Speed Test: Firefox 3 vs. IE 8 vs Opera 9.5

[Osiris]

I have not done any tests lately that would reveal the speed of each of the new upcoming browsers. The latest official builds have been tested, they are at the time of the test: Opera 9.5 build 9815/1834, Firefox 3 Gran Paradiso beta 4 and Internet Explorer 8 beta 1. I have been using the Webwait application for this test which monitors page loading times of pages that you select.
All browsers were already in memory and the following pages were each loaded once to avoid cache issues: Digg, CNN, Ghacks and Facebook. The results were pretty astonishing and I’m still thinking that some of the slow loading times might have been caused by a server hickup or a short prob with my Internet connection although I did not see any signs for that on my part. Another possible cause could be add-ons that have are already working in Firefox.
The most astonishing values are two page loading times of Firefox 3. It tool 13.17 seconds to load Digg while Opera needed 5.59 seconds and Internet Explorer 8 only 5.28 seconds. The second huge difference was encountered on Facebook where Opera 9.5 was the fastest browser with a loading time of 1.95 seconds.
Internet Explorer 8 followed with 2.83 seconds and Firefox 3 needed 22.60 seconds to load the page. Firefox on the other hand was the fastest browser when loading my site with 1.9 seconds followed by Opera with 2.38 and Internet Explorer with 4.83 seconds.
The same can be said for the loading time of CNN where Firefox needed 2.94 seocnds, Opera 3.38 seconds and Internet Explorer 8 4.58 seconds.
The only two values that stick out are the Firefox loading times of Facebook and Digg. Anyone here who would like to test the speeds on their connection and post the results in this thread ?

Speed Test: Firefox 3 vs. IE 8 vs Opera 9.5

[fryc86]

I don't know. Using Webwait firefox is on average loading way faster for me than for opera. That's with a few add-ons in firefox and with opera just now downloaded with nothing extra on it.

[Makaveli213]

With only defaults Opera is faster. Take away Fasterfox and some of the other extensions in Firefox and it is not as fast.

Testing on my rig right now Safari 3.1 is the fastest. Opera 9.50 is 2nd fastest and Firefox 3 is 3rd. IE8 is the slowest by far.

Each system responds differently. There is no way to conclude that 1 browser is faster than another since each system will respond to each browser differently.

[fryc86]

Originally Posted by Makaveli213

With only defaults Opera is faster. Take away Fasterfox and some of the other extensions in Firefox and it is not as fast.

Testing on my rig right now Safari 3.1 is the fastest. Opera 9.50 is 2nd fastest and Firefox 3 is 3rd. IE8 is the slowest by far.

Each system responds differently. There is no way to conclude that 1 browser is faster than another since each system will respond to each browser differently.

good point. I did have fasterfox installed. Safari seems pretty good too though I didn't run the test on it. I don't like to use IE if possible so didn't try that one either.

[alexsabree]

well aren't they all still in beta?

[Makaveli213]

Safari 3.1 is nto a Beta anymore. It is a final version. Firefox 3 is just about ready for launch. Opera 9.50 is still in beta.

[Peter.Cort]

i'm using ie8 and i really like it actually... more so then firefox, just cause of the interface. i think its a lot better then firefox. opera is nice too tho.