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Hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration allows Opera to offload graphics rendering from the processor (CPU) to the graphics card (GPU). This makes graphics intensive operations such as animations faster. The ability to render with the GPU opens up the ability to render WebGL as well. WebGL allows programmers to write 3D games and fancy-looking demos for you to play with.
The way Opera has implemented hardware acceleration is a bit different from the way many other browsers have implemented it. We render absolutely everything using the GPU when possible. All of the user interface, and all of the web-page, and WebGL.
Performance
Currently our implementation in the Alpha version makes the most intensive things a lot faster, while some things are still not as fast as the optimized software backend. We are aware of what is causing this, and are working to improve the performance significantly.
One thing we have done to improve performance is to limit how often we draw to that of modern monitors. This means that some tests may report a lower frame-rate, while in fact the actual rendering is a lot faster, since both the CPU and the GPU won't be busy trying to render things that can't be displayed anyway.
Supported graphics cards
This Alpha release only supports OpenGL. DirectX 9/10 support on Windows is work in progress. Like other browsers, we are blocking troublesome graphics cards and drivers. We control which are blocked with blocklists, which are separate per platform and back-end, and is located in <install-dir>\extra\.
When a card or driver is blocked, Opera falls back to using software rendering. You can check the current status on your machine by opening opera:gpu. If the page says "Vega backend Software", try to upgrade your driver. Note that some cards are not supported by the vendor anymore, and these may still be blocked even if you have the latest driver for that card.
Testing
If you see a bug, try to turn off hardware acceleration by setting opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableHardwareAcceleration to 0, restart Opera, and see if the bug is still there. Not surprisingly, this turns off hardware acceleration, so remember to set the preference back to 1 after testing to enable hardware acceleration again (0=off, 1=auto, 2=force on).
Some cards will get WebGL disabled due to problems with the card or driver. If you're confident that it will work, you can force this on, set opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableWebGL to 2 (0=off, 1=auto, 2=force on). Even if these settings can be changed, we advise you to change them only for testing purposes.
Please provide your feedback on hardware acceleration in this blog post. Supply steps to reproduce, and the following information:
- Operating system
- Graphics card make/model
- Graphics card driver/version
Comments that do not relate to hardware acceleration will be deleted.
Readers' comments
Comments left by My Opera members under the original post: the first 50, as archived.
About this article
| Published in | Desktop Team blog |
|---|---|
| Date | October 12, 2011 |
| Author | Tommy A. Olsen |
| Tags | hardware acceleration, directx, webgl, 3d, gpu |
| Original | Internet Archive |
Robert MeijersRobert90Thursday, October 13, 2011 7:25:18 AM
FitzTNThursday, October 13, 2011 7:32:13 AM
I installed Opera alpha and it was terribly slow and taking 600 - 700 MB of RAM with only 3-4 open tabs. By disabling hardware acceleration everything went back to "normal" and functioning properly.
My computer is a HP 8710p, graphic card is nVidia Quadro NVS320M with drivers 275.33. OS is Windows 7 professional x64.
Jeroen HoekxJeroenHThursday, October 13, 2011 7:33:48 AM
HWA/webgl works for me on Intel Linux:
GL_RENDERER: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile
GL_VERSION: 2.1 Mesa 7.10.3
Would be nice to have some information about where it's supposed to be working though.
DrillSargeThursday, October 13, 2011 7:34:17 AM
link to driver: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/GPU122AMDCat1110PreDriverV2.aspx
(tested on windows vista x64 SP2 with Radeon hd6870)
-> to get it working you need the atioglxx.dll (AMD OpenGL driver) from Catalyst 11.9 (latest official stable driver) and copy it to the Opera directory
2. with Catalyst 11.9 you get black menus etc. see:
http://666kb.com/i/bxr4m412chbjl5qq3.png
(again: win vista x64sp2 radeon hd6870, catalyst 11.9)
BrookeChookWoodsThursday, October 13, 2011 7:36:03 AM
performance is... decent. it stutters here and there, and seems to be capping out at 58fps rather than 60fps which does feel a tad... off. (thats with a gtx580 card).
further more, a LARGE annoyance. opera is now fully and amazingly blurry everywhere due to 16x CSAA being applied as i have this enabled in the nvidia control panel for games. would be nice to have opera exempt from the AA unless this is simply not possible. seems a bit of a pain to setup a custom profile for opera to disable AA when a lot of people will experience this.
BrookeChookWoodsThursday, October 13, 2011 7:40:05 AM
Win 7 x64
nvidia GTX 580
Driver version 285.38 beta for battlefield3
crash1Thursday, October 13, 2011 7:54:12 AM
Sandeep kumar sandeepkbhThursday, October 13, 2011 7:58:20 AM
Some of the images are looking blurry and webgl demo is not showing completely. I just got black and white demo.
