Forum Discussion
Browser and GPU process are much higher compared to Brave
Edge Insiders,
My name is Tim Scudder and I’m a member of the Edge performance team. I wanted to provide an update on this issue: we were able to repro the problem locally, we have a fix coded, validated and are now working to get this change into our next dev drop (estimated to be 76.0.166.0).
We apologize for the inconvenience, but truly appreciate everyone’s help in isolating the problem.
NOTE: We are also aware of a https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=962784 that also has CPU/battery impact that originated upstream in Chromium's codebase. This issue has been fixed upstream and we are also working to make sure the fix is in our next dev drop (again, estimated to be 76.0.166.0)
Regards,
Tim Scudder
Marco Mollace This is a known issue with Chromium and Chromium derivatives (e.g. Chrome, now Edge Chromium, and so on). Chromium creates new processes for each open tab, and that eats resources. If you open identical browser instances (6-8 identical tabs) in Edge Chromium, Edge (Classic) and Firefox, for example, and check Task Manager or other resource monitors, you'll typically see that Edge Chromium is using about 1.5 times the resources used by Edge (Classic) and Firefox, sometimes more than that. We've had a dozen threads requesting that Microsoft do what it can to reduce resource use in Edge Chromium by bundling processes or otherwise, and we hope that Microsoft is working on it.
I disagree with your comment. We have 2 separate issues here. One issue as you mentioned is browsers using a separate process per tab may consume more system resources than browsers using one common process for all open tabs. In that regard both Edge Preview and Brave are similar, as both are based on Chromium and use a separate process per tab. So your comment does NOT match the topic of this thread.
This brings us to second issue, namely very high CPU and GPU load in current Edge Preview builds due to bug or lack of optimization. It may also be a "known issue" to Edge developers, but your comment masks it for users thus making appear less urgent to fix, when in fact the opposite is true.
I have to stop testing Edge Preview, and go back to using stable Chrome (despite both are based on multiprocess Chromium), because Edge now uses MUCH more system resources due to namely this bug or lack of optimization. Compare 2 screenshots below: one is Edge with one tab open and no extensions installed using 20% of CPU and GPU resources, and another is Chrome with one tab open and multiple extensions running using 1% of PC CPU and GPU resources. Its on average 10 to 20 times higher for Edge, clearly pointing on a bug, which is not surprising for alpha builds we are offered to test.
Important is, such bugs should be urgently fixed to encourage users continue testing the browser, rather the masked as unrelated generic "known issue" that can not be fixed at all.
sambul95 I stand corrected. Thank you for taking the time to do so. I am not able to replicate your results because I do not have Chrome on any of my computers, by choice.
tomscharbach
"I do not have Chrome on any of my computers, by choice."
I don't get it - why you're so interested in Edge Chromium then?
I test Edge Preview now because regular Edge has better performance in video playback than any other browser, of course if the bug is fixed. While extensions like https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-great-suspender/klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg allow to sharply cut on RAM use compare to default Edge.But the devs failed to include Chrome NACL component at compiling the browser, so the video performance advantages can't be fully used, since many Chrome media apps like torrent stream players use NACL and open a player in a separate window, while the browser is hidden.
tomscharbach: "I do not have Chrome on any of my computers, by choice."
sambul95: "I don't get it - why you're so interested in Edge Chromium then?"
I am "so interested" in Edge Chromium because (1) I have used Edge (Classic) as my primary Windows browser for the last two years, and (2) within a few months, Edge Chromium is going to replace Edge (Classic) as the in-baked Windows 10 browser. I want to help ensure that Edge Chromium has the features/functions that I value in Edge (Classic), uses resources as sparingly as Edge (Classic), and is as secure as Edge (Classic).
- You can try Brave for testing purposes
Marco Mollace "You can try Brave for testing purposes"
I could, I suppose, but why? The important thing is not whether I can replicate the problem, but whether Microsoft can replicate/resolve it. Consider documenting the issue and getting your logs to Edge Support so that they can open a bug.
