Chrome vs Firefox 12.0, my memory usage tests

Test involves two windows, one with 10 tabs and another with 3 tabs, running on OSX 10.7.3


Before running either:



Wired Memory: 1309 MB
Active Memory: 3260 MB
Inactive Memory:         614 MB
Free Memory: 2546 MB
Real Mem Total (ps): 2460.141 MB


After starting Chrome:



Wired Memory: 1331 MB  (+22 MB)
Active Memory: 3990 MB  (+730 MB)
Inactive Memory:         640 MB  (+26 MB)
Free Memory: 1773 MB  (-773 MB)
Real Mem Total (ps): 3555.176 MB  (+1095.035 MB)

After viewing each tab (versus before start):

Wired Memory: 1323 MB  (+14)

Active Memory: 3981 MB  (+721)

Inactive Memory:         650 MB  (+36)

Free Memory: 1781 MB  (+781)

Real Mem Total (ps): 3563.785 MB  (+1103.644)

Now let's close Chrome (versus before starting Chrome):

Wired Memory: 1309 MB  

Active Memory: 3265 MB  (+5)

Inactive Memory:         622 MB   (+8)

Free Memory: 2530 MB  (-16)

Real Mem Total (ps): 2460.895 MB  (+0.754)

Time for Firefox:

Wired Memory: 1333 MB   (+24)

Active Memory: 3625 MB  (+360)  

Inactive Memory:         740 MB   (+118)

Free Memory: 2033 MB  (-497)

Real Mem Total (ps): 2958.316 MB  (+497.421)

And after viewing each tab (versus before start):

Wired Memory: 1324 MB   (+15)

Active Memory: 3639 MB (+374)

Inactive Memory:         748 MB  (+126)

Free Memory: 2018 MB  (-512)

Real Mem Total (ps): 2968.293 MB  (+507.398)

Now with Firefox closed  (versus before starting Firefox):

Wired Memory: 1310 MB  (+1)

Active Memory: 3279 MB  (+14)

Inactive Memory:         636 MB  (+14)

Free Memory: 2505 MB  (-25)

Real Mem Total (ps): 2478.117 MB  (+17.222)

So that is Chrome using more memory versus Firefox, and here's how much:

Wired Memory: -1 MB  

Active Memory: +347 MB  (92.7% increase over FF)

Inactive Memory:         -98 MB  (77% decrease over FF)

Free Memory: +269 MB  (52.5% increase over FF)

Real Mem Total (ps): +596.246 MB  (117% increase over FF)

Pass #2 for Chrome, before running:

Wired Memory: 1345 MB

Active Memory: 3155 MB

Inactive Memory:         606 MB

Free Memory: 2676 MB

Real Mem Total (ps): 2393.332 MB

After running:

Wired Memory: 1347 MB  (+2)

Active Memory: 3819 MB  (+664)

Inactive Memory:         621 MB  (+15)

Free Memory: 2016 MB  (-660)

Real Mem Total (ps): 3414.230 MB  (+1020.898)

Again we see Chrome using more memory than Firefox.

More testing to come in the future, but this is pretty disappointing for Chrome.