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Firefox & CPU Usage/Heat

sml238

sml238

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 26, 2010
163
0
Ok so I've been using firefox. For a couple days I've been using the save and quit method so when I shut down my mac I don't lose my tabs. Today I noticed my heat got up to 165F. I checked my CPU usage and firefox was using like 50% of CPU at a constant while using 142mb of real memory. As soon as I closed firefox my temps went down.

I deleted firefox and am now using google chrome, it's using about 1% CPU and 60mb of real memory. my cpu us now at 108F while browsing.

Any ideas on why firefox would work my cpu so hard?

and does anyone know if 70-80C for a short period of time would do any damage or take life off of my cpu?

all in all. i owe a big **** you to firefox (excuse my french). it still baffles me on why and how a browser would work my baby so hard.

edit: using unibody macbook, and latest version of firefox (some of the tabs i had open used flash)
 
As almost always, more information is needed.

What MacBook or iBook do you use, what Mac OS X version is on it, what Firefox version where you using, and did it happen all the time or only with certain websites, like ones with Flash content or ads?
 
new unibody macbook, lastest version of firefox. and not sure i had about 5 tabs open. im pretty sure a couple of the tabs used flash..

either way..firefox taking 50%cpu??
 
Flash will definitely lead to the increased CPU-load. FF sitting idle with 5 tabs open on my MacBook doesn't use more than 5-7% CPU.
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
Flash will definitely lead to the increased CPU-load. FF sitting idle with 5 tabs open on my MacBook doesn't use more than 5-7% CPU.
Click to expand...

yeah i found out that it was myspace with videos on the page. why do videos put a 50% load on my cpu? is that normal?
 
how come flash stresses the cpu so much? is this normal? some video sites were getting my cpu up to 75% thats with like 10-15% system but still...
 
sml238 said:
how come flash stresses the cpu so much? is this normal? some video sites were getting my cpu up to 75% thats with like 10-15% system but still...
Click to expand...

It's normal as in Flash is a piece of crap under OS X. The next version is supposed to fix this (finally).
 
sml238 said:
ok thank you. how is the beta? is it any betta??
Click to expand...

Yes. Much better. Lots less CPU than Flash 9. It's been quite stable for me as well.

The other is clicktoflash (for Safari) or Flashblock (or equivalent) for Firefox.

These block Flash and display a grey outline. Click on the outline if you want to see the content. Perfect for getting rid of annoying commercials etc.
 
Pax said:
Yes. Much better. Lots less CPU than Flash 9. It's been quite stable for me as well.

The other is clicktoflash (for Safari) or Flashblock (or equivalent) for Firefox.

These block Flash and display a grey outline. Click on the outline if you want to see the content. Perfect for getting rid of annoying commercials etc.
Click to expand...

any of these for google chrome? and anyone have a link to the official adobe flash player beta?
 
Pax said:
jeez, you can't Google "adobe flash beta"??????????????
Click to expand...

i did i just wasent sure if i downloaded the right one. i downloaded 10.1 beta. but i saw some 10.37 and stuff like that so i wasent sure which one..

also is there a way for me to get the click for flash on google chrome?
 
what confuses me about the flash player is that before i download 10.1 beta 3 it tells me to uninstall any previous flash player. but when i uninistall my flash player and download the beta it says i need to download the latest flash player..

is the beta 3 just a plugin that goes over adobe flash 10?
 
Fair enough, sorry.

I've got Flash 10.0 r42 downloaded 1 Feb 2010 on my Mac. Don't know if that's the latest version & can't remember exactly where I got it from.

It's stable but I don't use it much
 
Pax said:
Fair enough, sorry.

I've got Flash 10.0 r42 downloaded 1 Feb 2010 on my Mac. Don't know if that's the latest version & can't remember exactly where I got it from.

It's stable but I don't use it much
Click to expand...

how is your cpu usage when watching a flash video like youtube or something. with whatever adobe i have it's like 30-65% usually depending on the video. im using the new white unibody macbook, 2.26ghz proc, 4gb of ram, and a 7200 hd coming soon
 
This video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJhMAyCrNA
10-30% if it's windowed, maybe 30-40% if it's full screen. An SD video, no fancy HD or whatever, Never hits 65%.
It seems to vary a lot each time I pause and restart. Also it seems to use both cores equally.
13" MBP, 2.26 GHz
 
Id say flashlock would be a safe bet, I am using it with my firefox across all machines. Yeah its a few extra clicks if you're wanting to view content but the stress relief on the the system it is worth it.

You can also get flashblock for google chrome. But you have to enable extensions on the OSX version. Unless this has been added to the new upate without having to modify?
 
Pax said:
This video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJhMAyCrNA
10-30% if it's windowed, maybe 30-40% if it's full screen. An SD video, no fancy HD or whatever, Never hits 65%.
It seems to vary a lot each time I pause and restart. Also it seems to use both cores equally.
13" MBP, 2.26 GHz
Click to expand...

that video is 50-60% cpu for me :( (including system/user usage)

weird. why is it using so much of my cpu? i have 2.26ghz proc and 4gb of ram. no other apps are open except itunes and google chrome. the system and everything else is taking about 10% cpu usage. and the video is taking 40-50%

how can i fix this. or is there something wrong w my computer?
 
I doubt it's your computer; Flash is just notorious for eating up CPU usage on Macs. It seems to be a bit more efficient on Windows for some reason. :/
 
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