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

[Magron]

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

 

[PompeyFC]

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]

It runs perfect on my PC

 

[smsff7]

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

 

[lehnerus2000]

Uses a lot of memory

It does use a lot of memory. :shock:

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]

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]

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]

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]

Beware of the latest update

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]

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.

 

[Klaw117]

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.

To see if there are memory leaks, just open up the Task Manager, click on the Processes tab, and see if the the memory usage for firefox.exe keeps rising even when you're not doing anything. This shouldn't be a problem though since the memory leaks were fixed already.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Watch it for a while

You should watch it for a while.
As I noted earlier, my FF8 memory usage seems to oscillate (rise and then fall).

 

[hotbowler]

Thanks for the info Klaw117. Opened task manager and watched Processes for Firefox Nightly. Did not move mouse or anything and it moved from 225,356K when I first looked at it, to a high of 225,580K and then back down to a low of 224,160K. I did this for maybe a couple of minutes. So I'm guessing that this is not too bad.

 

[Klaw117]

Yeah, that's nothing to be concerned about.

 

[hotbowler]

Yeah, that's nothing to be concerned about.

Thanks. So far I am liking Firefox 8. Seems faster, especially on startup. So far one difference I have seen is that FF8 does not automatically log me in to my Yahoo home page like FF5 does. Not a big deal, figure that will be taken care of when the final version comes out and Yahoo can add their stuff to it.

 

[draftsman]

I was using FireFox browser. Just by happenstance I decided to download the latest Google Chrome. The GC browser performes better than any browser I've ever used. I decided to not use my IE explorer. My computer shop guru warned me that it is too dangerous. Too many opportunities to be compromised. I can't afford to be paying for damage from hackers' viruses to be repaired by my Guru all the time.

 

[Maguscreed]

Firefox slows over time as will chrome once you get it loaded up a bit.
I personally will likely be using firefox from here on out.
Not because I have any one specific thing again chrome, but because I have 2 years worth of settings, customizations and nearly 100 plugins and add-ons running in my firefox.

The amount of investment it would mean to switch all that over to chrome at this point is just far too massive.
Plus my average page load is still less than a second even with all the fluff I have.
I really don't know where anyone gets off saying a browser is noticeably faster when they all display pages pretty much instantly for me.

If you are counting load times in miliseconds and trying to pretend it matters.
...you're never going to be happy with anything you have.