What Java IDE VM arguments do YOU use?

Java based IDEs are really impressive these days, but developers may quickly find themselves running up against a wall (or worse, constant crashes!) with memory settings they are shipped with.

I would like to find out what VM Arguments YOU use for your IDE, be it Eclipse, IntelliJ, NetBeans, or JDeveloper, or whatever the Java-based IDE is that you use, and the reasons/rationale for your choice.

I had the good fortune a while back of coming across a posting by Ed Burnette of what VM Arguments he found most useful for Eclipse

I have found his suggestion of -vmargs -XX:+UseParallelGC coupled with -XX:MaxPermSize=256m to be highly effective for both Eclipse and IntelliJ.

Using the Sun JVM, my IntelliJ memory settings are as follows:

-XX:+UseParallelGC
-XX:MaxPermSize=256m
-ea

and for Eclipse I use (again, on the Sun JVM)

-showsplash
org.eclipse.platform
--launcher.XXMaxPermSize
256M
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.5
-XX:+UseParallelGC

Update: Kelly O' Hair posted a great blog entry with VM argument suggestions for NetBeans 6:

netbeans_default_options="-J-Xms256m -J-Xmx512m -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=160m
-J-Xverify:none -J-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true -J-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC
-J-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled -J-XX:+CMSPermGenSweepingEnabled" 

Granted, I'm not trying to collect any JVM debug information, but that's just me. With dual core machines and 2 GB of memory finally becoming more affordable, having / using a parallel GC and lots of memory is now actually a realizable reality on the desktop too, and is really nice.

Your assignment, should you accept it, is to share the BEST java VM arguments for the ide(s) you use and the kind of JVM you use, and the reason / rationale for using it, even if it is an entire paragraph's worth of vm arguments. Good luck.

Jim Bethancourt
President, Houston Java Users Group -- www.hjug.org

P.S. - Be sure to use the "Quote" style to style your VM Args so others can find them easily and quickly.