Web browser best performance

Josy_La

Hi,

I have been using Chrome since the beginning but sometimes have slower performance. What other web browser are supported by Onshape? Have you tried any other and feel it can be a good alternate solution.


Thanks,

Jake_Rosenfeld

Hi Josy,

Supported browsers and lots of other performance information can be found on this page:
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/webgl.htm

Additionally, you can use:
https://cad.onshape.com/check

Once the "Performance Check" section of the second page finishes running, you can see a profile of how your graphics card stacks up.  If you run the performance check on multiple browsers, you can see which performs the best for your setup. (You should close all the other programs on your computer, just open the browser you want to check, and close all tabs besides the performance checker)

3dcad

Browser
Onshape is supported on the most recent stable release of the following browsers:
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari
• Opera
Onshape is NOT supported on:
• Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Edge
• Mobile browsers
Unsupported browsers lack full support for WebGL and JavaScript, the two critical components
for rendering Onshape’s graphics and user interface. This means that various commands and
graphics artifacts either won’t display at all, or won’t work on those browsers.

Browser Performance
Chrome is typically the fastest browser on new machines with up-to-date drivers and a dedicated
graphics card. It is good if you are often switching between many tabs consisting of small-to-midsized
models.
Firefox tends to allow more memory usage when compared to Chrome and may be preferred
when dealing with large models across fewer tabs.

Source:
Onshape Hardware Recommendations
When Using Onshape for Professional Work (Jan 2017)

Josy_La

Thanks 3dcad for your elaborate response.

Tony_C_

Make sure also if you're on a 64bit machine that you get the 64bit version of chrome.

3dcad

Yes 32 --> 64 bit makes bigger difference that changing browser.

At the moment I'm pretty satisfied with chrome for onshape, I try to close it at least once a day and use firefox for other browsing and opera for radio etc. always on stuff.. I have had better overall experience using different browsers than many instances of single browser.

Josy_La

3dcad said:

Chrome is typically the fastest browser on new machines with up-to-date drivers and a dedicated
graphics card. It is good if you are often switching between many tabs consisting of small-to-midsized
models.
Firefox tends to allow more memory usage when compared to Chrome and may be preferred
when dealing with large models across fewer tabs.

What is considered a small / midsize / large model in Onshape? And same for few or many tabs?

In my case I currently have around 15 model tabs (but still growing) plus as much imported file tabs in the same workspace. While some tabs may contain only 100 features and 100 parts, the biggest model has close to 300 parts. We are two person working simultaneously in that workspace and I can tell you patience is a required virtue.

3dcad

@Josy_La
Can you work in different workspaces and merge work later? I did try co-operation in shared workspace few times in past but it was way too slow to get anything done. This can also happen if you have same workspace opened in multiple windows.

CAD_Hero_1337

Chrome seems to be the worst on my mac. It seems to change in time. I have been using firefox. seems that safari now tests the fastest with the check test they have.

john_mcclary

@David_Harris_0110

On windows, chrome seems to be the smoothest, but firefox is the most stable.

Cris_Bowers

I started with Firefox, but I had been having a bunch of performance issues so I wondered if Chrome would be better. When I ran a system check Chrome had better performance so I switched to it a couple weeks ago. I've since switched back to Firefox because I wasn't seeing any improvement and it actually seemed to run worse most of the time.

It turns out my performance issues were actually related to dxfs with hundreds and sometimes thousands of lines I have to import and use for model geometry. I believe I have figured out a better way to create my dxfs and reduce the number of lines so I haven't been having any issues since that discovery.