IE7 and FF2.0 memory utilization. Which one uses more?

Hi guys and girls,

First of all I wouldn't like this thread to become an IE vs FF thread, OK? This forum has always been opened for all kinds of observations, but IE vs FF can be just silly.

I use both IE and FF. I must admit IE7 (since all betas) is my main browser (job and personal reasons). FF was always there too - great addons (not that I use so much of them), and stability but it was always in a very good second place. I will not discuss any particular feature of any of them, but I just want to point one observation that is interesting to me - memory usage.

I have FF2.0 (I guess rc3 version, but it updates automatically and it did update recently, and About doesn't say anything except 2.0). I also have IE7 final. I don't use any addons with FF, and I use the IE inline find addon (same as FF) on IE7. If I start them both and check the memory usage - it seems that FF needs more memory to start with.

So I did a test:

IE7 with typing a quick reply for the first time in this forum uses like 10MB ram (before I started it was 7,8). Firefox 2.0 uses 28,3 MB and I haven't even click on any bookmark yet (it didn't load NBR yet). Strange. Not that I care but some people will, those with a small amounts of ram installed for example.

Let me try open NBR in FF - it is 31,5 now...

Let me open a new IE7 tab with another forum... 19,7MB, and FF 32,2MB - good going FF!

Let me try another tab (a long long page) IE7 35,5MB and FF 40,5MB

And finally another one that is very large with a lot of pics: IE7 55,9MB and FF 54,4MB - Finally FF wins. IE7 also might have a memory leak - because it steadily grows by 4KB every few seconds with the last tab opened this particular site.

OK let's close the tabs in the LIFO (last in first out) manner:
1. IE7 43MB FF 52,3MB and the IE7 leak stopped! It must be something with that last site that makes IE7 use more memory all the time!!!!
2. IE7 35,5MB FF 47,1MB
3. IE7 34,9MB FF 47,2MB

Now this is strange. Check last two FF numbers. Or to make it more readable check the attached pic.

No matter what I do, if I do the same things in both browsers at the same time, FF seems to usually allocate more RAM. Usually not too much, but still more. Like if IE uses 33, FF uses 36. Sometimes FF shows better, but usually not. On NBR site for example it looks to me that IE beats FF in speed. And again - I am not using Fasterfox or anything, so don't bother about this.

It seems that eventhough FF obviously can use memory in a better way than IE (remember the "leak"), it has problems with returning it back to the system when it is not needed. Now I am not whining over 3, 30 or even 300 MB of memory (2GB is under the hood) - but some people might find it a bit surprising that FF actually needs more resources (read memory) to do the same thing.

So if anybody could confirm, cause I did it twice on two notebooks and got similar results. Don't bother about exact numbers - the question is whether is FF using more ram for the same thing than IE or not. You can do a simple test:
1. Start FF, start IE7. Check the task manager processes memory allocation if you want, but it is not an issue now. IE will probably use much less.
2. Open like 5 favorite sites in tabs and do that in both browsers (don't bother with the speed or anything. Wait until they are all done.
3. Close them in LIFO manner (tabs from right to left to be simple) to have only the last same site loaded (NBR for example, because you probably started by reading this post). BTW is it me or FF actually uses IE style tab closing now? Like every tab has an "x"? I may be wrong cause I don't remember FF 1.5.
4. Check the memory allocation in task manager (right click on the startbar and then Task manager - Processes). Sort by memory (bigger is higher) and search for "iexplore.exe" (not explorer.exe like some "smart" people do and then complain how explorer uses a lot of memory ) and "firefox.exe". Which one is on top?

Happy surfing in whatever browser you currently use ,

Ivan

 

Yep, they changed Firefox to use a 'x' on each tab.

One thing to keep in mind about memory consumption though.
Not releasing memory when it's no longer needed isn't neccesarily a bad thing. It just means Firefox keeps the data around in case it's needed again. And if it isn't needed again, it gets pushed to the pagefile if neccesary, and then it won't take up RAM in any case. So basically, it's trading extra performance for a slightly bigger pagefile usage. Windows (and most apps) does the same thing.

