Windows – How to speed up screen refresh on MacPro + Bootcamp

bootcampdisplayhardwarerefreshwindows

I'm a .Net developer running Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) on a 2010 MacPro (2.27Ghz/6GB RAM) using Bootcamp. Until about a month ago its been, imo, the ultimate dev workstation. However recently I've noticed that Visual Studio 2010 takes a very long time to redraw its windows. This is most noticeable when switching to it after its been in the foreground.

I don't get this problem with other Windows apps and am baffled because the machine has more than enough grunt to handle a few MDI'd windows yet grinds for up to five minutes sometimes when reactivating the VS environment – the screen update seems to slow everything down. My colleagues are using identical hardware and software but running Windows under Parallels on their Macs does not lead to this behaviour.

I'm getting desperate (and I've asked this same question at StackOverflow.com) – does anyone know why this might be happening and whether there's a fix …?

Best Answer

I asked the same question at Stackoverflow and got an answer which appears to have fixed my issues. Hardware acceleration (paradoxically) is what was slowing down my VS.

HTH somebody.