The Opera GX browser is an interesting release of the Opera browser but with some enhancements that might be considered useful for gamers. I take a look at what sets this apart from the standard Opera browser.
Starting up
After installing, you’re greeted with the first run screen showing some of the unique features of this browser. The black UI with the neon colors is also hard to miss, and definitely sends out that “I’m an RGB gamer” vibe. I probably wouldn’t want to use this at work, but can see it fitting in with Steam and other gaming applications.
Also interesting was the screenshot/page capture feature with the pulsating camera icon. It makes sense that Opera Software would want to draw attention to this simple yet convenient feature.
GX Corner
The first thing I did was check the “GX Corner” section (indicated by the controller icon) which was a game release calendar for new and upcoming games. I really liked the fact that there was an option to check which platforms you are interested in so only games for systems you care about will be displayed.
GX Control
Next up is arguably the most useful feature for Twitch streamers and PC gamers, the GX Control. To access it, just click the speedometer in the left side panel. Here you will see three main options for limiting certain aspects of the Opera GX browser.
First up is the network limiter which allows users to change the download/upload rate of the browser. This is especially useful when someone is streaming and maybe one of their browser tabs has some extra network activity going on that could eat into their bandwidth. If you’re trying to stream in the best quality possible given your hardware and network speed, being able to put a cap on how fast Opera GX could be a godsend.
Following the network limiter is the RAM limiter. As the name states, you can set a hard limit for how much memory Opera GX will consume as it stays open. In a world where people keep open so many tabs and let their browser eat RAM like there’s no tomorrow, I can see a real need for this. Being able to set a memory limit helps not only gamers keep their system under control, but could be a benefit to those with low end machines or PCs with a small amount of RAM.
The last control at the bottom is the CPU limiter. Whether it’s active scripts on a page or maybe a tab with a video playing in the background, there is a real chance that something on a website somewhere is going to cause the CPU usage to spike. With the CPU limiter, you can make sure the browser never takes priority away from more important processes.
After looking around at some of the gamer-specific features, I wanted if there were any other differences between the Opera GX browser and the regular edition. I dug through the settings and from my memory, everything seemed to be roughly the same. One thing new users may want to do is go through the settings and uncheck certain “promotional” features.
Be sure to also look at the “adblock exceptions” which Opera cleverly added a few companies there such as Google and Facebook.
Final Thoughts on the Opera GX browser
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed using this browser. There are gamer-centric features here that will surely be appreciated by both Twitch streamers and gamers in general. Having said that, I don’t see why this just can’t be a selectable mode in normal Opera for these features.
If it was a branding issue, then I think Opera should have gone out of their way to call it something that didn’t have “Opera” in the name to better differentiate it.
The current version is only available for Windows and macOS. It is considered “early access” and there are feedback links throughout the sections of the browser for users to submit their thoughts on what should be improved or added.
Link: Download it!