By Helen | Follow |Last Updated
This essay released by MiniTool company mainly talks about hardware acceleration for Twitch streaming. It covers its definition and the way to open or close hardware acceleration in Twitch desktop app and web browser respectively.
What Is Twitch Hardware Acceleration (HW Acceleration)?
Twitch hardware acceleration, also called hardware rendering Twitch, is to use computer hardware more efficiently than in software running on a general-purpose CPU. It aims to decrease latency and increase throughput. Yet, the opposite result may occur. Then, you may need to perform Twitch disable hardware rendering.
How to Disable/Enable Hardware Acceleration to Fix Twitch Buffering
If you are suffering from Twitch buffering, lagging, or freezing, one of the possible also popular solutions is to turn off or turn on hardware acceleration for Twitch.
Way 1. Turn off/Turn on HW-acceleration from Desktop App
If you are running the desktop program of Twitch, just follow the following guide to switch on or switch off hardware acceleration.
- Launch Your Twitch app and sign in to your Twitch account.
- Click on the profile picture and select Settings in the drop-down menu. Or, click on the three slashes in the top left and choose File > Settings.
- In the default General tab, switch off or switch on Software Rendering Mode to run Twitch with/without GPU hardware acceleration.
Given that the Twitch desktop app is basically the Twitch website with less functionality, no updates on the GUI, and a built-in browser. you are recommended to use Twitch mostly on a web browser. Only when launching the prime loot games, it is recommended to take advantage of the desktop application.
Way 2. Enable/Disable Hardware Acceleration in Web Browser
If you are using Twitch on a web browser, just turn on or turn off the hardware acceleration settings for the browser. Below takes the Google Chrome browser for example to show you how to manage web hardware acceleration.
- Click on the Customize and control Google Chrome (three dots) on the top right of the Chrome browser and select Settings.
- The Settings window will appear. There, click the Advanced option in the left menu to unfold its sub-options.
- Click on the System sub-option under Advanced.
- In the right section, toggle on or toggle off “Use hardware acceleration when available” to enable or disable hardware acceleration for Chrome browser.
The settings for hardware acceleration for other web browsers like Firefox and Opera are similar to the above Chrome.
Tip: There is no hardware acceleration option in Twitch mobile app currently.
Twitch Streaming Hardware Requirements
To keep your Twitch streaming running smoothly, you need to meet the minimum hardware requirements.
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4670 or its AMD equivalent
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Operating System (OS): Windows 7 or later
- Graphics card: DirectX 10 compatible graphics or later; GTX 660 or AMD 7870 or higher with 2GB video RAM.
- Internet connection: 3MB/s network wired via Ethernet for the best possible bitrate.
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About The Author
Position: Columnist
Helen Graduated from university in 2014 and started working as a tech editor in the same year. Her articles focus on data backup & recovery and disk management. Through an in-depth exploration of computer technology, Helen has successfully helped thousands of users solve their annoying problems.
