GPU Test

How to Use This Test

1. Wait for the page to load -- your GPU vendor and renderer information will be detected automatically via WebGL.
2. Review the GPU Vendor and GPU Renderer fields to confirm your graphics card is recognized correctly.
3. Check the WebGL support status to verify your browser can run hardware-accelerated 3D graphics.

What This Test Checks

This GPU detection test queries the WebGL API to retrieve hardware information about your graphics card directly from the browser.

• GPU vendor identification (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Apple, etc.)
• GPU renderer name showing the specific graphics card model
• WebGL support status confirming hardware-accelerated rendering capability
• Whether your browser exposes or masks GPU information for privacy

Troubleshooting

If you're having issues detecting your GPU:

• Try using Google Chrome, which typically provides the most detailed GPU information via WebGL.
• Check that hardware acceleration is enabled in your browser settings.
• If the GPU shows as "Masked," your browser's privacy settings are hiding the details -- check your browser flags or extensions.
• Update your GPU drivers to ensure full WebGL compatibility and accurate detection.

Force Dedicated GPU on Laptops

On laptops with both an integrated and a dedicated GPU (Intel/AMD iGPU + NVIDIA RTX, or Apple M-series with no such split), the browser usually picks the integrated one to save power. This test will then report the wrong GPU.

Windows 10 / Windows 11

1. Open Settings → System → Display → Graphics.
2. Click your browser in the list (or add it via Browse).
3. Choose Options → High performance, save, and restart the browser.
4. Reload this page — the renderer field should now show your NVIDIA or AMD card.

macOS

Apple Silicon Macs have a single unified GPU, so this doesn't apply. On older Intel Macs with dual GPUs, install gfxCardStatus to toggle, or disable System Settings → Battery → Automatic graphics switching.

Linux (NVIDIA Optimus)

1. Install nvidia-prime (Ubuntu/Debian) or the distro equivalent.
2. Launch the browser with prime-run chromium or set __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia in the env.
3. Verify with glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer".

Reading the Renderer String

The renderer string is messy but decodable once you know the format:

• ANGLE (NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11) — ANGLE is Chrome's translation layer wrapping your native GPU. The middle part (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070) is what you care about.
• Apple M2 Pro — Apple Silicon integrated GPU.
• Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 — Linux with Intel's Iris/Mesa driver on an integrated GPU.
• AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics without a specific model — usually an integrated Ryzen iGPU. The distinct RX 7800 XT etc. appear with discrete cards.

If the renderer reads SwiftShader, Google SwiftShader, or llvmpipe, your browser is using a software renderer — hardware acceleration is disabled or the GPU driver failed to initialize.

Fixing a Masked or Unknown Renderer

Firefox

1. Open about:config and accept the warning.
2. Set privacy.resistFingerprinting to false (or accept that unmasking is impossible while fingerprint resistance is on).
3. Reload this page.

Brave

Brave hides renderer info by default. Lower shields (click the lion icon in the address bar) or disable Prevent sites from fingerprinting me based on my language preferences under Settings → Shields. Reload.

Safari

Safari on macOS 14+ and iOS 17+ masks the renderer string under Advanced Tracking Protection. There is no supported way to unmask it while ATP is active.

Why the GPU Matters Beyond Detection

WebGL support and renderer info give you a quick capability snapshot, but your GPU also drives:

• Browser smoothness: without GPU acceleration, even scrolling becomes CPU-bound. Check chrome://gpu (Chrome/Edge) for the full hardware-acceleration status table.
• Monitor refresh rate: outputting 144 Hz or 240 Hz needs a GPU that can push those frames. Confirm with the refresh rate test.
• HDR and 10-bit color: only the GPU plus monitor plus cable combined determine true color depth. If the screen test shows banding, the GPU is often outputting 8-bit when you expected 10.
• Battery drain on laptops: running Chrome on a dedicated GPU when you only need email halves battery life. Tune per-app graphics settings above.

See Also

For the full hardware picture, pair this GPU check with the system test (CPU, RAM, screen resolution) and the refresh rate test to confirm your GPU is actually driving your monitor at its rated rate.

Integrated vs. Dedicated: Which GPU Do You Actually Have?

If you just want to answer “what graphics card do I have?” without downloading anything, the GPU Renderer field above is your fastest route. The next step is reading whether it's an integrated (built into the CPU) or dedicated (a separate card with its own memory) GPU, because that decides what your machine can realistically run.

• Integrated: names like Intel UHD Graphics, Intel Iris Xe, AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics with no model number, or Apple M-series share system RAM and target everyday browsing, video, and light gaming.
• Dedicated: a specific model such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 or AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT has its own VRAM and handles gaming, 3D work, and GPU compute.

If you know your laptop has a dedicated card but this test reports the integrated one, the browser picked the power-saving GPU — see Force Dedicated GPU on Laptops above. To confirm the rest of the picture (CPU, RAM, resolution) in the same browser tab, run the system test, and check the refresh rate test to confirm the GPU is driving your monitor at its rated rate.

Is My Graphics Card Failing? Reading the Warning Signs

A failing GPU usually announces itself on screen before it dies outright. The most common signs:

• Artifacts: random colored dots (often green, pink, or yellow), stray geometric shapes, checkerboard or torn blocks of pixels, and flickering textures that appear in games or 3D apps.
• Flickering lines & color banding: horizontal lines, snow-like static, or visible bands in what should be a smooth gradient. If banding only shows in one app, suspect software or color depth first — the screen test helps you tell a panel/cable issue from a GPU one.
• Driver crashes: the screen goes black and recovers with a “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” message. Occasional crashes are often a driver bug; frequent ones alongside artifacts point at hardware.
• Fans at max RPM under light load, or conversely fans that have stopped, usually paired with high temperatures.

A useful rule of thumb: if artifacts appear in your BIOS/UEFI screen or the boot logo before the operating system loads, or they follow the card into a different machine, the fault is almost certainly the hardware. Artifacts that only show inside one game can still be an unstable overclock, overheating, or a bad driver — all of which are fixable. Before assuming the worst, reset any overclock to stock, reseat the card, update the GPU drivers, and clear dust so temperatures stay in range.

Why a Browser Can't Stress-Test Your GPU

This page detects your GPU and confirms WebGL works, but it deliberately does not claim to stress-test it — and no browser tab honestly can. A real fault check has to push the GPU to a sustained heavy load, watch temperatures and clocks, and run for long enough for artifacts or instability to surface. A sandboxed web page can't drive the card that hard, can't read sensor data, and can't hold a controlled load. Treat any “online GPU stress test” that promises otherwise with suspicion.

Use this test as a quick sanity check — does the right GPU appear, is hardware acceleration on, does WebGL initialize without falling back to a software renderer like SwiftShader or llvmpipe? For an actual load test or artifact hunt, hand off to a dedicated desktop tool:

• FurMark — the classic “furry donut” that generates a very high sustained load; good for surfacing thermal limits and VRAM issues.
• Unigine Heaven / Superposition — game-like benchmarks with a looping stress mode; Superposition is one of the most demanding scenes available.
• 3DMark — the industry-standard benchmark with a free edition you can compare against other results.

Run one of these for a sustained period while watching temperatures and the screen; clean, artifact-free output at full load is the real confirmation that a card is healthy. As a minor aside, if you're sizing up a second-hand card or laptop, the same approach applies — a quick browser check that the right GPU is detected, followed by a proper load test, is part of the used-laptop checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions