Quick question about maximizing ram performance

[Bacong]

First of all, I am on a 15" Powerbook G4 happily running OS X 10.5.6, with a 1.25 ghz processor and 1.25 GB of ram. Everything works like a charm 99.9% of the time, and I'm mightily pleased with the overall performance of the machine.

However, the one minor problem I do have, is running Firefox. It runs; it doesn't crash or hang that often, but the problem I DO have with it is that it kind of...sticks. I don't know how to explain it, but sometimes it just does not run blazing fast. In activity monitor, I just checked and Firefox is using 180 MB of memory, whilst the kernel is running 110ish. I found it humorous that Firefox was using more memory than the kernel was.

Anyway, I love firefox and it is my browser of choice. Thing is -- I wish I could get it to perform better. When I am not running Firefox, and running all the other programs I normally run (iTunes, Thunderbird, Adium, Snak, Dashboard and last.fm) the dock responds right away and is smooth looking. When firefox is being difficult, the dock kind of sticks when I bring it up. It's not a major problem but I'd like to be able to run the program flawlessly, as I am able to run every single other program I've tried to run on this machine.

Long story short (sorry, I tend to be verbose) is there a way for me to maximize the memory, or something similar, to allow me to run Firefox perfectly or at least better?

 

[emptyCup]

Firefox ... sometimes it just does not run blazing fast.

Are you sure this occasional slowness is not at the other end? Next time it happens try switching to another site. If they are all slow test your connection. Best wishes.

 

[Bacong]

I can tell the difference between program performance and network performance, but thank you for the suggestion.

 

[emptyCup]

I can tell the difference between program performance and network performance, but thank you for the suggestion.

Okay. Next time it happens run Activity Monitor. See if Firefox, or some other program, is doing something that requires more resources than normal. Good luck.

 

[velocityg4]

It could be firefox has a page with flash or java open this can slow things down. Try out the Flashblock add-on for Firefox. That way the only flash objects that load are those you approve.

Also how long have you had Firefox installed? Though it is not as big a problem with FF3 I found with FF2 I had to delete FF and all of its files every few months as it would start getting a lot slower, back up your bookmarks first though.

 

[clevin]

i experienced some leopard slow down problem, much more than I ever seen with Tiger, everything is suddenly so slow, but I do not really know if its firefox's problem.

system slow down are mostly the problem with CPU usage, when a process consumes 98-100% of cpu for a period of time, the system will slow to a crawl, next time the problem is up, you should check which process is using that much of CPU. memory normally is not an issue, firefox is one browser that consume much less memory than any others out there.

at firefox's end, only thing I can suggest is the new profile thing,, and since I do not know the root of the problem,, it may or may not solve the problem.

other thing I can think of is to install newest flash from adobe, which said to improve the performance a lot.

 

[BobZune]

Try turning off the extensions, then turn on one at a time to see which one is causing the problem.

You can also run the G4 optimized version (note: 3rd party builds) if you like - for example from http://www.savefile.com/projects/808604744 and see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_G4 for the history of the G4 processor (and determine what you have, or get the 7400 version of 3.0.8). They lag the official releases and are called by a different name (e.g., Minefield).

 

[Bacong]

Hmm, I will try that.

 

[Bacong]

Mine is 7447...so I assume I should get the 7440 one?

 

[BobZune]

I'd recommend the lower number (7400) rather than the higher (7450).

 

[Jethro57]

I used to enjoy using Firefox as well but recently I had to unfortunately go bet to using dial up. Now Firefox is as slowler than slow compared to Safari and I never noticed a difference with ethernet, now I see a major difference. Of course everything is frickin slow with dial up. Feel like I'm back in the Stone Age.