Win 8 developer preview 32 bit
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series
Driver version 8.593.100.0
AlternatiwealternatiweThursday, October 13, 2011 8:11:09 AM
Ruarí ØdegaardruarioThursday, October 13, 2011 8:13:02 AM
Originally posted by sandeepkbh:
If you force it on you are using it in an unsupported mode and hence you will see more issues.
Jeff Yangjeff6634Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:17:40 AM
UnrealmirakulixThursday, October 13, 2011 8:21:19 AM
-> ???
bachokochoThursday, October 13, 2011 8:21:23 AM
alexrazor79Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:21:43 AM
nahtanoj999Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:25:06 AM
UnrealmirakulixThursday, October 13, 2011 8:26:28 AM
TZ86Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:29:50 AM
Any plans to support legacy nvidia drivers in the future?
Originally posted by bachokocho:
+1
MerijnThursday, October 13, 2011 8:38:23 AM
Blocklist status for 2D: Blocked device
Blocklist status for 3D: Blocked device
GL_VENDOR: Intel
GL_RENDERER: Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset
GL_VERSION: 2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.2202
It's nice there's a download link for new drivers at the bottom though.
UPDATE: newest drivers are also blocked.
G:_VERSION: 2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.2413
Reason found in the blocklist: "Severe drawing errors on Intel GPU's when using OpenGL"
Jeroen HoekxJeroenHThursday, October 13, 2011 8:39:55 AM
/usr/share/opera-next/extra/unix-opengl.blocklist.json
It also gives the reasons why a card is not supported.
It also works on my Core 2 duo laptop:
GL_RENDERER: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset x86/MMX/SSE2
GL_VERSION: 2.1 Mesa 7.11
Vyacheslav ChernyshevastellarThursday, October 13, 2011 8:43:08 AM
I consider it as a great issue, as it can easily eat away some hours of battery life.
About hardware acceleration itself, it seems to be working in general. After some time spent in HelloRacer demo, RAM usage is about 600Mb, drops to 300Mb after closing the tab. CPU usage is about 50% of one core.
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon HD 6750M OpenGL Engine
GL_VERSION: 2.1 ATI-7.12.9
Ryandi SandicoyomoyoThursday, October 13, 2011 9:00:53 AM
- A lot of artifact, like these:
. http://i.imgur.com/r5vP3.png (when right clicking).
. http://i.imgur.com/pgJgk.png (Opening file dialog).
GL_VENDOR: ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon HD 4250.
GL_VERSION: 3.3.11005 Compatibility Profile Context
Archlinux 64/Catalyst 11.8
The artifact is gone after disabling HA, but the cpu usages still higher than previous build.
michalmisiuThursday, October 13, 2011 9:03:35 AM
OS:
GPU model: (lspci | grep -w Intel)
GPU dirver:
(uname -r)
(lsmod | grep -w video)
(glxinfo)
According to /usr/share/opera-next/extra/unix-opengl.blocklist.json it can be
(cat -n /usr/share/opera-next/extra/unix-opengl.blocklist.json)
problem or something (edit: Debian Squeeze is too "old"?).
So,
polosatusThursday, October 13, 2011 9:05:48 AM
GL_RENDERER GeForce FX 5500/AGP/SSE
GL_VERSION 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.30
Ubuntu 11.04.
And weird thing is that -nohwaccel helps. While renderer is still software.
AshusThursday, October 13, 2011 9:15:48 AM
Main menu (gui) is a bit more blurred than before (ClearType), but still well readable. Much better than early GPU accellerated versions.
Win7 x64, intel core2duo P7550, 4GB RAM
GL_VENDOR NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER GeForce GT 130M/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 3.3.0
VEN 0x10de DEV 0x0652
nahtanoj999Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:19:32 AM
XombiemubaidrThursday, October 13, 2011 9:25:01 AM
2- Some elements are not drawn correctly, eg: On Html5test.com some headings are not drawn correctly (eg. Parsing rules
2 Bonus points11).
3-FPS is not maintained at 60hz, it shows between 57,58 but performance is good.
Windows 8 DP
Amd 5750 (Amd 11.10 catalyst preview 2)
Kertesz LaszlogradinaruvasileThursday, October 13, 2011 9:26:02 AM
Slow and choppy performance with hw accel enabled.
Webgl seem to work though if i disable hw acceleration and leave webgl on.