That's not to say that this is always better than just releasing memory immediately, but it can be, and I definitely wouldn't call it a "problem" in the general case.

Oh yeah, and steadily growing memory consumption doesn't mean there's a memory leak. It's only a leak if it's not properly deallocated afterwards. (Again, not saying IE7 doesn't have a mem leak. I don't know that. But it's perfectly possible to keep allocating more memory every few seconds without leaking anything)

 

I still don't understand why people worry about programs that use 50-100MB of memory...

If you don't have a lot of memory...you probably bought the computer for browsing and office use...so having a program take up 15% of your 512MB RAM isn't really bad.

If you have a lot of memory...then why not use it? It usually takes A LOT of work for my 1GB work machine to complain about a lack of memory.

 

Firefox 2.0 Final (which comes out officially tommorow) uses less memory than IE7 when your using multiple tabs, when using a single tab IE7 seems to typically use less, but whats the fun in looking at 1 page at a time anyway?

Night_2004 makes a good point tho, if you have a modern computer the memory usage of your internet browser is probably one of the least of your worries. I have an old 233mhz that can run firefox perfectly fine, i'd certainly hope your PC can match that lol

 

Firefox is way more secure than IE, especially with the noscript extension, thats just ulta safe.

I cant wait for FF 2.0

 

Hi Jalf,

True - "Problem" might be a bit too strong word, and we can argue the release methods (I still remember the C# garbage collector and how programmers were against it). And yes I don't think there are any problems with the allocation sitting there in mem if you have enough to spare. The point of the post is to show the difference.

Well, true about the memory leak - I just wanted to describe allocating more memory every second or so, without any visible reason, and it was still doing it after a minute or so. Could be a "Memory leak" and again it might not (release seems to work, but sometimes a system runs low on resources before you kill the process). I saw several heavy memory leaks (some even mine , but the worst was Adobe Photoshop on some machines and Dreamwever 7 until 7.0.1 came) and it looked similar to this. "Leaking" just sounded a right word to me (as I am not a native english speaker).

As usual - you make things a bit clearer - thanks.

And to night - It wasn't my intent. Just noticing.

Ivan

 

No problems...just trying to keep the discussion light hearted. I too hate flame wars...

BTW, one nice improvement of FF2 vs. FF...it actually can remember my NBR password! FF(1) didn't recognize it as the NBR login bos as a user & password box, so I had to enter it every time...nice!

 

Its actually already on their FTP if you don't think you can wait for the official announcment, I like the slick look of it

 

one reason why FF might appear to use a lot after closing tabs is because the memory occupied by FF is actually freed but still appears to be "assigned to/reserved by" firefox.

FF might also pre-allocate certain amount of memory for its use.

So, the task manager might not be the best tool to use when comparing memory usage.

 

Here's the link directly from FF's website...oh, spell checker (it didn't like FF's)! Maybe I'll actually give spell checker a shot and proofread my posts now...lol.

EDIT: It didn't like LOL either! This could actually be fairly useful...

 

You can read more about this topic here also.
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/ie7/ie7-vs-firefox-2--the-memory-usage-showdown-208908.php

One intersting point suggested by a user is, IE maybe hiding it's memory usage within other windows processes. So what it shown in task manager may not be the actual amount.

 

What do you mean Internet Explorer and explorer.exe share much of the same memory and functionality?

 

I'm not saying anything, I'm just echoing someone elses idea.
What he says is IE7 can hide its true memory usage by hidding itself in other windows processes.
So when u compare FF with IE7 and say that IE7 uses less memory than FF, it may not be the case. IE7 could be using more memory than FF, but maybe u just cant see it from task manager.

 

Both Opera and Firefox are excellent browsers in comparison to IE. IE is a disgrace to Microsoft.

