An application executed at a central processing unit (CPU) of a head mounted display (HMD) system generates sets of frame drawing commands for a graphics processing unit (GPU), and for each set of frame drawing commands the GPU renders a corresponding frame into one of a plurality of frame buffers. Each frame is generated to include or be associated with a frame number that indicates the location of the frame in the sequence of frames generated over time. In addition, each frame is generated to include or be associated with pose information indicating the pose of the HMD system when the frame is generated. At periodic preemption points, the GPU selects the frame stored at the plurality of frame buffers having the most recent frame number and applies an electronic display stabilization warp to the frame based on the difference between the current pose and the pose information stored with the selected frame.