diff --git a/Testing/build.xml b/Testing/build.xml
index 88f00eafd8..1bcf3729f0 100644
--- a/Testing/build.xml
+++ b/Testing/build.xml
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@
                 <syspropertyset refid="test.@{test.type}.properties"/>
                 <jvmarg line="${test.bootclasspath.prepend.args}"/>
                 <jvmarg line="${test.run.args}"/>
-                <jvmarg line="-Xmx1024m"/>
+                <!--  should be in sync with project.properties and build.xml of autopsy main project -->
+                <jvmarg line="-J-Xms24m -J-Xmx768m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=256M -J-Xverify:none"/>
                 <sysproperty key="img_path" value="${img_path}"/>
                 <sysproperty key="gold_path" value="${gold_path}"/>
                 <sysproperty key="out_path" value="${out_path}"/>
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index d4cefd11c4..7de4e96a1b 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@
         
         <propertyfile
         file="${zip-tmp}/${app.name}/etc/${app.name}.conf">
-            <entry key="default_options" value="&quot;--branding ${app.name} -J-Xms24m -J-Xmx1024m&quot;" />
+            <!-- Note: can be higher on 64 bit systems, should be in sync with project.properties -->
+            <entry key="default_options" value="&quot;--branding ${app.name} -J-Xms24m -J-Xmx768m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=256M -J-Xverify:none&quot;" />
             <entry key="jdkhome" value="&quot;jre6&quot;" />
         </propertyfile>
         
diff --git a/nbproject/project.properties b/nbproject/project.properties
index 8b3a6d6092..bb8c80c84b 100644
--- a/nbproject/project.properties
+++ b/nbproject/project.properties
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ app.name=autopsy
 #build.type=RELEASE
 build.type=DEVELOPMENT
 update_versions=false
+#custom JVM options
+#Note: can be higher on 64 bit systems, should be in sync with build.xml
+run.args.extra=-J-Xms24m -J-Xmx768m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=256M -J-Xverify:none
 auxiliary.org-netbeans-modules-apisupport-installer.license-type=apache.v2
 auxiliary.org-netbeans-modules-apisupport-installer.os-linux=false
 auxiliary.org-netbeans-modules-apisupport-installer.os-macosx=false