Frequently Asked Questions

What is Peacekeeper?

Peacekeeper is a free online browser benchmark tool. With Peacekeeper it’s quick and easy to compare different browsers to find out which one offers the best performance on your PC.

The name "Peacekeeper" is inspired by the well established concept of "browser wars". The fact is that competition between browsers has never been as hotly contested, nor have internet users had as many choices as they do now. The big five: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera, all see regular releases of new and innovative features and each camp’s followers keep many a forum busy with heated discussion and opinion. Until now, words were the only shots fired in the long-running browser wars. With Peacekeeper however, web users finally have an easy to use tool for measuring and comparing the performance of different web browsers. Just like a real peacekeeping force, the Peacekeeper benchmark is impartial, objective and seeks to resolve conflict. For PC users who prioritize speed and performance, Peacekeeper helps answer the question of which browser is best.

What can I use it for?

Peacekeeper will show you which browser performs best on your PC. At the end of the test your browser receives a score indicating its overall performance. It’s simple to compare scores by running Peacekeeper again in a different browser. Changing browsers to one that's faster can mean that pages with dynamic content will be more responsive.

What does it test?

Peacekeeper measures your browser's performance by testing its JavaScript functionality. JavaScript is a widely used programming language used in the creation of modern websites to provide features such as animation, navigation, forms and other common requirements. By measuring a browser’s ability to handle commonly used JavaScript functions Peacekeeper can evaluate its performance.

What does a Peacekeeper score represent?

Peacekeeper scores are measured in operations per second or rendered frames per second depending on the test. When "browser X" scores twice as much as "browser Y" on the same PC it means that for a given test either:

X ran twice as many operations as Y in the same time period
Or X ran the test in half the time as Y
Or X rendered the test with twice the frame rate of Y

Or in plain language, by choosing a browser with a high Peacekeeper score you are ensuring a faster and smoother web experience within the limits of your internet connection speed.

How were the tests selected and created?

To create the tests we used a profiler to analyze JavaScript usage while browsing popular websites such as YouTube, Facebook, GMail and Meebo. The profiler collected data on the frequency in which different JavaScript functions were called on these sites and we used this data to create specific weighted tests for each function. In some situations the profiler is not able to collect accurate data and for these, we implemented the tests using common techniques and components to simulate the requirements of a typical webpage.

What does it NOT test?

Peacekeeper is a JavaScript performance benchmark. It does not test your browser’s other features nor does it measure its security functionality. It does not check for W3C conformity, nor does it test external components such as Flash. It does not test, nor is the score influenced by, your internet connection speed or latency.

What are the individual tests?

Rendering

These tests measure your browser's ability to render and modify specific elements used in typical web pages. Rendering tests manipulate the DOM tree in real-time. The tests measure display updating speed (frames per seconds).

renderChart
This test renders and animates a bar chart. This measures how fast the browser can manipulate multiple divs and at the same time search for the largest value.
renderGrid
This test renders a grid of square elements and animates the background colors. The test measures the browser's ability to manipulate huge amount of elements.
renderPhysics
This physics test simulates bouncing balls and their collision physics. The test measures both DOM update speed and mathematical methods.

Social networking

Social networking sites use JavaScript to provide navigation, forms and other features. These tests measure typical webpage functions, such as loading, sorting and searching for data. The purpose of these tests is to show the relation between the tests and real life. Performance in these tests is measured in frames per seconds.

community01Encrypt
Creates a SHA1-hash form password before sending it to server.
community02ParseXML
Parses XML content to array and appends it to DOM.
community03Filter
Filters the list based on keywords typed by user. Behaves similarly to the stringFilter test, but this test includes rendering.
community04Sort
Sorts list by different rules. Measures array performance.

Complex graphics

These tests use 'Canvas', a new web technology for drawing and manipulating graphics without external plug-ins. Canvas is not yet supported by all major browsers so the scores from these tests are not included in the overall Peacekeeper score.

experimentalRipple01
Simulates a 'water ripple' effect by using HTML 5 Canvas. It measures the browser's ability to draw individual pixels.
experimentalRipple02
Same test as 'experimentalRipple01', but with a larger canvas and thus a heavier workload.
experimentalMovie
Displays a JPG sequence of movies and calculates a water-like reflection in real-time. Measures the browser's ability to draw pixels and the ability to select pixels from an image.

Data

Almost everything you see on a dynamic webpage uses JavaScript arrays. These tests measure your browser's ability to add, remove and modify data stored in an array. The Data suite consists of two tests:

arrayCombined
This test uses all features of the JavaScript Array object. This is a technical test that is not based on profiled data. The source data are different sized arrays of numbers.
arrayWeighted
This test is similar to 'arrayCombined', but the load is balanced based on profiled data. The source data is a list of all the countries in the world.

