Gaming

What is a gaming browser? – Here’s why you need it

What is a Gaming Browser?

Opera GX is the world’s first gaming web browser. What we mean by gaming browser is that, with features like RAZER Chroma integration and CPU, RAM and Network use limiters, the GX browser is built specifically for both casual and serious gamers, to optimize your gaming experience.

Most browsers are general purpose tools, with the focus of features and tools on the general audience. At Opera, we wanted to do something special for people who play games, to build a gaming browser that’s not general-purpose, but is made specifically for them. If you play games, Opera GX is a browser you will appreciate.

Gaming themes and style

Gaming themes and style

From the moment you download it, you can see that Opera GX is different. It has a darker, some might say brooding, customizable color palette that fits with the look and feel of gaming keyboards, mice, and even PCs and laptops. It also has the world’s first animated browser boot logo, a detail we’re quite proud of. It makes just starting up the browser feel like loading a game.

The dark tones and colorful highlights look great and the RAZER Chroma integration, along with custom sound effects, makes your overall experience with Opera GX even more dynamic. The theme (and any changes you make to Opera GX’s menu and icon colors) will be reflected in your connected RAZER devices too.

Gaming news and deals

Another difference with Opera GX is the GX Corner, which brings gaming news and deals to your browser. The news is pulled from gaming news websites (the exact sites depend on where you are, and can be controlled in the settings). The list of new games and game deals in GX Corner is curated by Opera staff and features the latest deals from Steam, Humble Bundle, and others.

Because these deals are hand-chosen and curated, you won’t find half-off sales for some no-name games reduced from two dollars to one. Rather, we scour the web to find you the best deals on the best games and highlight them in GX Corner. Be sure to check out the badges that explain why we picked what we’ve picked. Opera GX also includes Twitch integration.

Control your browser

All of Opera’s browsers are focused on giving you control. For Opera GX, that means giving you control over how much of your system’s resources your browser consumes, and how much is left for the system, and of course, games.

CPU limiter

GX Control is the menu you’ll use to customize Opera GX’s system resource allotment, including network bandwidth, CPU and RAM usage. The CPU limiter will throttle Opera’s use of your CPU’s cores. You can set the percentage of cores that your Opera browser can use (it needs at least one). The details of this menu will vary according to the resources your system has available.

RAM limiter

RAM limiter - Opera GX

GX Control can also limit memory use, which will stop those forgotten tabs from sucking up memory. Given that modern web pages can (and do) use up enormous amounts of RAM when nothing stops them, this can be a game-changer (pun intended).

Opera GX has a built-in RAM limiter that you can control in two ways. You can set a soft limit, which means Opera GX will do its best to stay within the RAM boundaries you set. There’s also a hard limit setting, so if a new tab would take you over your hard limit, Opera GX will shut down an older tab first so that no extra RAM is used.

Network limiter

Network limiter - Opera GX

Many of us like to stream music from YouTube or a Netflix film in our browser while playing a game and streaming the gameplay in parallel. This requires a lot of bandwidth and, sometimes, your browser might get needy and use too much of it. The network limiter solves that issue by allowing you to set maximum limits on how much of your network’s bandwidth you would like to devote to your browser. Opera GX will stick to that limit, which means your game or streaming service outside of the browser will run more smoothly with the larger net bandwidth at its disposal.

Extra features

Opera GX’s control center includes the option to manually control the volume of your browser, letting you turn down the beeps and pings, or even mute them and any other content with sound. You can also play videos on top of other pages, just like in the Opera browser for desktop, but here it means the ability to simultaneously watch a video and play an online game. Twitch integration, along with other Opera desktop features like integrated WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, allow you to do more in one place than other browsers, without the need for extensions.

Enjoy gaming and browsing? Try the new Opera GX!


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