Futuremark is widely acknowledged for its benchmark applications. Its 3DMark and PCMark series have been used by enthusiasts since the late 90’s, but it has now announced a new test suite for a new market. Futuremark Peacekeeper is a benchmark for browsers and we have to admit that the launch is perfectly scheduled. The browser war (thus the name Peacekeeper) is raging worse than ever with multiple merited competitors trying to impose on previously Microsoft-dominated ground.
Futuremark claims that Peacekeeper is a simply and unbiased benchmark for comparing the performance of difference browsers with everything from Javascript to loading popular websites. How well Futuremark Peacekeeper emulates real-life use is hard to say at this time, but just like all of Futuremark’s other benchmarks the overall performance of the systems plays a significant role.
We did a quick run with Google Chrome with a modest computer (Core 2 Duo E6850, 4GB RAM and GeForce 8800 GTX) and got a score of 1182 points. This was with more than 100 processes and lots of active applications in Windows Vista.
The fastest browser seems to be Apple’s beta version of Safari 4.0, but Google Chrome is not far behind. On a side note, Internet Explorer 7.0 isn’t even close to anything in Peacekeeper’s tests.
The current record is held by Safari 4.0 and is 2264 points. The record system had a Core i7 965 Extreme Edition processor and right now we’re just waiting for Peacekeeper to appear at the ORB.
More information on Futuremark Peacekeeper can be found at Futuremark’s hemsida.