DOM operations

DOM, or Document Object Model, is the standard API JavaScript uses to create dynamic webpages. These tests emulate the methods used to create typical dynamic webpages. The DOM tests are based on development experience and the capabilities of the jQuery framework.

domGetElements
This test uses native DOM methods getElementById and getElementsByName. Both are widely used to get content from a DOM tree. The elements are not modified.
domDynamicCreationCreateElement
A common use of DOM is to dynamically create content with JavaScript, for example loading content from a server and injecting it to a page. There are two ways to accomplish this: setting the source as string to DOM's innerHTML-property or creating objects individually and then appending them to DOM. This test measures the latter.
domDynamicCreationInnerHTML
This test is similarl to the previous one, but uses the innerHTML-method.
domJQueryAttributeFilters
This test does a DOM query with jQuery. It searches elements with specific attributes.
domJQueryBasicFilters
This test uses basic filters to query elements from DOM.
domJQueryBasics
This test queries elements from DOM with very basic methods. This is similar to domGetElements, but uses jQuery rather than native methods.
domJQueryContentFilters
Query elements based on content. This does string searching and these methods are assumed to be time consuming.
domJQueryHierarchy
Query elements based on hierarchy, such as getting sibling, parent or child nodes from a DOM tree.

Text parsing

These tests measure your browser's performance in typical text manipulations such as using a profanity filter for chats, browser detection and form validation.

stringChat
This test removes swearing from artificial chat messages. Test measures looping and string replace-method.
stringDetectBrowser
There are differencies between browser behaviour, so browser name and version are often detected. This test uses string indexOf-method to detect browser and operating system.
stringFilter
This test filters a list of movies with a given keyword. The behaviour is known as filtering select or continuous filter. It's used to give real time suggestions while a user is filling input fields. The test uses simple regular expressions.
stringValidateForm
Live form validation is a common JavaScript use case. This test uses complex regular expressions to validate user input.
stringWeighted
This is an artificial test. Methods used and their intensities are chosen based on profiled data.

How are the scores calculated?

The overall score is the geometric mean of the main test scores which in turn are the geometric mean of their respective individual test scores. The scores from the 'Complex Graphics' tests are excluded from the overall Peacekeeper score as the features tested are not yet supported by all major browsers.

What factors affect the score?

Other than the browser itself, the most significant factor affecting the score is the type of CPU in your PC. After that, the power of your graphics card affects the result somewhat, though mostly in situations where the card is very slow, or no drivers have been installed for it. Running other applications that consume system resources at the same time as the benchmark is running will naturally affect the score. The size of the viewable browser area also affects the score, so the screen resolution you use, the size of the browser window and whether the window is minimized affect the score as well. Beyond these, other factors are usually not significant. Your internet connection speed and network latency do not influence the score in any way.

Why do you need to scan my system and what are you looking for?

Peacekeeper scans your PC hardware details by default in order to link your browser’s performance with your hardware details. The scan is not a requirement (nor is it even available on all platforms) and the performance evaluation is just as accurate without it. However, the scan allows us to provide richer services such as the lists of most popular hardware and browsers for example.

The system scan itself is the same as used in all Futuremark products, such as 3DMark, PCMark, VirtualMark and the Game-o-Meter. It scans specifically for details of your PC’s hardware: CPU model and speed, graphics card, memory, motherboard information and other components. It does not scan any of your files or installed programs, nor does it collect any personally identifiable information (PII). Read our privacy policy.

What are the system requirements?

Peacekeeper will work with almost any modern web browser; however mobile browsers are not currently supported. To use our system scan feature that pairs your performance score with your system hardware details, you need to be running Windows with either Internet Explorer or a browser that has the Java-Plug-in installed.

How are the top lists generated?

These lists are compiled from data collected from the people who use Peacekeeper. Note that since the system scan is only available on Windows systems, the hardware related lists only reflects scores obtained on Windows systems.

Why are there no Linux/Mac/Other lists of the top scores?

Currently, our system scan technology only works on Windows PCs. Without knowing the hardware details of a system, the performance score alone is not enough to create a list of top scores.

Where can I get support or give feedback?

The web is changing all the time and Peacekeeper will too. We want to hear your thoughts on how Peacekeeper could be improved. Peacekeeper has a dedicated discussion board on the Futuremark website where you can tell us your thoughts, get support or leave feedback. For product updates and news of new browsers you can follow @FM_Peacekeeper on Twitter. For business or press enquiries please email peacekeeper@futuremark.com