Memory Usage: IE 7 vs. FF2 vs. FF3b1

[MttFrog13]

I read that firefox 3 made big improvements with its memory usage compared to firefox 2. I read a guys test that showed the evidence. But then i read something about how it doesn't make any improvements. So i decided to run my own benchmarks comparing the three browser's memory usage. Everything was done twice, cache was cleared between each type of test and each new test. Results were averaged and rounded for 2 zeros BEFORE averaging.

Program Startup (homepage msn.com):

IE: 32,300

FF2: 19,750

FF3b1: 22,900

Loading of 5 webpages: (msn.com, digg.com, g4tv.com, youtube.com, zdnet.com)

IE: 108,350

FF2: 68,100

FF3b1: 75,400

After 2 Minutes:

IE: 109,850 +1,500

FF2: 78,300 +10,200

FF3b1: 72,250 -3,150

Loading of 2 websites with browsing (zdnet.com > news > hardware)(digg.com > news > 7 days > dinosaur article):

IE: 54,850

FF2: 42,650

FF3b1: 49,550

After 2 Minutes:

IE: 54,900 +50

FF2: 45,150 +2500

FF3b1: 49,700 +150

Conclusion:

Firefox 3 beta 1 does a much better job of memory management than ff2 or ie7. I was surprised by the bad performance of ie7. The most important thing to notice is that on the test where 5 pages were loaded and left for 2 minutes, ff3 actually DROPPED memory while during the same test ff2 continued to rise(might have hit 100,000 if test were 10 min). Also to notice is the decrease of the last test between ff2 and ff3 when zdnet and digg.com were browsed. On the second run, ff3 actually DROPPED after 2 min. more trials would be required to make sure of this but even without that second run dropping, ff3 still dropped dramatically from where ff2 was.

This is not a confirmed success of FF3 but now i have much more hope for FF3 resolving memory issues. I have seen other people's benchmarks but i had to see it happen in front of me to believe it. This is only the beta, can't wait till the final version is released.

[brock01]

nice

[ninjageek]

If you ever do that again, throw opera into that mix. Be intresting to see how well it does.

[MttFrog13]

yeah half way through the test i remembered that i had installed opera and that it was also a popular brower but i didnt have time. I think i will try opera tomorrow.

[FallowEarth]

This is what I get:

Browser	Mem Useage
FF 2.0.0.10	115,016 K
FF 3.0b1	97,232 K
Opera 9.24	85,960 K

using the following sites (tabs):

[list]
[*][url="www.rr.com"]RR[/url]
[*][url="www.cnn.com"]CNN[/url]
[*][url="www.youtube.com"]YouTube[/url]
[*][url="www.microsoft.com"]M$[/url]
[*]TMN
[/list] [/html]

[MttFrog13]

yeah, its clear firefox 3 has better memory management than ff2. I dont understand why in my benchmarks ie performed to badly sometimes.