Sorry if there's an existing thread for this topic but has anyone else been using Opera's new GX browser? It's touted as a "gaming browser" and it's basically Opera, with a bunch of extra, cool features designed with gamers in mind. Some of the features are slightly gimmicky but overall, the browser runs pretty well and I've pretty much fully switched over to it from Chrome (which was my main browser for years). It hogs less RAM than Chrome by default and it uses even less if you use the resource limiter while playing games. I keep my browser open while playing games so that's a pretty big plus for me.

Anyways, I've seen mixed opinions on it so far, and it does have some work to go until it's the best it can be, but I've enjoyed using it so far. I thought I'd create a thread to discuss it here and see what other people think about it. :)

EDIT: I forgot to add that, as far as customization goes, I set it and my Windows 7 theme to match the overall purple color scheme of GOG Galaxy 2.0, making everything feel connected. It's actually a really awesome feeling.

Yeah, even browsers are gaming as well, does it come on red/black and a few RGB leds?

I've used Opera since they introduced the free VPN, still don't like it and auto-updates itself whenever it wants, this is a BIG no-no for me.
However it works fine as a browser, it's fast and smooth but being Chrome based might put some people off.
From all the "gaming" features, only the cpu limiter is interesting but easy to do in Windows with the CPU affinity setting, the RAM limiter however is kinda useless in my point of view, and depending on the implementation, may cause stutterduring games by increased cpu load or increased disk operation. It dont magically makes the internet less "javascripty".

Here I am running firefox and palemoon with 30-40 tabs open between the two(not every one is loaded) and using 3.3 Gb of RAM... Not every browser is memory hungry as chrome o.o

Been using Opera for yonks and it was okay but under W10 it's playing up a bit and since W10 it keeps asking for permission to let Opera do this and that and it's starting too bug me. I'm fine with Opera updating and have never had any problems with it in W7 but W10 is a pain in the ask.

It has full theme customization and I hear it can be linked with RGB setups, yeah. Firefox has been up and down for me over the years. I stuck with Chrome for so long because it was a pretty consistent positive experience whereas I've had my good and bad experiences with Firefox. It seems to be better right now, though.

What does a “gaming browser” do then exactly? I have yet to find a game which needs a browser to play?

I haven't used the new Opera, but I am using the new Edge which is Chromium based. It seems to be pretty light, not as resource heavy as Chrome, probably not as light as others though idk.

I used Firefox off and on for years, but it will randomly break something on my browser every few updates, and I got tired of it. It also has (had?) severe issues loading Twitch channels and would pixelate them very early into the stream.

Last time I used Opera I set up my emails with it, and then magically within 2 days, all my email addresses started getting spam which didn't go away till I got rid of Opera.

It might be a coincidence, but I don't get inundated with spam using the new Edge and occasionally Chrome as needed.

Almost all modern browsers use Google/Chrome's Blink engine today.
Which includes Opera, Edge, Brave, etc.
Except for Firefox (Gecko) and Pale Moon (Goanna)..and some Chinese browsers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers#Blink-based

I mainly use Pale Moon, and sometimes TOR (firefox-based), and when I wanted another browser (just to have at hand) I tried Iridium (Blink), and it wouldn't even work. It just opened as some sort of new-fangled App with just a white blank ..window. Not even a proper window, with a title section (which is why I use the term App).

It has twitch and Discord integrated right into the browser also has a tab with game deals and freebies!

The real Opera finished after version 12.xx. Anything afterwards -- people went to using Vivaldi

The new Edge is great, feel almost like a copy of Chrome, but even faster.

Haha Vivaldi is great, too! I stopped using Opera back when they first made the leap to Chromium and when I heard Vivaldi was the original creators trying to bring back the original Opera feel, I gave it a go. I don't use it as much as I should but it's definitely a quality browser! It just has features that appeal to gamers, such as RGB-styled theme customization, resource limiters, a gaming center sort of home page (though you don't have to use it), built-in Twitch integration, etc. There are a lot of other cool features. If you don't regularly have your browser open while gaming, it may not be quite as useful but I find it to be very helpful as you can have it take up less RAM and resources than Chrome, making it ideal to run while playing games. I stopped using Opera after they switched to Chromium, but they've really improved it in recent years. As for the spam emails, I think that had to have been a coincidence as I've had my email linked to Opera for years and never had trouble with that. I'm not saying it didn't happen to you or anything, but I definitely didn't experience that myself. One of the major benefits of Firefox is how it doesn't use Chromium. However, for me, Firefox has been up and down over the years. It used to be my main browser until about 2014/2015, then I switched to Chrome as my main and used it until I decided to give Opera GX a go and, at least for now, GX will remain my primary browser on my PC. I still use Firefox on my laptop, though.

I don't use Twitch or Discord as much as the average gamer but it's a cool option to have and I definitely like the GX Center tab for keeping an eye on deals and free stuff. I use it in combo with the threads here on GOG to ensure I'm always getting the best gaming deals and never missing out on free games!

Yeah, that's when I stopped using Opera back in the day. Vivaldi is great, I should use it more often, honestly. That being said, modern Opera is actually very solid and quite useful. I like the fact that even the standard Opera has a lot of built-in features that usually require some sort of addon/extension in other browsers, thus cutting down on bloat.

I use it mainly to keep an eye on gaming news and deals. Oh, and sometimes for browsing GOG forums.

Totally understandable, I've seen many say that they use multiple browsers for different purposes. I, myself, keep Chrome pinned in my start menu so that I can quickly access it when need be but for the most part, it seems like GX has all I need nine times out of ten.