(once and for all) Force GPU Rendering (in dev' options)?

[funkylogik]

so should we have it checked or not?
ive read people say "do it" people say "dont, it crashes some apps".
so whats the truth? whys it there, will it give us any benefits as normal/heavy users?
whats the cons?
merci :thumbup:

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[leegodsell]

When Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was announced we were told that, like Honeycomb before it, more emphasis would be placed on the graphics processor. We even saw a new addition in the Developer section of the Settings that lets users ?force GPU rendering?.
What is the GPU?

The GPU is the Graphics Processing Unit. It?s very much like the CPU, but instead of crunching numbers and taking care of tasks for the operating system and hardware, the GPU renders graphical information and puts it on the screen for you.

The CPU can process graphical instructions just fine, but doing so takes time away from doing ?other? computations, and can lead to ?lag? while graphical instructions are processed. Not only that, the CPU is quite inefficient at processing graphical data as compared to other more ?computational? instructions. The GPU solves both these problems, first by offloading graphics processing from the CPU (freeing it up for more important threads), and second by more efficiently handling and processing graphical data.

Misconceptions

Contrary to popular opinion, Android has always had some level of graphics acceleration (even back in 1.0), just not as much as it has today.
The software development kit (SDK) for Android 3.x Honeycomb let application developers specifically tell the system to render their app using the GPU, if present. The next version of the SDK, targeting Android 4.x ICS, had this turned ?on? by default ? meaning a developer would have to specifically turn off GPU rendering in ICS, rather than specifically turn it on in Honeycomb.
That?s fine and dandy for apps that are written specifically for Honeycomb (with the graphics bit turned on), or apps written specifically for Ice Cream Sandwich (without the bit turned off), but what about all those other apps that are out there that haven?t been (and may never be) updated to take advantage of thew newer technology?

Force GPU Rendering

In Ice Cream Sandwich, developers (or power users) are given the option to ?force? apps to use GPU rendering, whether that bit is on or off in the app?s manifest.
Is it a magic-bullet to make your apps faster? Not necessarily.

Could it break things or have weird side-effect in various apps? Yup, but probably not.
How can you know? Open up your settings, go to Developer options, and put a check in the box next to Force GPU rendering. If things start looking or behaving badly, go back and uncheck the box. On the other hand, if things seem ?just like normal?, you may as well leave it on, you?re probably getting better performance, even if you can?t tell.

 

[funkylogik]

When Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was announced we were told that, like Honeycomb before it, more emphasis would be placed on the graphics processor. We even saw a new addition in the Developer section of the Settings that lets users ?force GPU rendering?.
What is the GPU?

The GPU is the Graphics Processing Unit. It?s very much like the CPU, but instead of crunching numbers and taking care of tasks for the operating system and hardware, the GPU renders graphical information and puts it on the screen for you.

The CPU can process graphical instructions just fine, but doing so takes time away from doing ?other? computations, and can lead to ?lag? while graphical instructions are processed. Not only that, the CPU is quite inefficient at processing graphical data as compared to other more ?computational? instructions. The GPU solves both these problems, first by offloading graphics processing from the CPU (freeing it up for more important threads), and second by more efficiently handling and processing graphical data.

Misconceptions

Contrary to popular opinion, Android has always had some level of graphics acceleration (even back in 1.0), just not as much as it has today.
The software development kit (SDK) for Android 3.x Honeycomb let application developers specifically tell the system to render their app using the GPU, if present. The next version of the SDK, targeting Android 4.x ICS, had this turned ?on? by default ? meaning a developer would have to specifically turn off GPU rendering in ICS, rather than specifically turn it on in Honeycomb.
That?s fine and dandy for apps that are written specifically for Honeycomb (with the graphics bit turned on), or apps written specifically for Ice Cream Sandwich (without the bit turned off), but what about all those other apps that are out there that haven?t been (and may never be) updated to take advantage of thew newer technology?

Force GPU Rendering

In Ice Cream Sandwich, developers (or power users) are given the option to ?force? apps to use GPU rendering, whether that bit is on or off in the app?s manifest.
Is it a magic-bullet to make your apps faster? Not necessarily.

Could it break things or have weird side-effect in various apps? Yup, but probably not.
How can you know? Open up your settings, go to Developer options, and put a check in the box next to Force GPU rendering. If things start looking or behaving badly, go back and uncheck the box. On the other hand, if things seem ?just like normal?, you may as well leave it on, you?re probably getting better performance, even if you can?t tell.

thanks for that mate.
i keep mine on and dont notice any difference tbh (wonder if it would affect benchmarks)
any idea how it affects battery life?

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[GSDer]

You may see a difference in 2D benchmarks, and depending on how the benchmark is written you may even see the 2D benchmark not work at all if you have 'Force GPU rendering' checked (see this as an example: Device Performance: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.sprint.performance). You may also see an app asking you to turn that setting off (see this as an example: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ls?id=com.shinycore.picsayfree&token=fgqHcMD8).
Since hardware acceleration hasn't been generally available before, many developers prefer to rely on software libraries that provide rendering capability and in some cases they write their own custom libraries to squeeze the most performance out of a particular application.
I don't remember offhand, but I thought the dual-core US versions used the Adreno 225 GPU and the quad-core International versions used a different GPU.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[funkylogik]

thanks man. some of that went over my thick head but im startin to build a picture of what its all about.
will future phones have it on by default u think?

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[Tkbredx]

Lots of good info here.do I know what all this means? HELL NOOOOO. Good info none the less though.

 

[funkylogik]

:beer:

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[Rudimus]

Thank you! So far so good. I don't do any heavy gaming or anything yet I had serious lag. After changing this setting my apps open almost twice as fast. Only been about an hour now so it remains to be seen whether it will make a difference as far as crashes go, got toes crossed on that though!

 

[Adam Addington-Wells]

K .. . SO.... for computer stupid idiots still determined to figure a problem out.... simply put for me... for my walmart's Straighttalk Samsung Galaxy Centura SCH-738C... forced GPU rendering option... CHECK? or leave Unchecked?

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Check it. If any or your apps start crashing, or look weird on screen, turn it back off.