Web Browser Grand Prix 5: Opera 11.50, Firefox 5, And Chrome 12

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Three major released have landed since our last impromptu Web Browser Grand Prix (WBGP4): Chrome 12, Firefox 5, and Opera 11.50. Can Chrome or Opera regain the WBGP championship? Will Mozilla Firefox ever overtake Microsoft's IE9 in the rankings?

Performance Benchmarks: Flash, Java, Silverlight

Flash

Flash Benchmark '08

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 and Apple's Safari essentially tie for first place with scores near 19 250. Opera is solidly in the middle with a score of 18 909, while Chrome 12 and Firefox 5 are in another near-tie with scores in the low 17 000 range.

GUIMark2 Flash

In order to simplify the GUIMark2 results and de-emphasize this benchmark's contribution to the total placing tables, we've combined the three tests (vector charting, bitmap gaming, and text columns) into a single GUIMark2 Flash score which takes all three common usages into account. Since we had to run all three tests normally, we've included the individual scores on a single chart marked Detail. The new single average scores are included on the second chart marked Composite.

For the vector charting test, IE9, Safari, Firefox 5, and Opera 11.50 all do very well with scores at or near 60 frames per second. Chrome is solidly in last place with the only sub-50 FPS score.

In the bitmap gaming test there is another virtual four-way tie for first with all contenders earning around 50 FPS, but the order this time is: Opera, Safari, IE9, Firefox 5. Chrome again trails behind with a score of 42 FPS.

In the text columns test, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera again find themselves in a practical tie for first (respectively). Firefox places two frames per second behind the front runners, with Chrome closely in tow by one frame. Now let's get to the GUIMark2 Flash composite score:

The composite score is simply the average of the three GUIMark2 Flash tests. Here we can see that Internet Explorer is the overall winner. But second-place finisher Safari and third-place finisher Opera are perfectly good choices as well, both scoring less than one-half frame per second behind the leader. In fourth place, Firefox 5 is only one frame per second behind the pack. Chrome 12 is the only Web browser to trail behind the approximately 45 FPS pace, scoring just under 40 FPS.

Java

GUIMark Java

Firefox and Chrome essentially tie for first place in Java performance at around 40 FPS. Opera is in the middle with 33 FPS, while IE9 and Safari are in an actual tie for last place at 36.02 frames per second.

Silverlight

Encog Silverlight

Opera 11.50 kicked it up a notch, nabbing a solid lead in the Encog Silverlight benchmark. IE9 places second and Chrome drops to third. Firefox 5 is in a close fourth place, with Safari bringing up the rear.

Adam Overa
102 Comments Comment from the forums
  • adampower
    Wow, it seems like I upgrade my browsers every week.
    Reply
  • somehow it seems that firefox is focussing more on benchmarks rather than actual real world usage.
    Reply
  • opera keeps impressing me throughout the WBGP
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Now if just Google would release a 64-bit Chrome browser.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    First of all, this is the most thorough WBGP yet.
    somehow it seems that firefox is focussing more on benchmarks rather than actual real world usage.
    I don't think so - proper page loads and battery life are important considerations.

    I agree that Mozilla did not do a right thing in copying Chrome's release cycle, but at least they're trying - for example, they're trying hard in bringing down memory usage by increasing the garbage collection frequency(check this out in the Aurora and Nightly builds).

    WBGP is basically a test of speed, and Chrome may have won in that, but Firefox is not far behind. I can wait for two or three seconds for my page to load. You can easily bring down the page load times by using addons like AdBlock Plus.

    Even with the faster release cycle, this article clearly states that Firefox is still the most stable browser. Many people say that they've had numerous crashes, but its something wrong with their drivers or OS - I have not had a single crash since FF 4.0 beta 5 (or 7?), when they introduced hardware acceleration for the first time.

    Firefox remains the most customizable browser, while Opera has the most number of features out-of-the-box.

    So overall, according to me Firefox>=Opera>Chrome>IE 9> Safari.
    Reply
  • cadder
    Will you guys please investigate the SECURITY of each browser? I would use the one that is most secure even if it is slowest.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    9516697 said:
    Will you guys please investigate the SECURITY of each browser? I would use the one that is most secure even if it is slowest.
    That's easy: FF+AdBlock Plus+ NoScript+Ghostery+BrowserProtect
    Reply
  • ChiefTexas_82
    IE 9 is a speed demon? I droped IE because it started running like ****. I blame loading too many side programs after years on the web. So I wanted to try Chrome or Firefox. Being a Google fan already, I tried Chrome. So far it leaves my old IE8 in the dust. Except for a certain bug, I would say it has been an improvement in almost every way.
    Reply
  • ChiefTexas_82
    I don't like how Nvidia's GPU auto-detect doesn't work on chrome.
    Reply
  • thartist
    Damn, Opera has it's flaws but it's nonetheless the one that does one thing best: browsing.
    Reply