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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: Pacifist on Mon, 19 May 2014, 23:24:41

Title: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: Pacifist on Mon, 19 May 2014, 23:24:41
I want to get a 64 bit web browser so it won't lag. I am running 64 bit win8.1 with 16 gigs of ram. Chrome and firefox are only 32 bit, but I found waterfox, which is a 64 bit version of firefox. Anyone tried it?
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: Novus on Mon, 19 May 2014, 23:33:16
Sounds inhumane
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: baldgye on Tue, 20 May 2014, 05:42:01
How would it stop lagg? In my experience he biggest problem with browsers is flash...
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: phoenix1234 on Tue, 20 May 2014, 06:03:25
I want to get a 64 bit web browser so it won't lag. I am running 64 bit win8.1 with 16 gigs of ram. Chrome and firefox are only 32 bit, but I found waterfox, which is a 64 bit version of firefox. Anyone tried it?

I did but from my experience, I can tell a very small difference between Firefox 32bit and Waterfox 64bit. As you can see, both firefox and waterfox use the same code base. The difference and perhaps the reason makes waterfox run faster is because waterfox use an expensive compiler (Intel's C++ Compiler) to build the code.
    Compiled in Intel's C++ Compiler
    Intel's Math Library
    Streaming SIMD Extensions 3
The Intel C++ Compiler can do a lot of crazy optimization for Intel CPUs. Therefore, if anyone runs waterfox on Intel can notice the difference.

However, I till use Firefox because I prefer something up-to-date while waterfox needs to wait awhile until they rebuild the code base to catch up with the firefox one. For example, currently, firefox released 29.x while waterfox still had 28.x.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:00:24
I've been running x64 Firefox for several years, basically since it was available. Only official x64 are nightly builds (https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/)... but you also get all the bleeding edge new stuff first. Really though there isn't much of any advantage unless you play webGL stuff. There is a noticeable difference on that though as the access to additional memory seems to make most of that stuff run a lot smoother.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: exitfire401 on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:01:26
I've been using waterfox for ~2.5 years now. No compatibility issues. Only with a couple of add ons, but that's not an issue at all for me.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:29:48
You need to use INTERNET EXPLORER 6 to get the most out of the web.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:31:37
You need to use INTERNET EXPLORER 6 to get the most virus and malware out of the web.
FTFY
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:33:12
NO YOU ARE WRONG! INTERNET EXPLORER 6 IS GOOD FOR ANTIVIRUS AND ANTIMALWARE! IT IS THE MOST SECURE BROWSER ON THE PLANET. THAT'S WHY SO MANY PEOPLE USED IT FOR SO MANY YEARS! LEARN SOME PHYSICS!
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: Skull_Angel on Tue, 20 May 2014, 09:40:41
Haven't tried Waterfox, but have been running Cyberfox for a few years now. Seems to run great and the only compatibility issue I've had was with a HTML > PDF converter, you have to manually upgrade it from the dev. site or downloader though.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: domoaligato on Wed, 21 May 2014, 16:46:35
for 64 bit chrome...
http://chromium.woolyss.com/

btw according the latest browser benchmarks safari is supposed to be the fastest now because of improvements apple made with the webkit code.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: noisyturtle on Wed, 21 May 2014, 18:59:16
How would it stop lagg? In my experience he biggest problem with browsers is flash...

Flash Projector solves all these issues for me in Chrome and mostly in Firefox.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Wed, 21 May 2014, 19:16:59
Or just stop using flash? I haven't been installing it for awhile and generally I don't miss it. Sometimes I get annoyed mildly when something on youtube doesn't have an html5 version to play but that is about it.
Title: Re: Anybody used Waterfox or other 64 bit browsers?
Post by: Leslieann on Wed, 21 May 2014, 19:38:09
I use Waterfox, but have used 64bit Firefox and Cyberfox, and at least one other over the years.

I've had very  few problems really, like Exitfire401, usually it's plugins with issues, and those were few and far between.  The one exception is Quicktime videos. Not sure about now, but Quicktime isn't/wasn't 64bit, the solution is/was Media Player Classic/Quicktime Lite. This enables the Quicktime videos in 64 bit browsers.

Benefits?
I tend to get a bit less lag, 64bit allows the browser to use up a bit more memory when it wants or needs it, without coming crashing down. It's rare, but can happen.  It's also one less program running under 32bit compatibility on my 64bit system.

The other nice thing is the fact that you don't have Mozilla throwing stupid features at you.  While the new interface isn't terrible, neither were tabs on top, but if I wanted to use Chrome or a fork of Chrome, I would use Chrome or a fork of Chrome.  The 64bit alternative Firefox browsers seem to focus on making things progress in 64bit, rather than worrying about what new feature the other guys got that the (sometimes moronic  (http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/Mozilla-Reverses-Decision-Axe-64-Bit-FireFox-Builds-Support-Will-Be-Left-Community)) Mozilla developers think they have to have instead. They also maintain a bit more backwards compatibility on the interface.