protonscr

Steam consumes much more memory than on Windows

steamclosed duplicatereviewednot reproducible
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#528 · opened 2013-01-03 by Majkl578 · updated 2013-01-05 · 4 comments · github
MMajkl578 2013-01-03 github

Steam consumes significantly more memory than on Windows 7.
Immediately after starting up and showing just a Friends window, it consumes about 160 MB. On Windows, it's about 5-15x less, like 15 MB after starting up.
It's even worse after opening Library and then switching to Store tab, at that time, it's about 215 MB.

Linux chimera 3.7-trunk-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.7.1-1~experimental.1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Gnome Shell 3.6

Jjohnv-valve maintainer 2013-01-04 github

Can you give some details about what specific counters you are looking at. Windows manages and reports memory very differently than Linux, I can assure you Steam uses much more than 15MB on Windows!

MMailaender 2013-01-04 github

This is what the KDE system monitor reports when I click details:

Process 1957 - MainThrd

Summary

The process MainThrd (with pid 1957) is using approximately 150.7 MB of memory.
It is using 188.7 MB privately, 147.5 KB for pixmaps, and a further 12.5 MB that is, or could be, shared with other programs.
Dividing up the shared memory between all the processes sharing that memory we get a reduced shared memory usage of -38986.0 KB. Adding that to the private and pixmap usage, we get the above mentioned total memory footprint of 150.7 MB.
Library Usage

