Software rendering

A software renderer implements a graphics API in ordinary processor code. It keeps pages working on a machine with no usable graphics chip, a virtual machine, a remote desktop session or a blocked driver, but it is far slower than the graphics chip and loads the processor heavily. Browsers ship one for exactly that reason: Chromium's is SwiftShader, Linux systems often fall back to llvmpipe or softpipe, Windows has the Microsoft Basic Render Driver, and macOS has the Apple Software Renderer.

From a web page, software rendering shows in three ways. The WebGL renderer string names one of those renderers. A WebGL context requested with failIfMajorPerformanceCaveat is refused, because the browser would have to draw it in software. And a WebGPU adapter reports itself as a fallback adapter that runs on the processor. The hardware acceleration test reads all three and names the one it found.

For a benchmark the consequence is simple: a graphics result measured in software describes the processor, not the graphics chip. SystemCheck's report flags a software renderer rather than scoring it as the machine's graphics speed. If you see one, turn on hardware acceleration in the browser, install the graphics driver from the chip or laptop maker, and check the browser's own diagnostic page for a blocklist entry.