Hi all, I recently started using OpenBSD as a desktop and noticed Firefox does not run smooth. It also appears Chromium is the same. Some testing indicates that the browser itself and WebGL does not run faster than 40-50 FPS, despite the hardware being more than capable.
After much research I learned that FPS is controlled by Firefox config "layout.frame_rate". This is by default -1 (match to monitor rate). Changing the value to 0 results in 300+ FPS and a smooth experience, but at the cost of many wasted CPU cycles. layout.frame_rate uses a software clock to control the FPS, but due to the 100 Hz hardclock on OpenBSD, it cannot fire often enough to render graphics more than 40-50 FPS. I confirmed my findings and remedied them by compiling a kernel with HZ=200 and was able to instantly achieve 60 FPS with no side effects. For testing, I used WebGL aquarium: https://webglsamples.org/aquarium/aquarium.html So my questions for the mailing list are: - Are there any problems with running at 200 Hz instead of 100 Hz? - Can a kernel be instructed to run at n Hz without recompiling? - Is it possible to achieve 60 FPS in browser with the 100 Hz kernel? - if not, does this mean web browsing is broken on a default install? Many thanks.
