Memory usage out of control

I have been using Opera since before it was free.

I love it. I can't go without it. And therein lies the problem. I'm also getting sick of it slowing my system down to a crawl.

I'll admit that I run at least 40 tabs at all times... sometimes get to almost double that I bet (I don't count at that point).

I have a mediocre system 2.1ghz core 2 duo with a gig of ram (laptop).

But needless to say, every other day the system starts creeping.

I look in the task manager and it looks fairly normal Opera taking up ~700mb taken up in memory (this is also about where it starts.) The problem is when I look at the "performance" tab:


That is a before and after time line. PF usage was up to 2.2gigs before I ended the Opera process (which was only at 760mb of mem usage) I immediately reopened it (bringing back all the same tabs) and my mem usage is 700mb. So alleged memory usage hasn't changed but clearly it's swallowing up memory like my neighbor eats lortabs!

I understand that it keeps history in cache and all that stuff but even if I set it's mem use to a set amount it just creeps up anyway. How can we get a handle on this so my browser isn't useless after a day.

Oh, and another thing... I don't even bother actually closing the app. I go and end the process every time because IF it actually closes out properly (without hanging) it will take 5-10 mins.. literally! Hard drive steady crunching that whole time.

Originally posted by Gilligan8:

I'll admit that I run at least 40 tabs at all times... sometimes get to almost double that I bet (I don't count at that point).

It beats me how anyone needs to open 80 tabs at once, or even 40. Changing your browsing habits is the only way to solve the memory usage problem. Ten tabs is enough for one window. If you need more, open a new window for a new topic or site, and save it as a session. When you are done with that topic, close the window, and return to your default Opera window.

One window with ten tabs, set to continue from last time, is only going to take a few seconds to close down and restart. Then why would you need to keep Opera running all day? When you want to work in another application, if you're not using Unite, just close Opera, and restart it when you need it.

Cap your memory cache settings. If you run 40 tabs at once, and have memory cache set to automatic, naturally Opera will try to cache all those web pages into the computer's RAM. 40 tabs will naturally run up memory usage in any browser.

Pesala, didn't really come on here to be told how to use my computer. If I walk away from my computer and come back 8 hours later my memory usage should not have climbed to the level that it does. This has been going on since at least version 8... I've been hoping with every version that this issue would be fixed. This is also a common problem on all of my computers that I use (at least 4 on a regular basis... care to judge me on that one too?)

denarii, I used to do that every time I installed Opera... but I have always found that it never seemed to actually matter. Maybe the "legit" memory usage is capped but this unofficial hoarding that it does seems to go unchecked. I totally accept that it will use a ton of memory, I'm ok with that... it's the nature of the beast when I decide to run this many tabs. Just like I mentioned above it will creep no matter what I do.

But I'll definitely give the cap a whirl again, doesn't hurt to try that's for sure!

Opera Next
Dream on!
Memory Fixes
I look forward to your reports of huge improvements after Opera 12 is released.

I'll wait for official versions... but I've been sadly disappointed when each new version has come out.

I see the box pop up and I get so excited, hoping it will be different but it never is.

*shrug*

This tab plus another one (YouTube) in the background eats 180-250 MB of memory, fresh Windows 7 Ultimate, no other apps running, no widgets or plugins, Flash only. Same for you guys? That's a lot IMO

Originally posted by bartek212:

This tab plus another one (YouTube) in the background eats 180-250 MB of memory, fresh Windows 7 Ultimate, no other apps running, no widgets or plugins, Flash only. Same for you guys? That's a lot IMO

Agreed... that is my issue. I originally switched to Opera because it was so powerful YET light weight. I went on my quest for a better browser BECAUSE all the other guys were so fricken memory heavy.

Now I find myself looking at fresh installs like bartek212 going "WTH?! Is this what Opera has become?!"

But like I said... I'm so entrenched in the way it works, I just can't switch now.

I use Opera 12...no "huge improvements" in this department so far. If anything, it's even more ravenous and more reluctant to return memory.

This problem is not unique to Opera. Early in the year, Mozilla started the MemShrink project (I think it landed in FF7, and is supposed to be automatic, but you can trigger it in about:memory):

It’s become increasingly clear over the last several months that we have a pretty pressing need to deal with increases in memory usage in Firefox. Since we released Firefox 4 (and before, too), we’ve seen lots of reports about Firefox memory usage being higher than in older versions, and that Firefox memory usage is growing over time. – Johnny Stenback, a developer who works for Mozilla.

The memory limiting suggestion mentioned earlier doesn't seem to work, as Gilligan mentioned.

