Windows – Firefox x86 (32-bit) vs. Firefox x64 (64-bit)

32-bit64-bitfirefoxperformancewindows

I'm using Firefox 3.6 (32-bit version) on Windows 7 x64 Home Professional. I wonder whether it is better for me to start using 64-bit version of Firefox or not? Is 64-bit Firefox better in terms of performance? Do you recommend upgrading to it?

Best Answer

In short: You won't gain anything. At least it's highly unlikely.

Now, granted, tabbed browsing gobbles up pretty much memory but it still usually comes nowhere near the 4 GiB limit imposed on 32-bit processes on a 64-bit system. Furthermore, you're unlikely to find any plug-ins that work with the 64-bit version. Although the lack of Adobe Flash might just be beneficial for performance ;-)

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