Memory Leak? - Steam Web Helper using 6GB of RAM

[Nexie]

I left my PC on over night, went out for the day, and came back to my PC to find my RAM sitting at 75% usage while idle. A single steam web helper process had 6GB reserved.

This new UI isn't just a memory hog - it actively has a memory leak. I can deal with new visuals. I can put aside my disgust at web-based design infecting the rest of the steam UI. But this is an actual issue, and should have been caught in testing.

Proof:
https://i.imgur.com/Dn6XR91.png

[breadman]

wow

[AustrAlien2010]

If it's an actual issue, then what is the problem?

Does it cause a problem when your memory is used? Is there a reason why your memory should not be used?

If there are no problems, then why are you trying to fix something?

[Nexie]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Does it cause a problem when your memory is used? Is there a reason why your RAM should not be used?

If there are no problems, then why are you trying to fix something?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

Nothing about Steam would use 6GB of RAM. Many modern games don't even use that much. Usage that high indicates that memory that is done being used is not properly being 'released' back to the operating system to use for other processes. This can lead to performance issues across the entire system - in an extreme example, if I tried to play a game while this was happening, I'd be heavily lagging, if not outright crashing from out-of-memory errors.

Notifying developers of a bug in the software is important. It should be fixed before it gets worse and causes those issues on a large scale.

[breadman]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

If it's an actual issue, then what is the problem?

Does it cause a problem when your memory is used? Is there a reason why your memory should not be used?

If there are no problems, then why are you trying to fix something?

lol, steam client shouldn't be using 6gb of ram under any circumstances

it's obvious something is wrong

[AustrAlien2010]

If it's a memory leak, it would cause the computer to experience issues and maybe crash. Is that also happening? Or is it an observation that your memory is used, but not causing any real issues?

[AustrAlien2010]

I am following you. I am just wondering what the actual issue is.

[pontfogel]

It's obviously an issue if Steam is using 6bg of memory whether it's a leak or not. Imagine if it does that on a low memory system.

[AustrAlien2010]

But does it crash?

[breadman]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

I am following you. I am just wondering what the actual issue is.

...

[Fearagen]

Originally posted by pontfogel:

It's obviously an issue if Steam is using 6bg of memory whether it's a leak or not. Imagine if it does that on a low memory system.

This, having something use up that much ram just sitting in the background is not only atrocious by itself but on a low ram machine it can cause slowdowns, a lot of people still run 16 GB or even 8. And if it is a memory leak, were about to see a storm of post about their system crashing.

[AustrAlien2010]

Yes. It can. But does it actually crash and slow down? That's the question.

[Nexie]

You seem to be under the impression that a bug does not exist until it is catastrophic. All things start somewhere, and small issues compound. If an error is occurring but it is not immediately an issue, that does not mean there is no error - it just means it's a minor one. If I let my PC idle a full 24 hours, perhaps I would come back to it having crashed and restarted, with no way of knowing why. And besides, if issues aren't fixed, they can get worse with successive patches. What's small today, may grow tomorrow.

There's no benefit in arguing here. If Steam was an open-source project, I'd submit a ticket to a github issue-tracker, and it wouldn't be on a forum for 'discussion'. Or if it isn't an issue, then that's good too. Carry on with your day, and I hope it's a lovely one. :)

[Fearagen]

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Yes. It can. But does it actually crash and slow down? That's the question.

If it is a memory leak, yes, no matter what compacity you have be it 16, 32, or 64, it will slowly fill it up to a point of system failure. Try running combat evolved on the MCC. Game slowly builds up memory usage, fps starts being unstable, then bingo, system freezes. It is unknown if it is a memory leak but 6GB usage is really bad even if it is not a leak. No piece of software in history should be using that much. Not even video games use up that much.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Fearagen:

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Yes. It can. But does it actually crash and slow down? That's the question.

If it is a memory leak, yes, no matter what compacity you have be it 16, 32, or 64, it will slowly fill it up to a point of system failure. Try running combat evolved on the MCC. Game slowly builds up memory usage, fps starts being unstable, then bingo, system freezes. It is unknown if it is a memory leak but 6GB usage is really bad even if it is not a leak. No piece of software in history should be using that much. Not even video games use up that much.

Depends on the memory leak.

For one, this is the only instance I have heard of it using 6GB. Is Steam or something else, if only one or a few have it? I've had Steam open all day, and it has not gone over 500MB of RAM, so does that mean there is no leak?

A "space leak" eventually does give the memory back and so may not cause a crash. That is even stated in the Wiki link the OP provided.

As for games.... Diablo 4 uses about 6+GB of ram last I played it, about an hour ago, so there are games that use that much memory.

Letting a company know about the possibility is fine, as the OP is doing, but lets not blow it out of proportions with out more information.

-----

OP, there is a forum for such issues: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/

May want to provide system specs and a description of what you were doing and what windows you had open at the time.

Have you tried restarting the client? If it happens regularly, then it may be an issue. If it only happened this one time, it could just be a glitch that restarting corrects.

[dvair]

I noticed that the web client doesn't close windows/tabs when you close the main window, same with the discussions window, it will open to the last discussion that I was in instead of the main menu. Could be those tabs taking up memory.