CopyPixels and browser speed limits
18 December 2008 at 9:02 pm
Can it be true that Flash Player running in the Opera browser on Windows XP is more than 4 times faster than Safari on the Mac? It certainly looks like that and I need some help testing…
I’m currently working on a project where I need to offset some bitmaps and I stumbled upon a very interesting speed difference among browsers. I’m shifting a bitmap along X and Y using the copyPixels function. This is apparently the fastest way to set an offset on bitmapData, but the browsers seems to have their own speed limitations? The difference between Safari on OSX and Opera on XP is downright scary…
The test file is set to play at 900 fps, so the results you are getting will be the maximum of what your browser is capable of. If you have the time write a comment with the results you are getting and I’ll add it to the table below. Make sure you specify your CPU speed and that you don’t have other software running that’ll steal CPU time (such as Spotify). Here is the test file and for those in need of an image scrolling class, here’s the AS3 class and the class to create the test as well. (The image is a neat graffiti I found just up the street from Bill’s in Brighton).
PS: I know the Flash IDE can’t be set to more than 120 fps, but in a Flex actionscript project you can set it to 999fps without any problem…
| Browser | OS | CPU speed | Player version | Fps result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 54 |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 9.0.124.0 | 55 | |
| Mac OS 10.5.6 | 2,4 GHz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 60 | |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2,4 GHz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 34 (?) | |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2.1 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 49 | |
| Safari | Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 60 |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 9.0.124.0 | 62 | |
| Mac OS 10.5.6 | 2,4 GHz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 53 | |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2.1 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 43 | |
| Opera | Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 19 |
| Mac OS 10.5.5 | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 9.0.124.0 | 14 | |
| Firefox | Win XP | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 133 |
| Vista Ultimate | 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 130 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 136 | |
| Win XP | 2.5 Ghz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 139 | |
| Vista Ultimate | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 134 | |
| Win XP | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,10 | 72 | |
| Win XP (Parallels) | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 137 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 136 | |
| Win XP | 1.8 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10.0.12.36 | 130 | |
| Chrome | Vista Ultimate | 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 120 |
| Vista 64bit | 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 80 | |
| Win XP | 2.5 Ghz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 115 | |
| Win XP | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,10 | 104 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 80 | |
| Opera | Win XP | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 279 (!) |
| Vista Ultimate | 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 134 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 166 | |
| Win XP | 2.5 Ghz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 240 | |
| Win XP | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,10 | 180 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 142 | |
| Safari | Win XP | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,10 | 144 |
| IE8 | Win XP | 2.5 Ghz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 63 |
| IE7 | Vista Ultimate | 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 64 |
| Vista 64bit | 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 65 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 136 | |
| Vista Ultimate | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 64 | |
| Vista Ultimate | 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 9.0.115.0 | 64 | |
| Vista 64bit | 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo | 10,0,12,36 | 65 | |
| IE6 | Win XP | 2 x 2,8 GHz Quadcore Xeon | 10,0,12,36 | 63 |
| Webkit | Nokia N800 | 0.33 Ghz TI OMAP 2420 | 9.0.48.0 | 8 😊 |
| Webkit | PS3 | 3.2 Ghz CELL | 9.0.124.0 | 65 |