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Accelerated OpenGL mode uses a graphics card’s hardware capabilities to perform some or all OpenGL commands instead of software. Not all cards support it, and it can sometimes be slower than software rendering. The implementation of how to handle accelerated modes can vary greatly, and the monitor or display device must also have native support.
Accelerated Open Graphics Library® (OpenGL®) mode in computer graphics is a state that can be activated in a computer graphics card to use the hardware capabilities of the graphics card to perform some or all OpenGL® commands and renderings instead of purely software. Not all graphics cards support a hardware-accelerated OpenGL® mode, and some that do support the mode do not fully accelerate all commands available in the OpenGL® library. Depending on the hardware and drivers used in a particular computer or device, accelerated OpenGL® mode may occasionally actually be slower than software rendering mode, either due to conflicts or simply because a computer processor is faster than the graphics processor . When writing applications that use OpenGL® accelerated mode, it can be difficult to accurately detect and use the mode exclusively, because the implementation of how to handle accelerated modes is not standardized and can vary greatly from one driver to another.
The OpenGL® graphics library is an abstract programming interface (API) that provides a buffer between graphics hardware and software written to access it. In general, OpenGL® works on a client-server model, which means that the software becomes a client sending drawing requests and information to the server, which is usually the OpenGL® driver and hardware. The driver provided by the operating system or graphics card manufacturer can vary greatly in its internal implementation, so some more advanced hardware features are not always standardized. Hardware-accelerated OpenGL® mode is one of the features left to graphics card manufacturers to implement.
When a program uses hardware-accelerated OpenGL® mode, what actually happens is that an OpenGL® function call is made and passed to the driver. If the driver detects that acceleration is active or that a specific operation has direct hardware support, the function is passed directly to the graphics processing unit (GPU) located on the graphics card. If there is no active or present acceleration, the command will be processed and executed through standard software calls and algorithms. In most cases, hardware acceleration provides much faster rendering times than pure software.
Some graphics cards support an accelerated OpenGL® mode, but only at a specific resolution and color depth. This means that a graphics card may automatically use an accelerated mode if, when a program initializes OpenGL®, it requests a specific resolution and color depth. Graphics hardware can be very different, so this mode isn’t always apparent, and can sometimes be difficult to auto-detect within a program without user input. In addition to the driver and hardware that must support an accelerated OpenGL® mode, the monitor or display device must also have native support for the required resolution and color depth, otherwise switching to an accelerated mode will fail and could prevent a program from running.
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