How Can I Temporarily Suppress Garbage Collection in .NET for High-Performance Applications?

Preventing .NET Garbage Collection for Short Periods

In high-performance applications, it's essential to optimize object churn and minimize the impact of garbage collection (GC). If GC interruptions are unacceptable for brief periods, implementing measures to prevent or control it becomes crucial.

Preventing GC for Brief Periods

.NET 4.6 introduced two new methods that address this issue:

• GC.TryStartNoGCRegion(): Attempts to start a region where GC is suppressed temporarily.
• GC.EndNoGCRegion(): Ends the no-GC region and resumes GC.

To utilize these methods:

1. Determine the critical window: Identify the time intervals when GC interference must be prevented.
2. Call GC.TryStartNoGCRegion() and GC.EndNoGCRegion(): Surround the critical code with these calls to suppress GC during the window.

Using GC.Collect()

GC.Collect() forces GC to run immediately, but its impact on the next GC cycle is unclear. While it may provide a short garbage collection-free window, it's not guaranteed and should not be relied upon.

Minimizing Garbage Collection

To reduce GC overhead overall, consider the following practices:

• Use Value Types: Avoid creating excessive reference types. Value types are stored on the stack and don't contribute to object churn.
• Cache Objects: Create and cache instances when possible to avoid re-allocation.
• Implement IDisposable: Use IDisposable to release unmanaged resources and signal to the GC that an object can be collected.
• Use Memory Pools: Manage memory allocation outside the GC through memory pools to improve efficiency.

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