diff --git a/src/gc.c b/src/gc.c
index 8e37fa95a6cfc..a112d73de625a 100644
--- a/src/gc.c
+++ b/src/gc.c
@@ -3267,8 +3267,10 @@ static int _jl_gc_collect(jl_ptls_t ptls, jl_gc_collection_t collection)
 
 
     // If the live data outgrows the suggested max_total_memory
-    // we keep going with minimum intervals and full gcs until
-    // we either free some space or get an OOM error.
+    // we keep going with full gcs until we either free some space or get an OOM error.
+    if (live_bytes > max_total_memory) {
+        sweep_full = 1;
+    }
     if (gc_sweep_always_full) {
         sweep_full = 1;
     }