View Poll Results: Which Do You Prefer?

Voters
47. You may not vote on this poll
  • InvisionBoard

    11 23.40%
  • phpBB 2.01

    19 40.43%
  • vBulletin

    17 36.17%
Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Forums

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    94

    Forums

    These are comparisons of phpBB 2.01, InvisionBoard and vBulletin for speed.

    Tests done by timdorr on 800mhz, AMD 256mb WinXP machine running Apache 1.3.24 and Mysql 3.23.45-nt. All were the latest versions (1.0, 2.2.6, and 2.0.1) and all were based on a default install with no modifications except for one: floodcheck options set off. All tests were run for 3 minutes with 2 threads at 25 sockets each. All were recorded via WAST's record utility.

    Now, onto the results.

    Main forum view (e.g. http://www.webhostingtalk.com)

    IB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               1017
    Requests per Second:          5.64
    vB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               903
    Requests per Second:          5.01
    phpBB 2.01:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               700
    Requests per Second:          3.88
    Test post on all boards that contained text, smilies, URL links, images, quotes, and code. WAST viewed the forums and threads alternatively.

    IB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               1079
    Requests per Second:          5.98
    vB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               839
    Requests per Second:          4.65
    phpBB 2.01:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               677
    Requests per Second:          3.76
    WAST went to each create a new thread page, posted a new thread, viewed that thread, went to the replay page, posted a reply, and viewed the thread a final time.

    IB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               849
    Requests per Second:          4.74
    vB:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               845
    Requests per Second:          4.69
    phpBB 2.01:
    Code:
    Number of hits:               505
    Requests per Second:          2.82
    Conclusion:

    The fastest forum software out of these three is InvisionBoard. vBulletin comes next, and then phpBB 2.01. As far as I can see, InvisionBoard is the best available, as it includes most, if not all of the features vBulletin does. The default template is aesthetically-pleasing and, best of all, it's free.

    phpBB 2.01 doesn't have much going for itself, except a vast database collection which an enormous community has produced. That's the only perceived advantage.

    UPDATE: .NET, a popular UK-based internet magazine, has rated InvisionBoard the #1 free forum software. Unfortunately, they didn't review pay forums.
    Last edited by Raman Kumar; 08-10-2002 at 05:29 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    8,535
    Hey, always though phpBB sucked. wBB was my favorite then they went pay only, so now I use Invision Board and I would agree, that it is the best. The admin CP is by far the best IMO of any of the free boards.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    94
    Originally posted by inogenius
    Hey, always though phpBB sucked. wBB was my favorite then they went pay only, so now I use Invision Board and I would agree, that it is the best. The admin CP is by far the best IMO of any of the free boards.
    Indeed. I was told at the official phpBB forums that it was the fastest forum available, and had a very low impact on servers. Having signed up to a multitude of different forum-types, I knew the former wasn't true. The latter is true, though there are many other forums which have a lower impact, and take up less bandwidth. This includes InvisionBoard.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    United kingdom
    Posts
    1,003
    Can anyone else get to http://www.invisionboard.com/, wanted to download it to run a local copy here but it looks to be down?

    Alan
    Alan Ho
    Former Systems Administrator

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    94
    Originally posted by ho247
    Can anyone else get to http://www.invisionboard.com/, wanted to download it to run a local copy here but it looks to be down?

    Alan
    I can.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Here?
    Posts
    2,560
    It comes up for me just fine, too.

  7. #7
    yep fine for me too...
    just in case timdorr reads this.. hi tim!
    (yes, i know timdorr )

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    United kingdom
    Posts
    1,003
    Thanks... it's working now, must have been my ISP here.

    Alan
    Alan Ho
    Former Systems Administrator

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    I vote for all 3. muahahha.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
    Posts
    3,690
    well vbulletin for a paid board.
    phpbb for the free board
    ALTHOUGH....Ive heard good things about invisionboard, but not enough yet to voice an opinion on it.
    HostCaters.com - Quality Web Hosting - Under A Gig! - Since 1999

  11. #11
    phpBB does the job fine. You should run those tests on a unix box, who uses XP in a live server enviroment ???

    Was the phpBB template cache system on or is that an "add-on"?

    phpBB for me

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Kuwait
    Posts
    679
    I'm working on a forum software myself with speed of execution and ability to withstand heavy DDoS attacks are the most considerations. But I'm still not sure if I should charge for it or release it for free.
    Ahmad Alhashemi
    PHP, Apache, C, Python, Perl, SQL
    18 related BrainBench certificates

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    238
    I'll be the second to ask whether you enabled the template cacheing for phpBB 2.01 (either the file-based or dB-based). This leads to a considerable speed increase and there's no reason it shouldn't be used. In the distribution package, you'll find instructions on how to enable template cacheing in the CONTRIB folder.

    phpBB 2.02, which should be released pretty soon, has some further performance-enhancing fixes (already available for the do-it-yourselfers). I'd love to see a rematch of phpBB (with template cacheing enabled!!!), vB, and invisionBoard on a Linux system.

    There are a lot of variables to consider when doing benchmark tests though. But at any rate, I'm glad to see someone attempting benchmarks of the most popular forums.
    Last edited by kreativ; 08-12-2002 at 08:02 AM.

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