A method and system for allocating memory during system boot to reduce operating system memory resource consumption at run-time. A memory heap comprising a portion of a computer system memory in which a first class of firmware components are to be loaded is allocated. Firmware components are then selectively loaded into the system memory during system boot operations, wherein firmware components corresponding to the first class are loaded into the memory heap, while other firmware components are loaded into other portions of the system memory. A memory map corresponding to the physical memory configuration at the completion of system boot is then handed off to an operating system, which provides a virtual mapping of the physical memory such that the first class of firmware components may be accessed at run-time via virtual address calls. In one embodiment the first class of firmware components comprise run-time services.