Firefox 8 for Windows x64: Has 64-bit browsing finally come of age?

Magron · 25 Jul 2011

My browser isn't needing the performance increase...lulz....

PompeyFC · 26 Jul 2011

I tested the firefox 64 bit release thats currently floating about and it was unstable - also did not have full support for flash as I remember, I am assuming this latest release when it arrives will be all singing dancing ?

andyparks · 26 Jul 2011

It runs perfect on my PC

smsff7 · 26 Jul 2011

About time they release a 64bit ver of FF. I hope they can improve the reliability and memory usage over 32bit.

lehnerus2000 · 26 Jul 2011

It does use a lot of memory.

I'm using 12 Add-ons and I've got 16 tabs open (as I write this).

According to Process Explorer 15:

Private Bytes: ~360 MB - 375 MB
Working Set: ~420 MB - 435 MB
Virtual Size: ~770 MB - 780 MB

The values seem to oscillate for no apparent reason.
My edited Add-ons seem to work properly, but maybe some of them are a bit dodgy.

Teerex · 26 Jul 2011

That's all normal, as long as it does not leak. On my system it takes 500MB sometimes, but there is plenty of room. I guess it takes advantage of that..

Zirro · 28 Jul 2011

severedsolo said:

Within theory great news. But FF4 (and 5) has some memory leak issues. Not sure I want it to be able to leak into all of my available RAM to be honest.

We are talking about Firefox Nightly v8.0a here.
It has come a long way since FF4 and 5.
The memory leak issues were fixed by v7 (possibly even v6 which I bypassed).

Zirro · 28 Jul 2011

GeneO said:

Teerex said:

x64 Nightlies are pretty stable IMHO, and very usable.

+=1

I have been using the x64 nightly from back in the 5 beta to 8 nightly now and I haven't had a single problem except no workable flash.

Now Adobe has relesed the beta 64bit flash 11 that actually works, I don't use any other browser.

Same here.
No crashes with Nightly v8.0. All websites I visit render well.
With the Addon Compatibility Reporter extension installed (but not enabled), many of my old "incompatible" addons work too. :)

lehnerus2000 · 28 Jul 2011

The latest "stability" update totally broke my FF8.

It disabled all of my Add-ons (the Add-on Compatibility Reporter couldn't reactivate them).
I couldn't change/close tabs,drag tabs to a new position or bookmarks.

Luckily I had the installer for the previous version.

Now it works perfectly again.

hotbowler · 28 Jul 2011

Just downloaded Nightly 8.0. So far works pretty good, seems faster than FF5. The only problem I had was with Adobe Flash Player, kept wanted the plug-in even though I installed it. Then noticed Zirro's comment above about the 64 bit beta version of Adobe Flash. Downloaded and installed that one and so far no problems at all, all pages load nicely. Not sure about memory usage/leaks, don't know where to monitor that.

Firefox 8 for Windows x64: Has 64-bit browsing finally come of age?

Uses a lot of memory

Beware of the latest update