Browser Showdown: GPU Acceleration

With Firefox 4 released just a week ago, and Internet Explorer 9 two weeks ago, I think it's time to get some benchmarks for the main browsers, in the form of GPU acceleration. GPU acceleration has been the main focus of Internet Explorer 9, and other browsers are also adding GPU support lately.

The Setup

For this test I'm using

• Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
• Zotac GeForce GTX 460 AMP! Edition (ForceWare 267.24 Beta)
• AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition @ 3.00GHz

As for the browsers,

• Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Google Chrome 10 (Stable)
• Google Chrome 12 (Canary Build)
• Firefox 4 (Stable)
• Opera 11.50 (Labs Build)

Safari currently have no GPU support, so it will not be tested here. All browsers are tested with IE9's Psychedelic Browsing test, as that test will give us a numerical figure to measure the results.

Internet Explorer 9

The score above shows IE9 32-bit scores. The test went really well, with the sounds playing and no artifacts appearing. The 64-bit version shows no improvements; the performance is completely identical.

Google Chrome 10

Chrome doesn't have GPU acceleration enabled by default, and from this shot I can see why. The thing is still experimental, and you can see an artifact under the number "9". To enable GPU acceleration, type "about:flags" (without quotes) in the omnibar, hit Enter, and enable GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D.

Google Chrome 12 (Canary Build)

Chrome 12 still doesn't have GPU acceleration enabled by default, so it requires the same treatment as Chrome 10 above. Likewise, the results are completely identical to Chrome 10; even the artifact is still there.

Firefox 4

Firefox 4 fared better than Chrome in this part, and GPU acceleration is enabled by default. However, there are no sounds during the test.

Opera 11.50 (Labs build)

Just slightly below Firefox 4, Opera 11.50 is the only version that supports GPU acceleration for now. The "Labs build" is some sort of experimental version, similar to Chrome's Dev Build.

Conclusion

So IE9 gets the highest score, followed by Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. Even at the slowest they still appear smooth and snappy, which matters the most.

There is no point of arguing which one is the fastest, as these results gives more than enough in terms of performance. GPU acceleration is a step forward to the modern Internet, but for now it's just optional. Most websites haven't implemented any use of GPU acceleration, and I doubt that this will be the next standard in developing websites. Might be good for streaming videos though.

Foobar2000 and Last.fm not working? Solution here.

Foobar2000 is a great music player, and Last.fm is a great music service. And they can be used together with a foobar2000 plugin called foo_lastfm_radio. Unfortunately, it no longer works as you will get a 403 Forbidden error. At least for those outside US, UK, and Germany, where Last.fm is absolutely free.

The solution is pretty simple.

All you need to do is open foobar2000, go to File > Preferences > Advanced and look under Networking. Uncheck the checkbox "Allow seeking over HTTP" and hit Apply.

Now you should be able to use foo_lastfm_radio. It's that simple.

For those unfamiliar with all these stuff,

• foobar2000 is a freeware music player with extensive support for plugins.
• Last.fm is an online music tracking service that learns your music preference based on what you hear on your device and generates a radio based on that.
• foo_lastfm_radio is a plugin for foobar2000 that allows you to stream Last.fm radios.
• To let Last.fm to track your music, you'll need to install foo_audioscrobbler into foobar2000.

Source: Hydrogenaudio forums

CaptchaTrader for JDownloader

My Anti reCAPTCHA post is by far the most popular post here, proven by Googling "anti recaptcha for jdownloader" itself. However its no longer working since the last reCAPTCHA update, and the author doesn't seem to be progressing either.

Anyway, I was directed to an alternative method called CaptchaTrader (thanks to James). It works by having other users volunteering to type in the Captcha for you while you're away. So its very accurate as its done by real humans instead of some computer program.

To use it:

1. Register an account in CaptchaTrader. Don't worry, it's completely free.
2. Head to the plugins page to download their JDownloader plugin. 
3. Install and restart JDownloader.
4. Go to Settings > Modules > AntiCaptcha. Make sure that 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA' is not ticked.
5. You can now start downloading something that requires CAPTCHA. You'll get 100 credits for free to start with. 
6. Each CAPTCHA will cost 10 or 5 credits. To earn more credits, you can either buy the credits or solve other people's CAPTCHA for 7 or 3 credits each.
7. You can also refer other people to join CaptchaTrader to earn more credits.
8. In fact, you can trade credits for cash. However it costs 10000 credits per each dollar.

While it might seem like pointless at first, as you still need to type CAPTCHAs (albeit not yours), you can download through JDownloader while away.

Be warned that if you ran out of credits, JDownloader will keep on retrying until your IP gets temporarily banned. To prevent this, go to Settings > Modules > AntiCaptcha and tick the checkbox 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA'. From here you'll have to enter CAPTCHAs manually until you have enough credits. Then untick the checkbox 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA' to continue using CaptchaTrader.