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.