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Take 5: render 58.9 -> 25.5ms (138/300, still ~2.2x). The blits were fixed; the resolver was not: ResolveOutputFrame -> RenderChatBox ran a FULL WPF raster (FormattedText + RenderTargetBitmap + CopyPixels + channel swap) EVERY tick whenever the chat buffer was non-empty — and the buffer survives sessions, so even a signed-out record-only take paid it. Established answer (OBS text sources): re-render on change, blit the cache every tick. ChatOverlayLayer: content version bumped from Messages.CollectionChanged (covers adds, the 500-cap removal, the fade Clear from any caller) + a config key (size + all Chat* appearance props); RenderFrame returns the cached VideoFrame by identity until either changes (compositor only reads cached frames). Conservative ordering (version latched BEFORE render) makes a mid-render message re-render next tick, never serve stale. ONE integration test: ChatOverlayLayerCacheTests (RealApp, real renderer): Same() for unchanged inputs, NotSame() on message/config change, null on empty. Full regression green (62 across touched classes), clean build 0 warnings. Accepted cost pending take 6: one ~15-25ms tick per arriving message; if live-chat bursts sag n/300, next slice = debounced off-tick re-render. Docs same commit: ai.md pipeline section, TASKS.md TASK 18, MyMistakes recipe (raster-on-change + session-surviving-buffer trap), HANDOFF (take 6 -> then Unit B, spec unchanged).