TL;DR:<p>1. Linux sucks when the memory usage come close to RAM amount, making system barely usable even on modern PCs (here's the report of system freeze with 32 GB RAM[1]). Luckily, the "le9" patch helps with thrashing condition a lot, either aiding in proper swap process or by early killing the offending process with kernel OOM killer.<p>2. zram memory compression is very effective and fast, even on 13-year-old PC with far from fastest CPU.<p>[1] <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/159356/comments/115" rel="nofollow">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/159356/...</a>