Firefox 76 + 77 Beta Web Browser Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Firefox 76 + 77 Beta Web Browser Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux

Given last week's release of Firefox 76 and promoting 77 to beta, here are some fresh benchmarks of the recent Mozilla Firefox releases on Ubuntu Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Firefox-76-77-Beta-Linux-Perf

[kozman]

Bummed but not surprised by the results. Linux has improved a tiny biy but Mozilla has really missed the boat on a few key back end additions that should improve the program. FF77 has yet to bring in Rust 1.34 [1][2], LLVM 10.0 [3] and OpenH264 2.1.0 [4]. Heck, LLVM 10.0.1 is coming early June. All these would probably be very helpful for those teleworking. Looks like we'll have to wait until FF78 for any of this....and that's a maybe at this point.

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Rust_Update_Policy_for_Firefox
[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=rustup
[3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1616692
[4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619988

[birdie]

Bummed but not surprised by the results. Linux has improved a tiny biy but Mozilla has really missed the boat on a few key back end additions that should improve the program. FF77 has yet to bring in Rust 1.34 [1][2], LLVM 10.0 [3] and OpenH264 2.1.0 [4]. Heck, LLVM 10.0.1 is coming early June. All these would probably be very helpful for those teleworking. Looks like we'll have to wait until FF78 for any of this....and that's a maybe at this point.

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Rust_Update_Policy_for_Firefox
[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=rustup
[3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1616692
[4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619988

A compiler can increase performance only so far. Refactoring, using assembler (SSE/AVX), using new approaches/frameworks, manual optimizations - that's what really affects performance.

[mb_q]

Lots of Firefox performance on Linux is hidden under feature flags, nowadays: Webrender, Webrender-Compositor, HW-compositing...

[rene]

I usually use Firefox on my Ryzen 3950x workstation at work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUq39Jz5ZJI) but just last night I plugged that SSD into my Intel Core thin and light from 5 years ago at home and man was that lagging. Can't even browse the web with Firefox on such aging low-power silicon :-/

[AJenbo]

Bummed but not surprised by the results. Linux has improved a tiny biy but Mozilla has really missed the boat on a few key back end additions that should improve the program. FF77 has yet to bring in Rust 1.34 [1][2], LLVM 10.0 [3] and OpenH264 2.1.0 [4]. Heck, LLVM 10.0.1 is coming early June. All these would probably be very helpful for those teleworking. Looks like we'll have to wait until FF78 for any of this....and that's a maybe at this point.

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Rust_Update_Policy_for_Firefox
[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=rustup
[3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1616692
[4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619988

Hasn't LLVM 10 actually been showing degradations in performance compared to LLVM 9?

[bug77]

I usually use Firefox on my Ryzen 3950x workstation at work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUq39Jz5ZJI) but just last night I plugged that SSD into my Intel Core thin and light from 5 years ago at home and man was that lagging. Can't even browse the web with Firefox on such aging low-power silicon :-/

I have an Acer Aspire Nitro with an i5 from years ago and it has no issues with Firefox.

As far as performance between versions is concerned, I think Mozilla is still into their migration phase with a focus on not regressing performance. Any optimizations you will see for a while are just the low hanging fruits.

[Mez']

I have an Acer Aspire Nitro with an i5 from years ago and it has no issues with Firefox.

As far as performance between versions in concerned, I think Mozilla is still into their migration phase with a focus on not regressing performance. Any optimizations you will see for a while are just the low hanging fruits.

My laptop is 8 years old and comes with an AMD A4-3300M, 8 Gb RAM and I upgraded the main storage to a lacklustre Sandisk Ultra 256Gb SSD. I currently have 40+29 (I let you do the math ) tabs open and it works very well considering. Loading page is neither fast nor slow. But certainly not lagging.

Don't know how a Ryzen 3950x could lag, seems pretty absurd to me.

[bug77]

My laptop is 8 years old and comes with an AMD A4-3300M, 8 Gb RAM and I upgraded the main storage to a lacklustre Sandisk Ultra 256Gb SSD. I currently have 40+29 (I let you do the math ) tabs open and it works very well considering. Loading page is neither fast nor slow. But certainly not lagging.

Don't know how a Ryzen 3950x could lag, seems pretty absurd to me.

All it takes is rogue extension, but it can be something in the environment, too (e.g. forced hw acceleration on a system that's actually buggy).
But there's nothing inherently laggy about the browser as a whole.

[TemplarGR]

Lots of Firefox performance on Linux is hidden under feature flags, nowadays: Webrender, Webrender-Compositor, HW-compositing...

IIRC webrender compositor does not work on Linux at the moment, it doesn't do anything if you enable it.