The memory usage of a process is found by adding up the memory usage of each of its libraries, plus the process's own heap, stack and any other mappings, plus the stack of its 37 threads. 
Private
hide
147328 KB   [heap]
9940 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamui.so
8560 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so
8188 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libcef.so
3576 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/friendsui.so
3076 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamservice.so
2348 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/serverbrowser.so
1944 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libsteam.so
1628 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam
1332 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/chromehtml.so
1096 KB /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/vgui2_s.so
372 KB  /drm mm object (deleted)
364 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libffmpegsumo.so
360 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/crashhandler.so
212 KB  [stack]
200 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libvstdlib_s.so
148 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/filesystem_steam.so
132 KB  /usr/lib/libdricore9.0.1.so.1.0.0
120 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libtier0_s.so
108 KB  /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/libsdl2-2.0.so.0
88 KB   /lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0
76 KB   [stack:1975]
72 KB   /usr/lib/libvorbisenc.so.2.0.9
68 KB   /usr/lib/dri/i965_dri.so
64 KB   /dev/shm/ValveIPCSharedObjects3
44 KB   /usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_CTYPE
44 KB   /usr/lib/libopenal.so.1.14.0
44 KB   /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.17
40 KB   /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2.0
36 KB   /usr/lib/libX11.so.6.3.0
32 KB   /dev/shm/org.chromium.Chromium.shmem.libcef_15326819875539877209
28 KB   [stack:1991]
28 KB   [stack:1965]
28 KB   /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3.3
28 KB   [stack:1958]
28 KB   /usr/lib/libglapi.so.0.0.0
28 KB   /lib/libc-2.15.so
24 KB   /lib/libssl.so.1.0.0
24 KB   /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0.28.2
24 KB   /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0.49.0
24 KB   /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.10
24 KB   /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.8.1
20 KB   [stack:1994]
20 KB   [stack:1980]
20 KB   /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/liboxygen-gtk.so
20 KB   [stack:1960]
20 KB   /usr/lib/libnss3.so
20 KB   /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2.11200.2
20 KB   [stack:1959]
16 KB   [stack:1986]
16 KB   [stack:2028]
16 KB   [stack:1982]
16 KB   [stack:1981]
16 KB   [stack:1973]
16 KB   [stack:1972]
16 KB   [stack:1970]
16 KB   /usr/lib/libcups.so.2
16 KB   /usr/lib/libnssutil3.so
16 KB   /usr/lib/libasound.so.2.0.0
12 KB   [stack:1983]
12 KB   [stack:1979]
12 KB   [stack:1978]
12 KB   [stack:1977]
12 KB   /usr/lib/libsndfile.so.1.0.25
12 KB   [stack:1974]
12 KB   /usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_COLLATE
12 KB   [stack:1995]
12 KB   [stack:1961]
12 KB   /usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0.3200.4
12 KB   /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0.20409.1
12 KB   /usr/lib/libgcrypt.so.11.7.0
12 KB   /usr/lib/libsmime3.so
12 KB   /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.10
12 KB   /usr/lib/libexpat.so.1.6.0
12 KB   /usr/lib/libxcb-glx.so.0.0.0
12 KB   /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1.1.0
12 KB   /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/liboverride.so
8 KB    [stack:1993]
8 KB    [stack:1992]
8 KB    [stack:1990]
8 KB    [stack:1989]
8 KB    [stack:1988]
8 KB    [stack:1987]
8 KB    [stack:1985]
8 KB    [stack:1984]
8 KB    /usr/lib/libFLAC.so.8.2.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libuuid.so.1.3.0
8 KB    /lib/libcap.so.2.22
8 KB    /usr/lib/libICE.so.6.3.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpulsecommon-1.1.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libspeex.so.1.5.0
8 KB    /lib/libwrap.so.0.7.6
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libSM.so.6.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpulse.so.0.13.5
8 KB    [stack:1971]
8 KB    [stack:1968]
8 KB    /usr/lib/libbluray.so.1.1.0
8 KB    /lib/libudev.so.0.13.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgvfscommon.so.0.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libvorbis.so.0.4.6
8 KB    /usr/lib/libjson.so.0.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libcanberra-gtk-module.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgioremote-volume-monitor.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libogg.so.0.8.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libltdl.so.7.3.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libvorbisfile.so.3.3.5
8 KB    /usr/lib/libcanberra.so.0.2.5
8 KB    /usr/lib/gconv/MACINTOSH.so
8 KB    [stack:1964]
8 KB    [stack:1996]
8 KB    /usr/lib/libcanberra-gtk.so.0.1.8
8 KB    [stack:1963]
8 KB    [stack:1962]
8 KB    /lib/libnss_nis-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libnsl-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libnss_compat-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libkeyutils.so.1.4
8 KB    /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libcom_err.so.2.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3.1
8 KB    /lib/libselinux.so.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgpg-error.so.0.8.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2.2
