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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…

graffiti.jpg

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