title: Is WPF Hardware-accelerated when Window AllowsTransparency = true?
body: <p>I have been looking at making my own window frame in WPF, similar to Visual Studio. I have read that setting <code>AllowsTransparency = true</code> would force WPF to render in software-mode. <a href="https://wpfwindow.codeplex.com/" rel="nofollow">This example</a> is the source of my confusion (emphasis mine), which states:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Complete customization of WPF window can be done only when AllowsTransparency is set to "True", <strong>which causes that the window is software rendered which might be not as fast GPU rendering.</strong></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>However, I've read elsewhere that with <em>window layering</em> you <em>can</em> have hardware-acceleration and this is what WPF does. I also find it hard to imagine that Visual Studio 2013 -with its custom frame and transparent border blur- would be software-rendered. </p>
  
  <p>Is there a definitive answer to the question (assuming Windows 7 onwards), <em>Is WPF Hardware-accelerated when Window <code>AllowsTransparency</code> is true?</em> </p>