know where to look). Many RAM/CPU issues are caused by poorly coded or faulty installs of extensions and themes. I've been using FF for over a year on my XP laptop at home and my 2000 desktop at work and I have never encountered any resource issues.
Just my two cents. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I get about the same, not as much virtual memory though for some reason?
http://www.ecn.net.au/~udha/images/screenshots/desktop/compare02.png
lol... that dude is looking at teh porn
anyways, firefox does need to fix this; but I'll try the browser setting someone suggested to see if that works - 1ivewire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Switching from AdBlock to AdBlock Plus did wonders for me. I also started a new profile after upgrading from 1.0.7 and manually copied the important settings I needed. It still can be a hippo at times, but it seems bounded now compared to before.
- jrshabadoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Using version 1.5, and it definitely takes up a ton of ram. CPU usage is fine so far though.
- ramsinks.com, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When a browser slows down your PC - it's time for an upgrade.
- mhl12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the number of extensions and which theme you're using does account for the memory usage of FF.
Try loading FF's safe mode and see where it's at in the task manager.
In the end, FF does have a memory leak problem they need to fix. It seems that the longer you leave FF on, the more memory it takes. The only real solution is to restart firefox. - fluffyturtle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For me with 1.5 and 10 tabs open I use 124mb of memory. My cpu usage for firefox is 0-2%.rnrnMy secret? Adblock. Google ads and other ads are just fine and I leave them alone but the flash ads and some of the motion bmp ads get their @sses blocked. They are the ones that hijack your cpu.rnrnFirefox isn’t alone. People need to get their fracking act together and learn how to code a simple flash ad. Learn how to fracking code you morons. I have even seen IE use 100% cpu (while firefox hovered around 20%) with some flash ads. Firefox overall has a harder time with flash though.rnrnBut firefox still gobbles ram and proceeds to leak it. If I were to leave firefox open for over a week I could be looking at 300-600mb (depending on my usage) of used ram. Eventually it will crash.rnrnOtherwise if I close firefox every four days or so I never have a problem stability wise. The above quoted resources at the top of this post are after I have had firefox open for 48 hours.rnrnPlease, fix the memory issues with firefox! On top of that work on the flash support, at least make it the same as IE overall. Also for anyone reading this that makes flash ads, buy a flash for dummies book for goodness sake.
- tarun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I THINK Firefox 1.05.01 RC1 fixes this problem--my FF seems to take up less memory since I installed this.
Download: http://www.mozilla.com/products/download.html?product=firefox-1.5.0.1rc1&os=win&lang=en-US - digitalsin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Here's a cool thing I noticed with Opera. It was using about 65MB RAM and when I minimized the window (with 5 tabs open) it went down to 4MB RAM! Very sexy. I noticed it would spike up to 9MB when it checks my POP mail then, as it should, released the RAM and it went back down to 4MB.
THAT is how programs should work. Tried the same thing with FF, the RAM usage didn't go down when minimizing. - antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I dunno what's going on.. I have 6 tabs open and Firefox is just running on 64 K of memory usage.
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