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpcre.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libxcb-render.so.0.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libxcb-shm.so.0.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpng14.so.14.11.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1.0.2
8 KB    /lib/libdbus-1.so.3.7.0
8 KB    /lib/libz.so.1.2.7
8 KB    /usr/lib/libnspr4.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0.3200.4
8 KB    /usr/lib/libplds4.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libffi.so.4.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0.3200.4
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0.2600.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1.3.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXi.so.6.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0.3000.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0.3200.4
8 KB    /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1.5.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0.3000.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0.3000.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2.2.0
8 KB    /lib/libresolv-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libnss_dns-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libnss_mdns_minimal.so.2
8 KB    /lib/libnss_files-2.15.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpciaccess.so.0.11.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libdrm_intel.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.4.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libX11-xcb.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXext.so.6.4.0
8 KB    /lib/librt-2.15.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_CTYPE
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
8 KB    /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
8 KB    /lib/libpthread-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libdl-2.15.so
8 KB    /lib/libm-2.15.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libplc4.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXxf86vm.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /lib/ld-2.15.so
4 KB    /dev/shm/Shm_125376fc
4 KB    /dev/shm/pulse-shm-1507069429
4 KB    [stack:1969]
4 KB    /home/matthias/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/cef_gtk.pak
Shared
hide
1332 KB /usr/lib/libdricore9.0.1.so.1.0.0
996 KB  /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.10
876 KB  /lib/libc-2.15.so
740 KB  /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/liboxygen-gtk.so
516 KB  /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.17
488 KB  /usr/lib/dri/i965_dri.so
456 KB  /usr/lib/libX11.so.6.3.0
456 KB  /usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0.3200.4
428 KB  /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0.3200.4
408 KB  /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.10
360 KB  /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2.11200.2
264 KB  /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.8.1
260 KB  /var/cache/fontconfig/17090aa38d5c6f09fb8c5c354938f1d7-i586.cache-3
260 KB  /var/cache/fontconfig/df311e82a1a24c41a75c2c930223552e-i586.cache-3
252 KB  /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0.3200.4
248 KB  /usr/lib/libpulsecommon-1.1.so
220 KB  /lib/libdbus-1.so.3.7.0
192 KB  /var/cache/fontconfig/7ef2298fde41cc6eeb7af42e48b7d293-i586.cache-3
180 KB  /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1.5.0
176 KB  /lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0
160 KB  /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2.0
136 KB  /usr/lib/libpcre.so.1.0.0
136 KB  /var/cache/fontconfig/8d4af663993b81a124ee82e610bb31f9-i586.cache-3
124 KB  /usr/lib/libpulse.so.0.13.5
108 KB  /usr/lib/libasound.so.2.0.0
108 KB  /lib/ld-2.15.so
108 KB  /usr/share/locale-bundle/de/LC_MESSAGES/gtk20-properties.mo
104 KB  /usr/lib/libexpat.so.1.6.0
96 KB   /usr/share/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo
88 KB   /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0.28.2
84 KB   /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0.3000.1
80 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/467c019e582ee353435ea5c21d137ef6-i586.cache-3
76 KB   /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1.1.0
72 KB   /lib/libpthread-2.15.so
68 KB   /usr/lib/libnss3.so
64 KB   /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3.3
64 KB   /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so
60 KB   /usr/lib/libglapi.so.0.0.0
60 KB   /lib/libm-2.15.so
56 KB   /lib/libssl.so.1.0.0
52 KB   /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0.2600.1
52 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/573380a29a0577b9fa81ed92e885a22d-i586.cache-3
48 KB   /usr/lib/libxcb-glx.so.0.0.0
48 KB   /lib/libudev.so.0.13.1
48 KB   /usr/lib/libgvfscommon.so.0.0.0
48 KB   /lib/libresolv-2.15.so
48 KB   /usr/share/locale-bundle/de/LC_MESSAGES/gtk20.mo
44 KB   /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgioremote-volume-monitor.so
44 KB   /usr/share/locale-bundle/de/LC_MESSAGES/glib20.mo
44 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/c8949cabc08ab434d79274b24618eeea-i586.cache-3
40 KB   /usr/lib/libcups.so.2
40 KB   /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0.20409.1
40 KB   /usr/lib/libdrm_intel.so.1.0.0
40 KB   /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
36 KB   /usr/lib/libnspr4.so
36 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/bfb79708dbcbc0941bf341e2bd96af26-i586.cache-3
32 KB   /usr/lib/libsmime3.so
