Why is Limewire so RAM intensive? Need more RAM?

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

Hi All,
Every time I open Limewire, it slows my entire iBooks performance drastically. It uses about 360 to 400 MB of the 768 MB RAM available!!! I am astounded. I have two questions: Is it normal for Limewire to use so much RAM? And also, would it be worth taking the 512MB RAM module currently installed out, and replacing it with a 1GB one, thus increasing my RAM to 1.25 GB? Would I really see that much difference?

Thanks for any help, its really appreciated.

- Shamus

mad jew · Mar 14, 2006

Yeah, LimeWire is a RAM hog. It's because it's been poorly written plus it's Java-based. Adding more RAM will directly benefit your system whilst it runs LimeWire too. It'll decrease your beachballing.

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

thanks for the help mad jew

. If I was to upgrade my RAM, would I see an increase in speed in other applications when not running Limewire? I looked at the activity monitor, and when not using limewire I still have quite a bit of unused RAM. would this mean that increasing the RAM would make no difference to these applications, because they already have as much RAM as needed anyway?

Thanks again for the help.

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

hehe, also as a bit of trivia, I just looked at your profile mad jew, and it says that you have done 11,111 posts

. Cool.

GimmeSlack12 · Mar 14, 2006

You will only notice a lack of decrease in performance. And mainly when there is a lot of programs open.

More RAM will not overly increase the speed of anything. There is a bit of a misconception that RAM will be like adding Mhz to your system. Although there is a slight boost in performance, it is not generally something that will add dramatic leaps (unless dramatic amounts of RAM are added).

Limewire is Java based as noted before, and therefore there is little you can do to increase the speed of the program. Java is a slow language. I have programmed in Java, and my programs ran the same on a 866mhz PC and a 3.2ghz PC.

Adding more RAM is nice to have, but do not expect Limewire to be much better. It's a crappy program.

May I suggest Acquisition (excellent program), and Transmission (bittorrent program).

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

Thanks for the info on JAVA, Gimmeslack, and also thanks for the other program recommendations! I'll check them out right now, as Limewire really is getting annoying.

Thanks guys.

Arnaud · Mar 14, 2006

I also recommend Acquisition, with a muuuuuch faster interface (i.e., interaction, but same speed for downloads). I compared queries, and Acquisition and Limewire seem to find the same sources.

Actually, once you try Acquisition, you cannot really go back to (pathetic) Limewire.

calebjohnston · Mar 14, 2006

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just maxxed out a powermac on apple's site and you can add over 10,000 dollars worth of ram. holy christ.

iBunny · Mar 14, 2006

I do not notice any issues with limewire.

I do have more of a machine than your iBook tho, so that may be why.

rickvanr · Mar 14, 2006

Arnaud said:
I also recommend Acquisition, with a muuuuuch faster interface (i.e., interaction, but same speed for downloads). I compared queries, and Acquisition and Limewire seem to find the same sources.

Actually, once you try Acquisition, you cannot really go back to (pathetic) Limewire.

Here, here. Limewire is garbage. Get Acquisition and don't look back.

GimmeSlack12 · Mar 14, 2006

Glad to see people backup Acquisition.

bill4588 · Mar 14, 2006

darn i was looking forward to getting Acquisition when I get my iBook but you have to pay for it....

are there any good FREE alternatives?

GimmeSlack12 · Mar 14, 2006

bill4588 said:
darn i was looking forward to getting Acquisition when I get my iBook but you have to pay for it.... are there any good FREE alternatives?

Not sure what you mean. It is shareware:
http://www.acquisitionx.com/download.php

That work for you Bill?

bill4588 · Mar 14, 2006

GimmeSlack12 said:
Not sure what you mean. It is shareware:
http://www.acquisitionx.com/download.php

That work for you Bill?

hmm yeah that link worked....but whenever i click on Download it asks me to pay with a credit card or PayPal....but thanks for the link!

~Shard~ · Mar 14, 2006

GimmeSlack12 said:
Not sure what you mean. It is shareware:
http://www.acquisitionx.com/download.php

That work for you Bill?

I think what he means is that you cannot get all the features without registering.

rickvanr · Mar 14, 2006

~Shard~ said:
I think what he means is that you cannot get all the features without registering.

You can. It works the exact same if you pay or if you don't. The only difference is a simple popup.

Maxwell Smart · Mar 14, 2006

Another supporter of aquisition, an excellent program.

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

I just downloaded Acquisition. Awesome program. It is a hundred times faster than Limewire. Thanks everyone for the help.

Shamus · Mar 14, 2006

i have just noticed, in the 'connected' panel, where it contains all the file sources, it contains the following:

Limewire/4.2.4
Limwire/4.10.3
Limewire/4.10.9

Should it be connected to more file sources? It seems to be delivering less available files than what Limewire does. about 1/5 of what Limewire does infact. Is this normal?

Plymouthbreezer · Mar 14, 2006

Lime is a resource hog it seems, at least on my iMac G4, but it's nothing terrible for the system to handle. For example, I'm using Limewire right now, and have Safari, iTunes, Preview, Pages, and Photoshop CS all running fine too.

cycocelica · Mar 14, 2006

When I did use LimeWire I noticed that it depended on what you downloaded. Obviously the bigger files took up more RAM.

Aramis · Mar 14, 2006

bill4588 said:
hmm yeah that link worked....but whenever i click on Download it asks me to pay with a credit card or PayPal....but thanks for the link!

$18 is REALLY not that bad considering the quality. Always a good idea to show your appreciation when you find a really good program (but thats just me - ill get off my soapbox)

.

~Shard~ · Mar 14, 2006

rickvanr said:
You can. It works the exact same if you pay or if you don't. The only difference is a simple popup.

Ah, okay, I was just going off what it stated on the website - thanks for the insight!

Shamus · Mar 15, 2006

Plymouthbreezer said:
Lime is a resource hog it seems, at least on my iMac G4, but it's nothing terrible for the system to handle. For example, I'm using Limewire right now, and have Safari, iTunes, Preview, Pages, and Photoshop CS all running fine too.

It depends on what version you are using. I was using 4.9.x and it ran rather well (no noticable decrease on performance of other programs), but then i downloaded 4.10, and thats when it got really slow.

Shamus · Mar 15, 2006

cycocelica said:
When I did use LimeWire I noticed that it depended on what you downloaded. Obviously the bigger files took up more RAM.

That is interesting...i didnt think of that. I am only downloading files 10MB or under, so I wouldnt think that this would expend so much RAM as it does.

hehe...not a problem now anyway, Acquisition is very snappy indeed, with a nicer interface aswell (no pinstripes).

Why is Limewire so RAM intensive? Need more RAM?

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