diff --git a/components/gfx/render_task.rs b/components/gfx/render_task.rs
index 32c5d97c2b1..71ee42520ee 100644
--- a/components/gfx/render_task.rs
+++ b/components/gfx/render_task.rs
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ impl<C:RenderListener + Send> RenderTask<C> {
             { // Ensures RenderTask and graphics context are destroyed before shutdown msg
                 let native_graphics_context = compositor.get_graphics_metadata().map(
                     |md| NativePaintingGraphicsContext::from_metadata(&md));
-                let cpu_painting = opts::get().cpu_painting;
+                let gpu_painting = opts::get().gpu_painting;
 
                 // FIXME: rust/#5967
                 let mut render_task = RenderTask {
@@ -173,10 +173,10 @@ impl<C:RenderListener + Send> RenderTask<C> {
                     font_ctx: box FontContext::new(fc.clone()),
                     time_profiler_chan: time_profiler_chan,
 
-                    graphics_context: if cpu_painting {
-                        CpuGraphicsContext
-                    } else {
+                    graphics_context: if gpu_painting {
                         GpuGraphicsContext
+                    } else {
+                        CpuGraphicsContext
                     },
 
                     native_graphics_context: native_graphics_context,
diff --git a/components/util/opts.rs b/components/util/opts.rs
index 0bf6ab923f8..501fe574d1d 100644
--- a/components/util/opts.rs
+++ b/components/util/opts.rs
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ pub struct Opts {
     /// FIXME(pcwalton): This is not currently used. All rendering is sequential.
     pub n_render_threads: uint,
 
-    /// True to use CPU painting, false to use GPU painting via Skia-GL (`-c`). Note that
+    /// True to use GPU painting via Skia-GL, false to use CPU painting via Skia (`-g`). Note that
     /// compositing is always done on the GPU.
-    pub cpu_painting: bool,
+    pub gpu_painting: bool,
 
     /// The maximum size of each tile in pixels (`-s`).
     pub tile_size: uint,
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ pub fn from_cmdline_args(args: &[String]) -> bool {
     let args = args.tail();
 
     let opts = vec!(
-        getopts::optflag("c", "cpu", "CPU rendering"),
+        getopts::optflag("c", "cpu", "CPU painting (default)"),
+        getopts::optflag("g", "gpu", "GPU painting"),
         getopts::optopt("o", "output", "Output file", "output.png"),
         getopts::optopt("r", "rendering", "Rendering backend", "direct2d|core-graphics|core-graphics-accelerated|cairo|skia."),
         getopts::optopt("s", "size", "Size of tiles", "512"),
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ pub fn from_cmdline_args(args: &[String]) -> bool {
         from_str(period.as_slice()).unwrap()
     });
 
-    let cpu_painting = FORCE_CPU_PAINTING || opt_match.opt_present("c");
+    let gpu_painting = !FORCE_CPU_PAINTING && opt_match.opt_present("g");
 
     let mut layout_threads: uint = match opt_match.opt_str("y") {
         Some(layout_threads_str) => from_str(layout_threads_str.as_slice()).unwrap(),
@@ -224,7 +225,7 @@ pub fn from_cmdline_args(args: &[String]) -> bool {
     let opts = Opts {
         urls: urls,
         n_render_threads: n_render_threads,
-        cpu_painting: cpu_painting,
+        gpu_painting: gpu_painting,
         tile_size: tile_size,
         device_pixels_per_px: device_pixels_per_px,
         time_profiler_period: time_profiler_period,
diff --git a/ports/cef/core.rs b/ports/cef/core.rs
index b6738b95b5b..3ba20600a03 100644
--- a/ports/cef/core.rs
+++ b/ports/cef/core.rs
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ pub extern "C" fn cef_run_message_loop() {
     let opts = opts::Opts {
         urls: urls,
         n_render_threads: 1,
-        cpu_painting: false,
+        gpu_painting: false,
         tile_size: 512,
         device_pixels_per_px: None,
         time_profiler_period: None,
diff --git a/tests/reftest.rs b/tests/reftest.rs
index 0169aececc1..a1daedb0d75 100644
--- a/tests/reftest.rs
+++ b/tests/reftest.rs
@@ -231,10 +231,13 @@ fn capture(reftest: &Reftest, side: uint) -> (u32, u32, Vec<u8>) {
             url.fragment = reftest.fragment_identifier.clone();
             url.to_string()
         });
-    // GPU rendering is the default
+    // CPU rendering is the default
     if reftest.render_mode.contains(CpuRendering) {
         command.arg("-c");
     }
+    if reftest.render_mode.contains(GpuRendering) {
+        command.arg("-g");
+    }
     if reftest.experimental {
         command.arg("--experimental");
     }