OpenGL
Blocklist version 1
Blocklist status for 2D Supported
Blocklist status for 3D Supported
GL_VENDOR NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER Quadro NVS 135M/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 3.3.0 NVIDIA 285.05.09
Update: higher than usual memory usage (by 100-200MB)
igorigor2209Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:28:16 AM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
DriverVersion: 8.17.12.8026
DriverDate: 03/08/2011 03:00:00
Higher memory consumption while running WebGL demo is expected , but it seems that not all memory is released after running them. (Memory consumption is much higher even after closing the demo and cleaning "closed tab bin" )
crash1Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:45:14 AM
we have:
"regex": "(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)\\.(\\d+).*", "<": [ 2, 1, 9551 ] - driver version check
driver:
OpenGL Version: 3.2.9551
or (???)
OpenGL Version: 6.14.10.9551
1st number is A
2nd - B
3d - C
for 3.2.9551 A.B.C
for 6.14.10.9551 A.B.C.xxxx
if A>2 and B>1 and C>9551 our card is supported? or am I mistaken???
Swapnil RustagiSwapnil99proThursday, October 13, 2011 9:53:28 AM
I was just about to say Thak you to Opera until I saw the above line. Because now I have a lot of confusion. With DirectX 11 being the latest version, why is Opera only supporting DirectX 9 and 10. I know there must be a valid reason, Opera won't do anything wrong, but I want to know why?
AsiresThursday, October 13, 2011 9:59:38 AM
Originally posted by Swapnil99pro:
dx9 is for WinXP (direct3d), dx10 for Win Vista and 7 (directwrite), and dx11 for... tesselation?
dizdizlexikThursday, October 13, 2011 10:01:52 AM
http://i.imgur.com/WogJI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/L1VZ4.jpg (I made both screenshots AFTER "disabling" HA)
1) I saved setting in config (yes I've seen the message, that told me that some setting may not work without restart and that something was saved!!!)
2) I restarted opera next few times.
3) I refreshed opera:gpu site using f5.
4) I made new fresh usb install to completely new folder.
5) I repeated 1-3 steps few times with fresh opera.
Still OpenGL showed in opera:gpu as a backend, but not in opera:config (as shown on pictures). That is even in fresh usb instance. I suspect that HA may be on all time. Because I did the same on my desktop PC with the same result. I must add that ONLY on my desktop pc Opera was a bit blurry (http://i.imgur.com/JGE7s.jpg) before and after "disabling" HA, so I suspect HA is on all the time. I also have to add that today I updated Flash Player from this site: http://get.adobe.com/pl/flashplayer/ to Adobe Flash Player 11.0.1.152. My question is whether the info at opera:gpu is false or true? And if true, I can say that I'm unable to disable HA to test any issue that I suspect is caused by HA.
First issue was mentioned before, was about blurry opera on my desktop pc. (there is another issue, but I will report it in other blog post about opera 12 alpha)
Second issue is on my laptop. http://www.gtfogaming.co.uk/ banner overlaps (kinda, tabs disappear or are white, it's hard to say exactly) the parts of opera user interface that are above that banner while scrolling down. I can't test it w/o HA for the reasons I already mentioned.
Desktop PC:
GeForce 7300 GT
6.14.12.8026 (2011-08-03)
Windows XP Pro 32bit SP3
Laptop:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series
8.791.0.0 (26/10/10)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit SP1
Both with newest Flash plugin.
edit:
I'm just stupid lol
CrabmanThursday, October 13, 2011 10:08:02 AM
When I try to start the new snapshot the PC hangs for a few seconds, screen goes blank and then reappears with the message that the driver crashed and had to be recovered. Happens every time.
darkodjThursday, October 13, 2011 10:10:37 AM
nVidia 310M + Intel HD
Optimus choose Intel HD for Opera which is not currently supported so Opera falls back to software rendering. GPU acceleration forks fine After manually selecting nVidia but rise in overall temperature is significant so i decided to wait for Intel HD support. Low temperature and longer battery life are more significant to me at the moment.
Is there possibility that Opera can utilize Optimus and select appropriate graphic card depending on current activity?
CoreRouterThursday, October 13, 2011 10:12:43 AM
After a Driverupdate to 266.58 (OpenGL3.3.0) it went better, but still feels choppy.
No psycodelic Browsing, (8 -> 9 revolutions)
Overlays/pop-ups for history/search of address field disappear
instantly
hylikThursday, October 13, 2011 10:13:22 AM
PC1
GL_RENDERER ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
GL_VERSION 3.3.11079 Compatibility Profile Context
WinXPSP3 + Catalyst 11.9
Address drop-menu, O menu and right click menu flicker ad flash a bit (on address drop menu I can intermittent see the web page below!)