Lately, for me, also with a 2GB system, closing Opera nightly isn't even enough to keep it in check, though it certainly must be done at least once a day (it's folly on this type of system to think that you never need to close Opera). Now, when Opera approaches 1GB during the day--even after I get the tabs down to a very low number, such as 10 or so--it'll stay up there and give back no more than 100MB or so.

Lately, instead of closing during the day, I've taken to running Virtual PC to open and then immediately close an XP session--that'll lop hundreds of megs off Opera, getting it back to an appropriate number for the current number of tabs (not the number I had open early in the day).

An easier way to do this would be with a utility designed to eat memory, and I know I've seen at least one of those in the past (they're designed for testing various scenarios), but I can't seem to find one now. You'd just run it with the amount you want it to take (say, 500MB) and then exit. Maybe an Opera extension....

Well for all those that try to blame the fact that I run so many tabs.

Well, Opera failed to autosave the session properly and I lost all my tabs.

I've also been too busy to really do much surfing, just checking some email and such.

So I have 8 tabs open... STILL get crazy mem usage to the point that it just brings the computer to a crawl.

8 tabs, (two webmails, facebook, ebay ad and some other generic sites).

So all the symptoms I stated above are still happening with only 8 tabs.

This is really getting useless!

Originally posted by Gilligan8:

This is really getting useless!

Maybe the memory chips are bad, that does happen sometimes and slows everything down

HTH

Humor me here and give this a try, I know people are going to have comment about how it works, if it works, what it does and doesn't do but it is a simple, free, and portable program so no install is even required so again, humor me and try this out.

Download this/read more about the program: http://www.rizonesoft.com/2011/memory-booster/
(Direct Link: http://www.rizonesoft.com/downloads/memboost.zip )

Unzip the downloaded file and Open your Task Manager again, then run it and see what happens.

@Hobbler... on how many systems? Myself I run more than 3 systems constantly. I own a computer repair shop and have computers in various offices as well as a couple at home. They all experience the same behavior, and what about everyone else complaining about the same sort of thing.

@Tweakerz... I have used it and it does a decent job at cleaning up VERY temporarily but that isn't even really a bandaid on the problem. It doesn't give any lasting effects and the usage just continues to get out of control. I ran it for a few weeks hoping it could be a decent temporary solution, but it hasn't been.

Originally posted by Gilligan8:

@Hobbler... on how many systems? Myself I run more than 3 systems constantly. I own a computer repair shop and have computers in various offices as well as a couple at home. They all experience the same behavior, and what about everyone else complaining about the same sort of thing.

@Tweakerz... I have used it and it does a decent job at cleaning up VERY temporarily but that isn't even really a bandaid on the problem. It doesn't give any lasting effects and the usage just continues to get out of control. I ran it for a few weeks hoping it could be a decent temporary solution, but it hasn't been.

Sorry bud, I just leave Opera running all the time, sometimes for days at a time and always with at the least 7 open tabs and no issues (no need for the mem progs, just toying with new apps), just figured it'd be worth a shot as it really makes a nice difference in testing (very briefly) here, I toyed with another program called JetClean (portable also) and it did a FAR better job but it is a larger optioned program, you could give that a shot for the heck of it and see what happens if you wanted, it did the same but again, WAY more for me at least.

Feel free to check it out and see if it helps. http://www.bluesprig.com/jetclean.html

Tried opening Process Hacker or Process Explorer and adjusting Priorities a bit, or just through Task Manager just to see how Opera behaves? (purely for testing and troubleshooting of course)

I'm not affiliated with any program or website, just things I happen across testing different tools that might possibly make my life a little easier.

Yeah, I used to do the same... sometime around version 7 is the last time I remember successfully REALLY doing it though.

After that each new major revision I have RUN to hoping the problems would be solved. Each time just disappointed. Like I said this is on several systems not just one so it's not just a fluke.

have also been using opera since version 5 or something (back when they used to have a banner at top right corner)

I am also a bit unhappy with the amount of RAM Opera is eating but then again. I usually have minimum 80 tabs open at a time, and it gets a lot more than that. Bad browsing habits.. trying to change them but not doing too well.

CPU usage for Opera is around 5-8% (T9550) and is not a problem, unless a page with some nasty scripting sneaks in. Then the hunt begins

The memory usage is usually around 1.2-1.4 GB of RAM (Win 7 64 bit), and my laptop is back from 2008.

Am I unhappy with this? Yea. Do I accept it as it is? YEAH.

