Test System Specs And Setup
Test System Specs
WBGP3 marks the first time this series will be hosted on the new Core i5 cross-platform test system. Like every OS on the this test system, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit resides on its own 500 GB 7200.12 Seagate Barracuda HDD. As usual, the OS is freshly installed and fully updated just prior to testing (03/14/11).
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate(64-bit) |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-750 @ 2.8 GHz (Quad Core) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 (F7 BIOS) |
| Memory | 8 GB Crucial DDR3 @ 1333 MT/s (2 x 4 GB) |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 4870 Reference Board 512 GB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0) |
| Storage | Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache |
| Optical | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS |
| Power Supply | Corsair TX750W (750 W Max) |
| Chassis | Zalman MS1000-HS2 |
| CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 2 Revision B |
Setup
The table below shows the five Web browsers entered into WBGP3:
| Browser | Version |
|---|---|
| Chrome | 10.0.648.134 |
| Firefox | 3.6.15 |
| Internet Explorer | 9 |
| Opera | 11.01 (build 1190) 51 |
| Safari | 5.04 (7533.20.27) |
This table lists all the extra software installed onto the test system:
| Other Software | Version |
|---|---|
| Adobe Flash | 10.2 |
| Microsoft Silverlight | 4.0.60129.0 |
| Oracle Java | 6 Update 24 (build 1.6.0_24-b07) |
| AMD Radeon HD 4800 Series | 8.821.0.0 |
In previous versions of the Web Browser Grand Prix, the Web sites used in our page load time tests were stored locally on the test system's hard drive. This time around, we set up a local LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) Web server to host the saved sites. The table below lists the system specs of the local Web server:
| Operating System | Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition "Lucid Lynx" (32-bit) |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Athlon @ 1150 MHz |
| Motherboard | Soyo Dragon Platinum |
| Memory | 512 MB DDR |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon 9550, 256 MB GDDR |
| Storage | 40 GB Western Digital HDD WD400BB |
| Optical | Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616T |
| Additional Packages | Apache2, MySQL Client, MySQL Server, PHP5, PHP-GD, PHP5-MySQL, PHPMyAdmin, SSH |
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I wonder how much microsoft paid tomshardware not to include Firefox 4 RC1
Now everyone is going to switch from Chrome to IE?
Nice comparison Adam. I think people don't give MS credit for IE9 because of their history with web standards and lack of competition with updating their browser since they destroyed Netscape so many years ago. Hopefully they have their head in the game and continue with a somewhat constant update cycle. Currently the transition from IE8 to IE9 was somewhat FireFox'ish with speed instead of waiting for another revision of the OS. The browser definitely surprised me, some quirks here and there that are definitely noticeable and the Chrome/FF influence is obviously present. I wish them luck as the competition heats up.
Will there be a " Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Enters The Race " after Firefox 4's release (22 Mar)?
i felt the speed once i switched from firefox to chrome and now chrome to IE..
but there is no mention of any addon/extentions for IE..
i mean there is no comparision on who's got nice addons and startup time "with" addons.. since users tend to use web browsers with addons knowingly or un-knowingly..
it would be better if you include those two comparisions as well.. and who takes advantage of GPU and all..
Won't take that long for IE to lag behind.
Won't take that long for IE to lag behind.
lol
maybe not!!
and FFS why doesnt that "submit my comment" button not working in IE!! I am using chrome for that ;(
I like how this article was released one day before Firefox 4 is released.
duck it, i stick to firefox.
Is there a wrong picture on the efficiency page? The 40tabs graph comes up as GUIMark 2?
The 40 Tabs chart is wrong for Efficiency Benchmarks: Memory Usage And Management it shows flash vector charting.
I wonder how much microsoft paid tomshardware not to include Firefox 4 RC1
Then they would have to include every random nightly build of every browser? Comparing the latest release is fair you'll always get one browser or two that is near a new stable version but that's just how it works.
Won't take that long for IE to lag behind.
depends in Microsoft moves up an update schedule that doesn't just include making the browser more secure and fixing bugs. IE8 was pretty snappy back when it was first out it got old in like 3 months compared to other browsers though.
I wonder how much microsoft paid tomshardware not to include Firefox 4 RC1
We only test final products in the WBGP.
Will there be a " Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Enters The Race " after Firefox 4's release (22 Mar)?
I like how this article was released one day before Firefox 4 is released.
Where are ya'll getting a set date from?
i felt the speed once i switched from firefox to chrome and now chrome to IE..but there is no mention of any addon/extentions for IE.. i mean there is no comparision on who's got nice addons and startup time "with" addons.. since users tend to use web browsers with addons knowingly or un-knowingly..it would be better if you include those two comparisions as well.. and who takes advantage of GPU and all..
We add/modify tests every time with the WBGP. We're already looking into those suggestions.
Is there a wrong picture on the efficiency page? The 40tabs graph comes up as GUIMark 2?
Doh! Fixing that now.
Where are ya'll getting a set date from?
http://groups.google.com/group/moz [...] 9e9650b1b3
Wait a second. Did they really include Safari? Who uses Safari for Windows?
(I'm assuming they tested the Windows version of Safari, because why would you compare browsers for different systems?)
I'm sticking with Opera on my Windows machine and Safari on my Mac.
To be honest I did not read this article, because you're using the "latest and greatest" browsers, but somehow jumped a day early and didn't wait for FF4. Maybe you mentioned it in the article, but if not, then was it really so bad to wait an additional 1-2 days to do this?
... don't know... but this all is not my experience... why there is no firefox 4.0 RC2 ????
Where are ya'll getting a set date from?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/ [...] _22_march/
Although most websites link to this website, so perhaps it was nothing more than a rumor.
Wait a second. Did they really include Safari? Who uses Safari for Windows?
(I'm assuming they tested the Windows version of Safari, because why would you compare browsers for different systems?)
I'm sticking with Opera on my Windows machine and Safari on my Mac.
Opera sucks balls in memory management and lacks handy add-on such as Tab Mix Plus (which is same for Chrome). I would definitely move to Opera if it has these 2 issues fixed.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta
This article looks like a case of premature e.. something.