Windows Tools, Help & Guides

A while back we looked at how could disable IE9’s GPU rendering abilities.

As other browsers in the market are yet to fully catch up to Microsoft in this arena, GPU rendering or acceleration will likely not be enabled by default.

If you use Google Chrome and it’s at version 8 or above (Wrench > About Google Chrome) and your hardware can support it, GPU acceleration and rendering can be enabled.

This Quick Tip is going to show you how.

Step 1.

Open Google Chrome, in the address bar (Ctrl+L) type about:flags and hit Enter

Step 2.

Please take note of this warning;

These experimental features may change, break, or disappear at any time. We make absolutely no guarantees about what may happen if you turn one of these experiments on, and your browser may even spontaneously combust. Jokes aside, your browser may delete all your data, or your security and privacy could be compromised in unexpected ways. Please proceed with caution.

If you’re happy with this, scroll down the page and find GPU Accelerated Compositing and GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D.

Click Enable under each one and restart Chrome to see the changes. Maybe even head over to beautyoftheweb.com and compare the 2 browsers.

How do you think Chrome stacks up to IE9 in this department?  Let us know in the comments.

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