It's only my browsing habits that are leading to this. ALSO what we all need to remember is that websites evolve all the time and if 350MB of RAM for your average 60 tabs was enough 5 years ago, the very same tabs will likely eat up to 3x times of RAM today. The requirements for Win98 say "16 megabytes (MB) of memory (24 MB recommended)" for gods sake..... get this in your heads and stop complaining about RAM usage, or else think whether your PC/laptop is really up to date to live in todays internet world of flash and javascript.

Also, maybe you want to try and live with 100 open tabs on any other browser but Opera? Have fun and may God bless you

Just enjoy this great browser. Maybe it's not perfect in every aspect but we all love it for what it is.

I wouldn't lay it all on your browsing habits: you can easily exceed 1GB staying under 20 tabs. Once you hit a certain number of tabs, it seems to be more a function of how much Opera is used rather than the number of tabs. When Opera is in that well-used condition, closing tabs helps only minimally.

Fortunately, since RAM averages about $5/GB these days, I no longer much care about this. On a RAM-locked machine though, it's an issue. I'd use Chrome there, which is very good about surrendering memory when tabs are closed out.

Originally posted by Gilligan8:

Well for all those that try to blame the fact that I run so many tabs.

Well, Opera failed to autosave the session properly and I lost all my tabs.

I've also been too busy to really do much surfing, just checking some email and such.

So I have 8 tabs open... STILL get crazy mem usage to the point that it just brings the computer to a crawl.

8 tabs, (two webmails, facebook, ebay ad and some other generic sites).

So all the symptoms I stated above are still happening with only 8 tabs.

This is really getting useless!

Put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr. Enig... you might want to read the entire thread before you erroneously place the blame.

I HAVE read the whole thread before I posted.

After your reply (dont smoke so much before posting next time) I have decided to do a small experiment. I took Opera, Firefox, Chrome and Safari browsers. All updated to newest releases, used the 12.0 alpha for Opera.

Opened 8 exact same tabs in each of them, also all running simultaneously so all are sharing exact same environment. Tabs are - gmail, facebook, THIS forum, ebay, imdb and few news sites.

Laptop contains an Intel Core 2 duo T9550 (2.667 GHz), 4GB DDR3 RAM and a GeForce GT 130m video card with 1GB of it's own RAM (dont know if the video card actually matters). Win7 64bit.

The display resolution is 1920x1080 and all browsers are maximized to fit the whole screen - do not forget to do it if you are to run a similar experiment.

Opera 294 MB
Firefox 229 MB + 73 MB "plugin container for firefox" = 302 MB
Safari 112 MB + 55 MB + 150 MB of Webkit2webprocess.exe - also belongs to safari = 317 MB
Chrome 13+37+87+50+2+13+10+25+35+37+37= 346 MB
IE - I dont have the guts for THAT

Originally posted by rseiler:

I wouldn't lay it all on your browsing habits: you can easily exceed 1GB staying under 20 tabs. Once you hit a certain number of tabs, it seems to be more a function of how much Opera is used rather than the number of tabs. When Opera is in that well-used condition, closing tabs helps only minimally.

Fortunately, since RAM averages about $5/GB these days, I no longer much care about this. On a RAM-locked machine though, it's an issue. I'd use Chrome there, which is very good about surrendering memory when tabs are closed out.

yeah I see how chrome is better on surrendering RAM after closing tabs, as it is using a separate process for each tab. It is using more RAM in total though.

When/if I have the will and the time I might extend this little experiment a bit further - to include some browsing and look how each browser responds to it.

Gilligan8 - you can see that Opera is actually using the least RAM. That is at a cold start of 8 tabs and with no browsing history. Although the differences between Opera, Firefox and Safari are quite minuscule and not really significant. Chrome requires more than 10% extra (almost 20% more than Opera) in conditions of this experiment.

Make some conclusions out of this Gilligan. Other thing - clean your computer, update Flash and JAVA.. or get some more RAM into your machine - will make your life much easier.

I had the same issues with 11.60. now running opera next 12 everything is fine. i use this till a new version...its maybe a problem with the 11.60 release.

FAGabriel, this started way before 11.6 and continues in 12. I can't imagine why you think it's any better, as 12 right now is essentially 11.6 plus (a largely broken) hardware acceleration feature. Perhaps you're talking about some specific aspect.

just to be clear - I used the 12.0a and not 11.61 because the 11.61 was open with 85 tabs at 1.335 GB of RAM, and I did not want it to intrude into experiment in any way. The result with 11.61 would have been quite similar anyways, I think.