 

Ups - it seems that some people are really noticing the same thing but on a much higher scale. And they are mentioning even some other interesting stuff. That link is good LankanDude. Thanks.

IE probably uses more windows components than FF, but I didn't see any big differences in other processes. So I guess iexplore.exe should show a correct value in task manager.

 

Memory Usage: Firefox 2 Final vs Internet Explorer 7 Final

I use Task Manager in this comparison.

Test 1: I open both Firefox and IE7 with MSN as their homepage.
see picture 1

Result:
Firefox: 29, 556k
IE7: 38, 792k

Test 2: I open another tab with both IE7 and Firefox opening NBR. (two tabs)
see picture 2

Result:
Firefox: 32, 216k
IE7: 47, 276k

Test 3: This time I open several tabs having different sites. (7 tabs)
see picture 3

Result:
Firefox: 44, 872k
IE7: 96, 160k

Conclusion:
Based on my test using task manager, Firefox 2 Final uses less memory than IE7 final. and that when opening multiple tabs (at least 7), IE7 uses almost half the memory firefox is using.

NOte: In terms of speed, firefox opens up internet sites faster than IE7! Furthermore, I used at least 5 extensions with firefox but none with IE7.

 

The Firefox 2 RC3 version used a lot more memory than the final version, about 20-30meg. Before, I also compared IE7 final and Firefox 2 rc3 and i must admit that Firefox used a little more memory. But when i tested the final release of Firefox 2, i'm suprised that it used less memory and that IE7 used more than half of the memory firefox is using!!! (see my test above)

 

I prefer FF's ability to close individual tabs with the 'X' without the need to make it my active tab...with IE7 I have to select the tab and THEN hit that 'X'

 

The link you've given used Firefox 2 RC3. The RC3 uses more memory. The final release, however, uses less memory about 20-30 meg less.

 

Adding to that, firefox is lot faster when opening new tab.

 

Gohelet, are you using Vista or just an XP theme? This might be a factor as I have not seen anything close to 96mb with IE7!?

 

Thanks qohelet. I guess it was a rc3 issue - good to know. I also installed 2.0 final, so I may check it again.

 

Yep - much better for FF now (with final version) - not such numbers like qohelet's but FF 2.0 final is doing much better. And in 90% of the time FF and IE are close, FF being usually better in memory allocation. In releasing IE is still better, but FF also shows much better results. Like now on NBR both use 37,6 MB

Ivan

 

Yes i'm using vista theme but i don't think it's a factor. why? I tested again but this time i used a plain windows "classic" style.

Results:
See picture 1: 1 tab open
See picture 2: multiple tabs open

Conclusion:

1. There is not much difference in memory usage when using vista theme and windows classic style. In fact when i tested in windows classic style, the memory consumption of both firefox and Ie7 rose a little about 2-3mb.

2. IE7 still uses more memory than firefox.

3. and when opening multiple tabs, IE7 uses at least 30-40 mb more memory.

Note: when i left my computer for 30mins. the memory usage of both firefox and IE7 went down at least 20 mb (IE7 went down 105mb to 80mb/ firefox went down from 69mb to 50mb). Still, however, IE7 used more memory than firefox at least 20-30mb more.

 

Sorry for bringing this old thread up. I don't usually make/participate in comparisons but his one seemed significant. Look at the print screen. IE7 uses only 19mb of memory, while FF2 uses 47mb. It's been like that since I installed FF2 (earlier today, two reboots, multiple starts).
It seems that if I increase the number of tabs, the difference decreases. Yet, even with 6 tabs (I don't use more at a time) IE7 leads by a good margin. Anyone else experiencing similar memory consumption?

 

I think it was an issue with rc2. But If you are using 2.0 final it is surely a legitimate post in this thread. I use them both and despite many people say about lower usage of FF2 it isn't so obvious to me. Although qohelet gave his opinion, and I appreciate it (he is an experienced user by the posts he does), I still see FF2 sometimes is far more memory hungry than ie7. And no I don't use any addons.

Ivan