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Web Browser Grand Prix 3: IE9 Enters The Race

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With highly-anticipated Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 now available, along with recently released Google Chrome 10, superb Opera 11, newly updated Apple Safari 5.04, and rock-steady Mozilla Firefox 3.6, this is going to be quite an interesting race.

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).

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Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 7 Ultimate(64-bit)
ProcessorIntel Core i5-750 @ 2.8 GHz (Quad Core)
MotherboardGigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 (F7 BIOS)
Memory8 GB Crucial DDR3 @ 1333 MT/s (2 x 4 GB)
GraphicsAMD Radeon HD 4870 Reference Board 512 GB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0)
StorageSeagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
OpticalAsus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
Power SupplyCorsair TX750W (750 W Max)
ChassisZalman MS1000-HS2
CPU CoolerScythe Mugen 2 Revision B

Setup

The table below shows the five Web browsers entered into WBGP3:

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BrowserVersion
Chrome10.0.648.134
Firefox3.6.15
Internet Explorer9
Opera11.01 (build 1190) 51
Safari5.04 (7533.20.27)

This table lists all the extra software installed onto the test system:

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Other SoftwareVersion
Adobe Flash10.2
Microsoft Silverlight4.0.60129.0
Oracle Java6 Update 24 (build 1.6.0_24-b07)
AMD Radeon HD 4800 Series8.821.0.0

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:

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Operating SystemUbuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition "Lucid Lynx" (32-bit)
ProcessorAMD Athlon @ 1150 MHz
MotherboardSoyo Dragon Platinum
Memory512 MB DDR
GraphicsAMD Radeon 9550, 256 MB GDDR
Storage40 GB Western Digital HDD WD400BB
OpticalSamsung DVD-ROM SD-616T
Additional PackagesApache2, MySQL Client, MySQL Server, PHP5, PHP-GD, PHP5-MySQL, PHPMyAdmin, SSH
244 Comments Comment from the forums
  • pirateboy
    I wonder how much microsoft paid tomshardware not to include Firefox 4 RC1
    Reply
  • cruiseoveride
    Now everyone is going to switch from Chrome to IE?
    Reply
  • bison88
    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.
    Reply
  • andy5174
    Will there be a " Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Enters The Race " after Firefox 4's release (22 Mar)?
    Reply
  • illuminatuz
    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..
    Reply
  • winner4455
    Won't take that long for IE to lag behind.
    Reply
  • illuminatuz
    winner4455Won'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 ;(
    Reply
  • turboflame
    I like how this article was released one day before Firefox 4 is released.
    Reply
  • dimamu15
    duck it, i stick to firefox.
    Reply
  • Scanlia
    Is there a wrong picture on the efficiency page? The 40tabs graph comes up as GUIMark 2?
    Reply