Chrome 7 speed boosted by your graphics chip

GPU acceleration support inbound

Chrome 7 speed boosted by your graphics chip

30 August 2010 8:25 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Google has confirmed that Chrome 7 will feature GPU acceleration allowing it to pull on your computers graphics chip to speed up the browsing experience.

“There’s been a lot of work going on to overhaul Chromium’s graphics system” and that the browser will “begin to take advantage of the GPU to speed up its entire drawing model”, Google confirmed to conceivablytech.com.

However, you shouldn't expect the new feature to burst on to your computer in the next week or so. If you are using Chrome to read this then chances are you are using Chrome 5. Early adopters have already upgraded to Chrome 6, but this is the version after that.

And while it all sounds exciting, Chrome isn't likely to be the only browser to take advantage of the host computer.

Both Microsoft's IE9 and Mozilla's Firefox 4 are both expected to add GPU acceleration shortly, with Microsoft expected to add the new capability when it launches Internet Explorer 9 on 15 September.

Adobe has been using GPU acceleration in its software packages since it launched CS5 earlier this year, helping speed up a number of processes, something that Google is clearly hoping will help when it comes to loading websites and improving your browser experience.

UPDATE: We've dug out a video of Chrome 6 vs Chrome 7