High RAM memory usage compared to other systems

Question

I'm suffering with memory usage problems, only in open 2 tabs of facebook(it's only for example, any 'heavy' page freeze also) in firefox*(for example also, but this occur in chromium also) freeze computer.
I've 1GB of memory, it isn't big but also isn't very little.
I'm using XFCE with compiz (yes, compiz, since use a very lightweight openbox-based session doesn't help, then compiz...) when system start (after login) system is consuming 130MB approximately of RAM.
after 1 hour if close all open apps and see memory usage again consume is something about 350MB, "only solution" is reboot.
all applications(htop,free -m,xfce's system monitor...) that I've tried to monitor memory usage show above scenario, except the 'ps_mem' script in AUR.
in the 'ps_mem' script the result is following (with opera browser open, less memory offensive browser but I really prefer firefox):
Private + Shared = RAM used Program
88.0 KiB + 10.0 KiB = 98.0 KiB agetty
380.0 KiB + 34.5 KiB = 414.5 KiB sshd
408.0 KiB + 93.0 KiB = 501.0 KiB gpg-agent (2)
372.0 KiB + 142.0 KiB = 514.0 KiB avahi-daemon (2)
456.0 KiB + 60.0 KiB = 516.0 KiB systemd-logind
280.0 KiB + 261.0 KiB = 541.0 KiB sh
476.0 KiB + 103.5 KiB = 579.5 KiB xfconfd
476.0 KiB + 153.5 KiB = 629.5 KiB gvfsd
604.0 KiB + 34.5 KiB = 638.5 KiB systemd-udevd
588.0 KiB + 102.5 KiB = 690.5 KiB dbus-launch (3)
576.0 KiB + 119.5 KiB = 695.5 KiB sudo
668.0 KiB + 77.5 KiB = 745.5 KiB cups-browsed
620.0 KiB + 179.5 KiB = 799.5 KiB at-spi2-registryd
804.0 KiB + 67.0 KiB = 871.0 KiB htop
756.0 KiB + 131.0 KiB = 887.0 KiB gconfd-2
800.0 KiB + 126.0 KiB = 926.0 KiB upowerd
752.0 KiB + 183.5 KiB = 935.5 KiB xscreensaver
920.0 KiB + 85.0 KiB = 1.0 MiB cupsd
876.0 KiB + 241.0 KiB = 1.1 MiB gvfsd-fuse
692.0 KiB + 429.0 KiB = 1.1 MiB systemd-journald
880.0 KiB + 273.5 KiB = 1.1 MiB at-spi-bus-launcher
1.2 MiB + 125.0 KiB = 1.3 MiB udisksd
1.4 MiB + 486.5 KiB = 1.9 MiB dbus-daemon (5)
1.4 MiB + 533.5 KiB = 1.9 MiB panel-6-systray
1.5 MiB + 430.0 KiB = 2.0 MiB lightdm (2)
1.6 MiB + 572.0 KiB = 2.1 MiB xfce4-session
1.5 MiB + 683.0 KiB = 2.2 MiB panel-5-datetim
1.5 MiB + 706.5 KiB = 2.2 MiB panel-2-actions
1.6 MiB + 723.0 KiB = 2.3 MiB panel-4-systeml
2.0 MiB + 543.5 KiB = 2.5 MiB xfsettingsd
2.0 MiB + 579.5 KiB = 2.6 MiB systemd (3)
2.3 MiB + 815.0 KiB = 3.1 MiB emerald
2.8 MiB + 578.5 KiB = 3.3 MiB gnome-keyring-daemon (3)
3.2 MiB + 946.5 KiB = 4.1 MiB zsh (2)
16.1 MiB + -12144.0 KiB = 4.2 MiB polkitd
4.1 MiB + 465.0 KiB = 4.6 MiB notify-osd
4.5 MiB + 1.6 MiB = 6.2 MiB xfce4-panel
5.1 MiB + 1.2 MiB = 6.3 MiB panel-7-mixer
7.7 MiB + 1.4 MiB = 9.0 MiB xterm (2)
12.0 MiB + 636.0 KiB = 12.6 MiB opera:libflashp
24.3 MiB + -10774.5 KiB = 13.8 MiB Xorg
18.6 MiB + 1.1 MiB = 19.7 MiB gnome-do (2)
23.2 MiB + 2.4 MiB = 25.6 MiB compiz
168.4 MiB + 3.2 MiB = 171.7 MiB opera
320.1 MiB
=================================
as you can see in 'ps_mem' memory usage isn't nothing absurdly it's ok.
another example, this problem stop me make certain things, for example is impossible browsing in web while programming in eclipse, this is very uncomfortable.
other thing, this not occur in Windows XP, I can open more than 10 tabs in firefox, and eclipse open, etc...
any needing information, tell-me!
firefox*: with memory cache turned off in about:config
Last edited by hotvic (2013-08-12 17:42:21)

Answer 1

hotvic, could you please change the title to something more descriptive? 'memory problems' sounds like you have problems e.g. remembering / recalling things, which is not an Arch issue ;P
kenny3794 wrote:
I've had some limiting performance with browsers lately (Firefox and Chromium).  I found it had a considerable cache size utilizing lots of fragmented space on my home directory. I cleared the cache and have since set a limit to the cache size of 30 MB for Firefox.  Between multiple users across multiple browser sessions, I had at least 2 GB of cache data on my 10 GB home partition!  So far (1 day), this has been helpful.  Perhaps this could help you also?
Ken
OP is talking about RAM, not HDD space.