Performance improvements in Firefox 3


Recommended Posts

Interesting article that reveals the current work on Firefox 3's performance.

... I’ve compiled the results of the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test for each of the different browsers. All of the tests below were performed on the same Windows machine, and the Firefox 3 nightly builds definitely came out on top. Here are the results sorted from best to worst (each one is hyperlinked to the full stats):

1. Firefox 3 Nightly (PGO Optimized): 7263.8ms

2. Firefox 3 Nightly (02/25/2008 build): 8219.4ms

3. Opera 9.5.9807 Beta: 10824.0ms

4. Firefox 3 Beta 3: 16080.6ms

5. Safari 3.0.4 Beta: 18012.6ms

6. Firefox 2.0.0.12: 29376.4ms

7. Internet Explorer 7: 72375.0ms

Very interesting, however I haven't compiled the latest nightly build to check it's performance. My results elaborate that Opera champs over Firefox 3 Beta 3. What about you guys?

Source: Cybernetnews.com

Has memory usage improved?

Yes, in Beta 3 you can see the improvement on memory management, usually the browser used (2.x) to sit on larger memory but now's very humble and eats less resources. Haven't tested Safari because it won't install on Vista (throws an error while loading), but Opera beats Firefox 3 Beta 3 in memory usage and loading rates.

Here's another benchmark list,

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001023.html

According to the benchmark , there's less motivations for using opera (No more the "fastest browser on earth").

Also safari is boasting its superior speed...

Great to see how far is Firefox is improved.

Also Firefox is almost the same under linux, so if one day you want to make the switch..

According to http://wiki.mozilla.org/Releases, Firefox 3 Beta 4 launches March 10-14.

Hmm, so not a clear actual public release date in sight for a while then? I am hesitant to use betas because of all the plugins I am currently using. I would hate having to go back to about zero plugins/add-ons working.

Hmm, so not a clear actual public release date in sight for a while then?

Just this: "Early 2008 (TBD): Firefox 3 released, Firefox 2.0.x.y supported for next six months" on: http://wiki.mozilla.org/ReleaseRoadmap . Not every clear but according to this, they're mentioning it's launching in the first half of 2008. ;)

Just this: "Early 2008 (TBD): Firefox 3 released, Firefox 2.0.x.y supported for next six months" on: http://wiki.mozilla.org/ReleaseRoadmap . Not every clear but according to this, they're mentioning it's launching in the first half of 2008. ;)

Great, I can't wait!

I don't know if it's been reported, but Webkit pawns this test with 3804.2 ms

I tested this on my 24-inch iMac though, so I have good specs, and don't have Windows. I don't know if it's really significant though. Maybe I should have tried Safari before posting this here haha.

Wow, this test is on webkit.org, now call me stupid x_x Sorry!

But Safari is MUCH slower. Like 5 times.

Memory usage will be greatly improved when jemalloc is intergrated, it is already included in the Linux trunk builds.

http://blog.pavlov.net/2008/02/27/jemalloc...-linux-edition/

Ha, they could have just implemented that in FF 3 and that would have been good enough for me. :D I don't know how many times I can post about how happy the reduced memory usage will work out for me!

Memory usage will be greatly improved when jemalloc is intergrated, it is already included in the Linux trunk builds.

http://blog.pavlov.net/2008/02/27/jemalloc...-linux-edition/

Within certain limits, it can't magically stop storing things it needs in memory (images take up a crap load of memory, a 1MB jpeg can take up 70MB of RAM)

Edit: I read somewhere about storing the compressed form in memory, and only keeping the uncompressed form around for a small amount of time, should help.

According to the benchmark , there's less motivations for using opera (No more the "fastest browser on earth").

Also safari is boasting its superior speed...

Great to see how far is Firefox is improved.

Also Firefox is almost the same under linux, so if one day you want to make the switch..

This is one test ... How can you tell a browser is "the fastet" overall when it's just with java script.

Memory usage will be greatly improved when jemalloc is intergrated, it is already included in the Linux trunk builds.

http://blog.pavlov.net/2008/02/27/jemalloc...-linux-edition/

Jemalloc got turned on for windows nightly trunk builds just after Beta 3 was released.

Just tried the latest nightly on my system, got 5149.8ms

I'll try the latest WebKit nightly soon.

Edit: I've tried 3 times, the test just randomly stops working in the latest available nightly for WebKit (I'm not compiling it myself)

Edited by The_Decryptor
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The useful lapdogs  
    • Nobody is buying a PS5 only for playing Until Dawn 2. Their loss.
    • If you actually used it instead of responding like a petulant child you might be surprised. I switched from Google some time ago and have been very satisfied.
    • I am one of the first people to use the DXVK technology. In the channel below you can see some videos that I have made using this technology, including Assassin's Creed Odyssey. https://www.youtube.com/@nahum7995/videos Assassin's Creed Odyssey experienced several bugs and technical issues during its first months after release. It launched with its own fair share of funny but frustrating glitches. I ran it on DXVK 9 days after its release and I played it for many hours but didn't see a single significant bug on Linux. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is widely celebrated for pushing the franchise in bold new directions and specifically for nailing several elements better than any other title in the AC series: Player Choice & Branching Narrative, The Mercenary & Cultist System, Mythological Integration, Overpowered Combat Abilities, Open World Exploration But what I'm trying to point out is that this game wasn't quite playable on most windows systems, until a few months after its release when most of the bugs were fixed. However, on Linux it ran completely flawless from day one, although DXVK had seen little development and refinement at the time. What do you think the situation will be in 2026 now that most bugs and glitches of DXVK have been completely eliminated? This is information from Google about these situations that I am quoting. In many cases, using DXVK (a translation layer that converts DirectX 9, 10, or 11 into Vulkan) can result in more stable frame times and higher performance than native Windows rendering. This happens primarily by bypassing driver overhead and multithreading draw calls that were previously restricted to a single CPU core. Older APIs (like DirectX 9 and 11) are largely single-threaded on the CPU side. DXVK translates these calls to Vulkan, which is highly multi-threaded. This reduces CPU-bound stuttering on weaker processors. In certain cases, GPU manufacturers (especially AMD) have significantly better and more modern Vulkan drivers than they do for legacy DirectX. Vulkan gives developers—and in this case, the translation layer—closer control over how resources are held in VRAM. This can prevent micro-stutters and sudden frame drops during chaotic gameplay. Yes, certain games, particularly older DirectX 9 to 11 titles, can run with fewer crashes on DXVK than on native Windows. By intercepting DirectX draw calls and translating them into the modern, highly efficient Vulkan API, DXVK bypasses the limitations and poor driver support that cause instability in aging game engines. PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 can be easily and perfectly emulated on Linux. In fact, modern Linux emulators offer high-performance upscaling, widescreen patches, and automatic controller mapping out of the box.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 PlayStation 1/2/3 games look drastically better on Linux thanks to resolution upscaling. Furthermore, it is also a fact that you cannot play many fun games on Windows either, isn't it? - The Nintendo Switch has an extensive library of exclusive games. - PlayStation has an extensive library of exclusive games - Android has "mobile-exclusive" games, meaning they are exclusive to mobile devices (iOS and Android) and aren't available on PC or consoles. And finally, it is also the case that in the next five years there will be games that millions of people will say you absolutely must play and that they want to play this specific game that released a few days ago. However, the other side of this story is that currently, absolutely no one cares that they cannot play these upcoming games right now.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      nothanks earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      B2Proxy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      MadMung0 earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      jefred earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Apprentice
      JoeyNeo went up a rank
      Apprentice
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      490
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      233
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      79
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      68
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      58
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!