32 KB   /usr/lib/libFLAC.so.8.2.0
32 KB   /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2.2
32 KB   /usr/lib/libXi.so.6.1.0
32 KB   /usr/lib/libXext.so.6.4.0
32 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/8f02d4cb045bd6ce15663e43f347c9f8-i586.cache-3
32 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/d2eadfece6187a572cd05e68318efbe0-i586.cache-3
28 KB   /usr/lib/libvorbisenc.so.2.0.9
28 KB   /usr/lib/libnssutil3.so
28 KB   /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1.0.2
28 KB   /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1.3.0
28 KB   /usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules.cache
24 KB   /usr/lib/libgcrypt.so.11.7.0
24 KB   /lib/libselinux.so.1
24 KB   /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0.3000.1
24 KB   /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2.2.0
24 KB   /lib/libnss_files-2.15.so
20 KB   /lib/libnss_compat-2.15.so
20 KB   /usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.4.0
20 KB   /lib/librt-2.15.so
20 KB   /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_CTYPE
20 KB   /var/cache/fontconfig/d62e99ef547d1d24cdb1bd22ec1a2976-i586.cache-3
16 KB   /usr/lib/libsndfile.so.1.0.25
16 KB   /usr/lib/libICE.so.6.3.0
16 KB   /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libcanberra-gtk-module.so
16 KB   /lib/libnsl-2.15.so
16 KB   /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3.1
16 KB   /usr/lib/libpng14.so.14.11.0
16 KB   /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0.3000.1
16 KB   /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3.1.0
16 KB   /usr/share/locale-bundle/de/LC_MESSAGES/pulseaudio.mo
12 KB   /lib/libwrap.so.0.7.6
12 KB   /usr/lib/libbluray.so.1.1.0
12 KB   /usr/lib/libvorbis.so.0.4.6
12 KB   /usr/lib/libcanberra.so.0.2.5
12 KB   /lib/libnss_nis-2.15.so
12 KB   /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0.1
12 KB   /usr/lib/libxcb-render.so.0.0.0
12 KB   /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0.3200.4
12 KB   /lib/libnss_dns-2.15.so
12 KB   /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_COLLATE
8 KB    /usr/lib/libuuid.so.1.3.0
8 KB    /lib/libcap.so.2.22
8 KB    /usr/lib/libspeex.so.1.5.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libSM.so.6.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libjson.so.0.0.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libogg.so.0.8.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libltdl.so.7.3.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libvorbisfile.so.3.3.5
8 KB    /usr/lib/gconv/MACINTOSH.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libcanberra-gtk.so.0.1.8
8 KB    /usr/lib/libcom_err.so.2.1
8 KB    /lib/libz.so.1.2.7
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1.0.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libffi.so.4.0.1
8 KB    /lib/libnss_mdns_minimal.so.2
8 KB    /usr/lib/libpciaccess.so.0.11.1
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1.1.0
8 KB    /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
8 KB    /lib/libdl-2.15.so
8 KB    /usr/lib/libplc4.so
8 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/2bf03b535467847c365478f415493282-i586.cache-3
8 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/9046c764dc2991228e881adf8c1b7f46-i586.cache-3
8 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/e5ed14aea64339901b166aebae3840d1-i586.cache-3
8 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/f18e1a0d9037c8a128283de041cd561c-i586.cache-3
8 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/d458be102e54cf534d1eef0dcbb02d07-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /lib/libkeyutils.so.1.4
4 KB    /usr/lib/libgpg-error.so.0.8.0
4 KB    /usr/lib/libxcb-shm.so.0.0.0
4 KB    /usr/lib/libplds4.so
4 KB    /usr/lib/libX11-xcb.so.1.0.0
4 KB    /usr/lib/libXxf86vm.so.1.0.0
4 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/ecdb0ae0d163bbfb2b1e36ffe572f7d3-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/77892aee8d1542a17bdf9baacc88a307-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/8cb4ed1bb8bf5538f99e4a6641fad075-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/3d950db533f4d42626c39c5c01a7f913-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /var/cache/fontconfig/6ba42ae0000f58711b5caaf10d690066-i586.cache-3
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_NUMERIC
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_TIME
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_MONETARY
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_PAPER
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_NAME
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_ADDRESS
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_TELEPHONE
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_MEASUREMENT
4 KB    /usr/lib/locale/de_DE.utf8/LC_IDENTIFICATION
4 KB    [vdso]
Totals

Pixmap  148 KB  (Might be stored in the graphics card's memory)
Private 193196 KB   (= 30084 KB clean + 163112 KB dirty)
Shared  12820 KB    (= 12820 KB clean + 0 KB dirty)
Rss 206016 KB   (= Private + Shared)
Pss 154210 KB   (= Private + Shared/Number of Processes)
Swap    0 KB

I don't see a memory leak here. It is about the same that Firefox uses and Steam is mostly a Webbrowser.

MMrSchism 2013-01-04 github

This was discussed at length over #432 (of which this is a duplicate).

The issue is that Windows doesn't report memory usage correctly.

Jjohnv-valve maintainer 2013-01-05 github

On Windows according to Resource Monitor, Steam.exe has ~220MB commit and 140MB working set. This is not dramatically different than the Linux numbers you are quoting above.

Nothing extracted yet.