What Is Volume Shader BM?
A plain-English guide to what Volume Shader BM Test measures, what your FPS means, and what it tells you about your GPU.
Volume Shader BM is a free, browser-based GPU benchmark that uses WebGL 2.0 raymarching to push your graphics card's shader cores to 100%. It reports FPS, frame time and stability so you can quickly tell how a real GPU-heavy task — not a casual game — runs on your device.
Quick answer
- It runs entirely in the browser — no install, no driver, no account.
- It does not render a 3D model. Every pixel is computed live from math (SDF — signed distance fields).
- The score reflects shader ALU throughput: how fast your GPU can crunch math, which is closer to AI inference and scientific compute than to game rasterization.
- Higher FPS = stronger GPU for compute-bound shader work. Different modes (Light / Medium / Heavy / Extreme) can't be compared directly.
What the test actually measures
Traditional benchmarks like 3DMark draw millions of polygons. Volume Shader BM skips polygons entirely. Instead the fragment shader runs hundreds — sometimes over a thousand — loop iterations per pixel, marching a virtual ray through a volumetric SDF until it hits a surface. The screen ends up being one giant math expression, which is exactly the kind of work that exposes your GPU's real shader ALU performance.
How it affects your FPS
Because the workload is compute-heavy rather than draw-call-heavy, a GPU that looks "fast" in games can score much lower here, and vice versa. Integrated graphics, in particular, throttle hard once the chip warms up. If your FPS feels surprisingly low, see the FPS result guide for what the number means and why Volume Shader Test is lagging for fixes.
Common questions
Is it safe to run?
Yes. The benchmark only uses the standard WebGL pipeline that any website is allowed to use. It will make the GPU hot — that is the whole point — so start with Light or Medium and let the device cool down between runs.
Does it upload my data?
No. All shading and FPS measurement happen locally in your browser. We don't collect hardware fingerprints or results.
Why is my phone score so different from a friend's?
Mobile GPUs throttle quickly when they get hot, and battery saver / low-power mode will cap clocks. See the phone GPU test guide for settings that produce a fair comparison.
Try the test
Ready to see how your GPU does? Run the benchmark in your browser — it takes less than a minute.
