RAM – If you’ve ever wondered just how hungry Google Chrome can get when you throw a mountain of memory at it, you’re not alone. Linus Tech Tips recently put a system with a staggering 1.5 TB of RAM to the test, opening tab after tab to see where the browser finally taps out. The experiment was wrapped around a lively promotion for War Thunder, giving newcomers and returning players a hefty bonus pack on PC, consoles, and mobile. Below is a detailed look at both the giveaway and the Chrome‑tab marathon, complete with chapter timestamps, sponsor shout‑outs, and the key takeaways from the deep‑dive into memory usage.
War Thunder – Play for FREE on Every Platform
War Thunder remains one of the most accessible vehicular combat games available today. Whether you prefer the precision of a mouse and keyboard on PC, the couch‑coop feel of a console controller, or the convenience of tapping away on a smartphone or tablet, the game is ready to download at no cost. New players—and veterans who haven’t logged in for six months or more—can claim a special bonus pack that includes a selection of vehicles, boosters, and other in‑game goodies.
- PC/Console: Claim your bonus here
- Mobile: Grab the mobile reward
These links direct you to the official War Thunder pages where the bonus is automatically applied upon first launch after signing in.
What’s Inside the Bonus Pack?
The pack bundles a mix of early‑game aircraft, tanks, and ships, plus a handful of boosters that accelerate research and silver lion earnings. It’s designed to give newcomers a solid footing while still offering returning players a reason to jump back into the fray.
How Many Chrome Tabs Can 1.5 TB of RAM Really Handle?
The core of the video centers on a simple, yet fascinating question: with a workstation equipped with 1.5 terabytes of RAM, just how many Chrome tabs can you open before the system starts to choke? The answer isn’t as straightforward as “more is better,” because Chrome’s memory consumption per tab varies wildly depending on the content, extensions, and background processes.
The Test Machine
Linus and his team built a rig specifically for this challenge:
- CPU: Dual‑socket Xeon platform (specific model omitted for brevity)
- RAM: 1.5 TB of DDR4 ECC memory, configured in a balanced NUMA layout
- Storage: Fast NVMe array to eliminate disk bottlenecks
- OS: Initially Windows 11, later swapped to a Linux distribution for comparison
Chrome was launched with a clean profile—no extensions, no saved passwords—to keep the baseline as low as possible.
Early Milestones: 1,000 Tabs and Beyond
The first major checkpoint arrived at the 1,000‑tab mark. Memory usage hovered around 120 GB, leaving plenty of headroom. The team continued pushing, noting that each additional tab added roughly 120‑150 MB on average, though spikes occurred when tabs contained heavy media or complex web apps.
By the time they crossed the 5,000‑tab threshold, total consumption was nearing 600 GB. The system remained responsive, thanks in part to the generous RAM pool and the way Chrome’s internal allocator handles large numbers of renderer processes.
Linux Enters the Fray
Around the 13‑minute mark, the crew switched to a Linux kernel to see if the open‑source scheduler could squeeze out even more efficiency. Linux’s “everything is a file” philosophy and its superior memory overcommit settings allowed Chrome to stay stable a bit longer, though the gains were modest compared to the raw memory advantage.
Interestingly, the Linux test highlighted how ZRAM—a compressed block device in RAM—could further extend effective memory, letting the system tolerate a few hundred extra tabs before swapping became necessary.
The Grand Takeaway
With 1.5 TB of RAM, Chrome can comfortably stay alive well past the 10,000‑tab mark; the real limiter becomes a typical tab consumes roughly 0.1–0.2 GB, so the theoretical ceiling is in the ballpark of 7,500–15,000 tabs depending on content.
The video’s host summed it up by saying the experiment was less about hitting a hard “over 9000” meme and more about understanding how modern browsers scale when given absurd amounts of memory.
