I use a disk cache of 20 MB (20,480 kb) on some profiles and the default 50MB on others and don't notice a difference. I tried a "tiny" cache of 3 MB and it made no difference either... but then, I have 512MB of ram on this system and my memory cache is based on this amount of physical ram. From what I've gathered you can disable disk cache altogether if you have enough of a memory cache.
Checking
about:cache I see:
Memory cache device
Number of entries: 300
Maximum storage size: 21504 KiB
Storage in use: 16293 KiB
Inactive storage: 14747 KiB
Under Disk cache device I see:
Number of entries: 2303
Maximum storage size: 20480 KiB
Storage in use: 20437 KiB
If you see a
Memory Cache Maximum storage size number that seems very small , such as 1024 (1 MB) or 4096 (4 MB) based on your physical ram (see chart below) then you may have set your own user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity" to a small number as was recommended awhile back for the Netscape 7.1/Mozilla 1.4 resource bug.... If so, go to about:config, find the setting and right-click, "reset". Remove the line from the profile's user.js file also, if necessary.
See:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns71resrcleak.html
and
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns71res ... fault.html
.... from my notes:
From: Michael Lefevre (
news+06.nospam@michaellefevre.com)
Subject: Re: Resource leak ideas
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.general
Date: 2004-01-18 17:35:41 PST
On 2004-01-18, Clover <stolenclover@yahoo.com.tw> wrote:
>
andrewkennedy1@ev1.net wrote:
>> I tried this to fix resource leaks with no effects.
>> Any more ideas. Thanks.
>>
>> # If the preference isn't listed, then:
>> # Right click on any blank space on the page
>> # Select: NEW
>> # Select: INTEGER
>> # Type in: browser.cache.memory.capacity
>> # Click OK
>> # Type in 1024
>> # Click OK
>> # Restart Netscape (or Mozilla)
>
> I believe pref for memory cache has been removed. memory cache now
> depends on the total memory on the client computer
The pref is still there, and still works if it is set to, for example,
1024. If the pref is set to -1 (which is now the default), then the cache
size depends on the RAM of the computer.
From: doug robbins (
dr@labradorstraits.net)
Subject: Re: Cache Considerations
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.general
Date: 2003-11-21 16:44:42 PST
On 21-Nov-2003 02:51 PM Bob wrote...
> Someone suggested making the size of the disk cache zero so Mozilla
> would have to rely solely on memory cache. That way Mozilla would not
> bog down when the disk cache gets filled.
>
> 1. There is no reference to the size of memory cache, so how does one
> set it manually - or does Mozilla use as much memory as it needs to
> maintain a cache?
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 25000);
Specify a size in kb.
> 2. Is removing the disk cache in this manner a good practice or will
> it cause Mozilla to act flakey?
Does not act flakey in my experience running with disk cache disabled.
> 3. Is setting the size to zero the only way to disable the disk cache,
> or is there a pref for that?
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.enable", false);
--
Doug
From: Jay Garcia (
Mozilla@Netscape.KIDDINGJayGarcia.com)
Subject: Re: Cache Considerations
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.general
Date: 2003-11-22 06:55:29 PST
On 21.11.03 23:33, Bob wrote:
--- Original Message ---
> On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 04:17:01 GMT,
spam@spam.com (Bob) wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 21:06:45 -0330, doug robbins
>><dr@labradorstraits.net> wrote:
>>
>>>user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 25000);
>>>Specify a size in kb.
>>
>>Is there a recommended size? Or is 25000 that size?
>>
>>I have Win2K/SP4 with 384 MB RAM and use about 256 MB according to
>>Task Manager.
>>
>>>user_pref("browser.cache.disk.enable", false);
>>
>>Thanks for the info. I will try it.
>
> I just gave the disk-cacheless Mozilla a thorough workout. I upped the
> memory cache size to 50000. I watched Task Manager as I reloaded a
> large and very busy tabgroup several times. I have the cache set to
> compare the page every time. I am a bit surprised at how efficient the
> cache management actually is.
>
> I should point out that I have a proxy filter (InterMute's AdSubtract)
> so I do not have to put up with a lot of nuisance content. That helps
> speed things up since bullcrap ad images are not loaded.
>
> Mozilla appears to run faster, especially when refreshing large
> tabgroups involving lots of graphics, so maybe this is the way to go.
> At least now I know the cache will be empty when I close the last
> Mozilla window.
>
>
Memory cache plays a more important role than most people realize.
Michael Lefevre posted a chart containing parameters for setting memory
cache in relation to installed ram. Don't know what I did with it but on
this particular machine with 256 Meg ram, my mem cache is set at 14000
and it WORKS.
Michael, where are you and that chart ??? !!!
=============Memory Cache Chart===================
From
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=105344
Memory cache pref should be a percentage of physical RAM
------- Additional Comment #26 From gordon 2003-04-18 16:14 PDT [reply] -------
<snip>
Rather than simply take a percentage of physical RAM, this patch uses a formula
that grows less than linearly as follows:
RAM Cache
--- -----
32 Mb 2 Mb
64 Mb 4 Mb
128 Mb 8 Mb
256 Mb 14 Mb
512 Mb 22 Mb
1024 Mb 32 Mb
2048 Mb 44 Mb
4096 Mb 58 Mb
UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040910