php memory_limit 128M versus 256M and Zen Cart Speed / Performance

[Zean]

I noticed that some of my hosting accounts have a php memory_limit of 128M and others 256M.
Is there any reason to think that 256 is better or worse than the recommended 128M?
For example will 256 yield better/worse Zen Cart performance?

[RodG]

I noticed that some of my hosting accounts have a php memory_limit of 128M and others 256M.
Is there any reason to think that 256 is better or worse than the recommended 128M?
For example will 256 yield better/worse Zen Cart performance?

128MB is actually a *lot* of memory for a single process and you are unlikely to need more. Increasing *needlessly* can actually be detrimental, especially on a busy site, and doubly so on a busy site that doesn't have much memory in the 1st place (if you double the per-process memory, which is what this setting does) the server will only be able to service half the number of requests before running out of total memory).

As long as you aren't running into any memory issues, leave at the hosting providers defaults. Changing it will have no positive affect on Zen performance.

Cheers
RodG

ps. Wordpress (which contains a lot of bloat and is more demanding on a server than ZenCart would ever be), functions just fine with only 32MB, so if you have a busy site, you would actually be better to reducing what you have. You probably won't notice any difference though, so leave it be,)

[Zean]

RodG, thanks so much for explaining php memory_limit.

[DrByte]

Also keep in mind that some admin plugins (especially reporting tools, or sitemap generators, or google feed generators) may demand a ton of memory if not written to manage memory efficiently. (XML builders are really bad for that since they try to build the entire XML map in memory before writing to disk).

If using something like that you might want to find creative ways to bump memory options when using those tools.

As RodG said, there's little need for high RAM settings with most PHP scripts, including Zen Cart.