On http://html5test.com the menu, tabs and scroll bar became blank, reappear on mouse hovering (there's also some artifact on webpage text). Menu and tabs reappear on closing active tab
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/5846/operagpu1.jpg
PC2
GL_RENDERER GeForce 9600M GT/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 3.3.0
Win7SP1 x64 - nvidia driver 280.26
on http://html5test.com only disappear the scrool bar and there's some artifact on text
kunFooThursday, October 13, 2011 10:19:10 AM
XombiemubaidrThursday, October 13, 2011 10:24:51 AM
Windows 8 DP
Amd 5750 (Amd 11.10 catalyst preview 2)
ptokThursday, October 13, 2011 10:26:34 AM
GL_VERSION: 2.1 Mesa 7.11
System: Arch Linux
Emberwind and Don't click from Huibs post does not work for me with acceleration turned on (firs one crashed opera, second hanged it).
Formula 1 was slowish but worked fine.
Overall performance was good. So far no crasher on no-WebGL content.
KDE upload dialog is replaced with GTK even when I'm using KDE.
MossManThursday, October 13, 2011 10:26:58 AM
Vega backend OpenGL
Blocklist version 1
Blocklist status for 2D Supported
Blocklist status for 3D Supported
GL_VENDOR NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 2.1.1
Edit - strangely, it seems to have cleared up after a couple of minutes use!
Edit - no, it's back again.
Edit (last one!) - confirmed that these issues not present using software backend (although there's a fuzzy patch/flicker at the top and bottom of the window during scrolling)
Edit (yet again) - forgot to mention I'm on an Intel Core2 6420 (Dell Precision 390) running XP.
TomQyngaliThursday, October 13, 2011 10:31:42 AM
Vega backend OpenGL
GL_RENDERER GeForce G100/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 3.3.0
Windows Vista x32
GL_SHADING_LANG_V 3.30 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
Vendor ID 0x10de
Device ID 0x06e6
Driver version 8.17.12.8026
I was about to write that I haven't noticed any other problems but all of a sudden the whole window turned black when I hit backspace. Some tabs started showing up right away, but it fixed itself when I minimized and restored again.
Oh, and the MS fish tank experiment reached 11 fps with 1 fish, and still reached 6-7 with 1000. I guess that falls under the known performance issues.
exterminansThursday, October 13, 2011 10:34:20 AM
GL_RENDERER Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV770
GL_VERSION 2.1 Mesa 7.11
on Arch 64. Performance with HWA and WebGL is very bad, high cpu load.
google's "evolution of the web" demo produces rendering glitches with HWA.
http://evolutionofweb.appspot.com/
tomasbThursday, October 13, 2011 10:35:19 AM
Congratulation to you all ! :-)
I'll buy you a beer when you visit Prague :-)
earth01Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:44:15 AM
Desktop bug :
When "Show Menu Bar" is checked, there is a gap of 22px between the window and the content :
NB : The GStreamer lib causes crashes in WebGL demos or youtube HTML5, but this is not due to HA or WebGL.
СергейSerega124Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:47:03 AM
Originally posted by ChookWoods:
Yep
Screenshot:
Robert MeijersRobert90Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:47:34 AM
Originally posted by nahtanoj999:
You really don't want Opera to turn on the dedicated GPU. It will consume lots more power than the integrated GPU does. For some simple 2D rendering the integrated GPU should be enough. Opera should just properly support the integrated Intel GPU, and the switching of GPUs (when using heavy WebGL stuff, but don't know if Windows doesn't do this automatic already)
Albert RaccoonalbertraccoonThursday, October 13, 2011 10:51:30 AM
For example, when executing the PsychedelicBrowsing test with no other graphic load, I get ~900rpm. However, when loading the graphic card with the Folding@Home GPU client, I get ~3000rpm.
Win7 x64
ATI M7820
Catalyst 11.9
SamHuRRaCaNeThursday, October 13, 2011 11:05:47 AM
Originally posted by nahtanoj999:
It is not Opera who gets to decide which graphics card to use. Like you said, YOU can choose which GPU to use. Where do you do this? The nvidia control panel. So your drivers decide which application defaults to what.
PiotrpietrekThursday, October 13, 2011 11:07:32 AM
GPU: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Driver: 2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.2413 (probably newest)
(all from opera:gpu page, if it isn't enough, please give some advice where can I get more for You guys)
I can't even see Opera's window. Only artifacts. Sometimes I saw a form of opera:config page and somehow managed to disable HWA. Will Intel cards going to be disabled?
BrookeChookWoodsThursday, October 13, 2011 11:16:09 AM
Originally posted by exterminans:
confirmed win 7 x64