Firefox developers also working on GPU acceleration

Posted on Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 21:46 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Last week Microsoft unveiled IE9 is getting GPU acceleration, and a couple of days ago Firefox developer Bas Schouten revealed on his blog that Firefox will start implementing this feature as well.
A while ago I started my investigation into Direct2D usage in firefox (see bug 527707). Since then we've made significant progress and are now able to present a Firefox browser completely rendered using Direct2D, making intensive usage of the GPU (this includes the UI, menu bars, etc.). I won't be showing any screenshots, since it is not supposed to look much different. But I will be sharing some technical details, first performance indications and a test build for those of you running Windows 7 or an updated version of Vista!
You can check out his blog post for all the details, here's a chart that compares rendering times on a system with a Core i7 920 and Radeon HD 4850 graphics card:



About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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