Why is the fractal rendering so slowly?

A fractal will render slowly if one of the following is true:

• The fractal is zoomed in a large amount.

Fractals are extremely calculation intensive. Fractal eXtreme's highly optimized calculation code probably calculates fractals faster than other programs, but if you zoom in far enough on the right kind of area, the fastest computer in the world can be made to seem slow by the intense demands of fractal calculations.

• The Maximum Iterations Per Pixel value (in the Iteration Control window) is set too high.

Higher values take longer to calculate. Lower numbers can (if set too low) produce less detailed results.

• The fractal window is too large.

A larger window will take longer to fully calculate than an smaller window.

• You are running a CPU-intensive application, such as America Online (AOL) version 2.5 (other versions may not exhibit the same problem).

Even when the AOL software is idle, it tries to use up 100% of the CPU time. This typically means that when Fractal eXtreme tries to run, it does so at about 1/8th its normal speed. To fix the problem, exit the AOL software and complain to AOL about this bug.