RAM for Desktop Use

[shep]

I noticed that my latest system, with 8GB ram, performs significantly better than the old 4GB system. Seems to have fewer browser core dumps. The improvement was marginal when booting Debian Buster. I typically do not open more than 5 browser tabs and have seen tests where some tabs can consume 2GB.

I don't see it as a flaw, just the cost of a secure platform that does not tolerate memory leaks or pledge violations.

It does raise the question: If 8GB is better than 4GB in OpenBSD, would 16GB be even better? RAM is relatively cheap and I have the slots.

[bsd-keith]

I don't know - I'm using just 2GB ram, & haven't had any browser core dumps using firefox - but then, I only ever have one or two tabs open at any one time.

My old Linux systems used to struggle a bit with just 1GB ram, but since upping it to 2GB, I haven't had any problems using firefox.

Edit: If you've got the money, & inclination, why not, software tends to increase its ram usage year on year.

[fvgit]

2GB RAM only here as well and currently 29 browser tabs open. Coredumps have become a rare occurence for me too.

It's still necessary for me to restart Firefox every once in a while or it'll slow to a crawl due to heavy swapping when using more than a few tabs. But I'm not complaining. That being said, my next system is going to have as much RAM as I can justify spending money on.

[hrsetrdr]

RAM prices had gotten pushed crazy high by crypto-mining, also by cell phone production[allegedly].

Prices are supposed to come down some thjs coming year.

I prefer 2 gigs minimum, of course the more the better

[jak3b]

I have 8 gigs and find that to be more than enough for everything I have thrown at it.Looking at top with an insane amount of programs open and tags I have never seen more than 3 gigs usage. I do set bufcachepercent to 90. I find that once I am up and running this speeds up responce considerably.

[shep]

My sense is that many limits are a percentage of the available RAM so throwing money toward more RAM would produce more leak tolerance. My own preference is to configure the system for the tasks. In my case, web browsing, with www/iridium, is what my computer does 85% of the time.

The documentation tells how to adjust limits and there are scattered, un-official web postings/guides recommending adjustment of memory limits/buffers/processes but I have not found anything that details how to decide what to adjust.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Originally Posted by shep

II typically do not open more than 5 browser tabs and have seen tests where some tabs can consume 2GB.

Really?

Have you tried www/chromium?

My OpenBSD box only has 4GiB but it never seems to use more than ~1.5GiB, even with lots of tabs open, and I hardly ever have core dumps.

I also have Debian buster on the same machine and OpenBSD is consistently "lighter" on RAM usage, FWIW.

[shep]

Really?

I got this search hit when I started looking at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnuNs_Nu46Q

I can't vouch that it is true