razorsedge
August 23rd, 2010, 01:00 PM
Did you know you can enable Direct2D and DirectWrite hardware acceleration in Mozilla Firefox to increase performance? Direct2D and DirectWrite are replacement for the good old GDI in Windows. These 2 new technologies use GPU acceleration to boost overall performance.
But you'll need either Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP2 (with Platform Update installed) to be able to enjoy this method.
Follow these simple steps to enable Direct2D and DirectWrite H/W Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll confirm, click on I’ll be careful, I promise! button.
2. Now type render in the Filter box and look for following 2 keys:
gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled
mozilla.widget.render-mode
3. The entry "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll change its value to true.
4. The entry "mozilla.widget.render-mode" would be set to -1. Double-click on it and set its value to 6.
35713
PS: If you can't find "mozilla.widget.render-mode" entry, you'll need to manually create it. Right-click on empty space and select "New -> Integer" and set its name to mozilla.widget.render-mode.
5. That's it. Restart your browser and enjoy better looking fonts and performance.
NOTE: If you want to disable the hardware acceleration, set "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" to false and "mozilla.widget.render-mode" to 0.
But you'll need either Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP2 (with Platform Update installed) to be able to enjoy this method.
Follow these simple steps to enable Direct2D and DirectWrite H/W Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll confirm, click on I’ll be careful, I promise! button.
2. Now type render in the Filter box and look for following 2 keys:
gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled
mozilla.widget.render-mode
3. The entry "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll change its value to true.
4. The entry "mozilla.widget.render-mode" would be set to -1. Double-click on it and set its value to 6.
35713
PS: If you can't find "mozilla.widget.render-mode" entry, you'll need to manually create it. Right-click on empty space and select "New -> Integer" and set its name to mozilla.widget.render-mode.
5. That's it. Restart your browser and enjoy better looking fonts and performance.
NOTE: If you want to disable the hardware acceleration, set "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" to false and "mozilla.widget.render-mode" to 0.