by fibercut:

What steps will reproduce the problem?

package main

import (
    "fmt"
)

type Node struct {
    line   string
    unused [50]int
}

const (
    LOOPS = 300 // consume ~ 1G of RAM, increase this at your own risk
    MAX   = 30000
    STR   = "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0"
)

func main() {
    for i := 1; i < LOOPS; i++ {
        p := new([MAX]Node)[0:MAX]
        for j := 0; j < MAX; j++ {
            p[j].line = STR
        }
        fmt.Printf("%v\n", i)
    }
}

What is the expected output?

On 64 bit Ubuntu (6g) to above program stays at a comfortable 45M memory consumption,
even for much larger values of LOOPS.

What do you see instead?

The above program consumes > 1G of RAM quickly on 32 bit systems (8g).

Which compiler are you using (5g, 6g, 8g, gccgo)?

8g

Which operating system are you using?

Linux (ubuntu)

Which revision are you using?  (hg identify)

ca4f9687cec0 release.2010-10-13.1/release

Please provide any additional information below.