Microsoft recently released it?s third preview of IE9. It?s coming close to it?s first beta release and is showing allot of promise. IE9 looks to be a strong competitor in the browser wars. With new HTML5 support and improved an JavaScript engine, IE9 can use hardware acceleration to deliver a better browser experience. Previous tests have shown that IE9?s rendering engine is really pushing it towards supremacy. Which is great news considering the flop that was IE8.

But what about other browsers, Download Squad decided to do their own speed test. A HTML5 speed test between IE9, Firefox3.7, Chrome 6 and the latest version of Opera. IE9 preview 3 was only narrowly beaten by Firefox, just a 5% margin. IE9 and Firefox were way ahead of the other browsers, and both used the least amount of CPU when performing. Chrome 6 failed massively, but is said not to support hardware acceleration just yet. Opera performed pretty well, but just couldn?t keep up in the end.

All these browsers bar Opera are still in the testing phase, so there are still many tweaks to be made before they are officially released. So in end user terms, things can only get better. You can have a look at the tests here.