SOLVED

Browser and GPU process are much higher compared to Brave

Brass Contributor

Hi!

I was comparing Edge vs Brave and I noticed that Edge uses about 30-50% of my CPU in Browser task manager (both browser and gpu) while Brave uses less than 10% combined.

I think there is some problem with resource management that must be fixed.

I hope there will be futher analysis about this behavior.

 

Surface pro 3, W10 1809

57 Replies

@Marco Mollace @sambul95 @Aaron44126 @EbonJaeger 

 

I am putting together a testing/result log (using Windows Task Manager and all three computers) that I will submit to Microsoft Edge Support either later today or Wednesday, depending on when I get it done, and ask MES to open a bug on the issue. 

 

I've found in the past that opening a bug through MES focuses attention on an issue.  In the past, MES has asked me to resubmit to Feedback using the bug number as the title, and if that happens, I will come back to the thread and report that so that any of you who wish to can do the same.


While I think that the difference between Edge Chromium's Browser Task Manager and Windows Task Manager in measuring/reporting CPU usage is interesting, the important thing to remember is that we have identified a bug in Edge Chromium (CPU use at rest) that is not hardware dependent, not tab/website dependent, is both consistent and persistent, manifests at Edge Chromium's core, and does not manifest in Edge (Classic), Chrome or Firefox.


We need to get Microsoft focused on this, and keep them focused until it is resolved.

@tomscharbach 

 

Stay focused!  Yet bug fixing priority is again defined by the Program Manager and Roadmap schedule. Another way to try is contacting this forum Mods, they can push Edge Support to at least Reply to your bug report email. :)

@sambul95 "Keep focused!  Yet bug fixing priority is again defined by the Program Manager and Roadmap schedule."

 

I've had good luck with MES responsiveness when reporting other bugs.  On earlier occasions, MES e-mailed me shortly after submission, I submitted the test/results log, MES replicated, and then opened the bug.  The point of opening a bug (as I understand it) is that the process kicks the issue onto the roadmap schedule, usually with a higher priority than it might otherwise have had.  I don't have access to the Program Manager or the Roadmap schedule, so I do what I can to kick the issue up the ladder.

 

"Another way to try is contacting this forum Mods, they can push Edge Support to at least Reply to your bug report email. "

 

I would expect the moderators to visit this thread today or tomorrow (that seems to be the pattern after a weekend thread breaks out) and report that they will notify the appropriate team(s). 

@tomscharbach 

Thank you for all your testing. This is absolutely a bug. I have found a reproducible pattern, too, regarding GPU usage. 

 

With this tab open & focused + YouTube's homepage on Edge C, I click between Edge C and my desktop to change focus.

 

When Edge C is focused

Total: 4% CPU + 1% GPU

Edge C: 2% CPU + 1% GPU

Desktop Windows Manager: 2% CPU + 0% GPU

 

When Edge C is not focused:

Total: 12% CPU + 30% GPU

Edge C: 6% CPU + 15% GPU

Desktop Windows Manager: 6% GPU + 15% GPU

 

Somehow, if Edge C is running in the background (without focus, then!), it absolutely snacks on your CPU and GPU.

umUzVkT

 

Link here: https://i.imgur.com/umUzVkT.jpg

 

This system has an i5-8600K and a NVIDIA GT 710. So, even "high-end" CPUs are noticeably affected.

 

@sambul95  

 

tomscharbach:  "We've had a dozen threads requesting that Microsoft do what it can to reduce resource use in Edge Chromium by bundling processes ..."

 

sambul95:  "You might be interested to read this thread: Why are there multiple Chrome instances running even though I only have one window open? Its improving stability, security, and responsiveness."

 

I initially posted about Chromium's resource-hogging proclivities because I misunderstood the nature of Marco's initial post, which was about excessive CPU usage at rest. If I had understood his initial post, I would have gone right to testing, in order to identify, isolate and document the bug we've reported in this thread.

 

I'm well aware of the reasons that Chromium uses multiple processes instead of bundling, and if you read the numerous earlier threads in which the topic is mentioned, comments will point you back to 2008 technical documents in which the pros and cons were hotly debated in the early days of Chromium development for the Linux platform.

 

It seems to me that is a topic you should take to another thread, if you want to do so.

 

I agree with your observation (stated in your post above this latest edit): "This topic is dedicated to a very important bug." I agree with that, and with your advice to in a more recent thread to "stay focused". Let's not get sidetracked.

We are aware of an issue that is impacting CPU and could reduce battery life.  We have a high priority bug tracking this issue and are actively investigating.  Thank you for self-hosting Microsoft Edge and alerting us of the issue. We will communicate the status of the issue in our dev updates.

@Elliot Kirk @Marco Mollace @ikjadoon @sambul95 @Aaron44126 

 

In light of Elliot's comment, I will not be filing the MES bug report mentioned earlier in this thread.

@tomscharbach 

 

Thank you for doing all your troubleshooting and research here. I'm glad it got Microsoft's attention and we're keeping this browser's development accountable.

@ikjadoon 

"we're keeping this browser's development accountable"

 

Its too early to make such assertion. Lets see what will really happen and when. :)

@Elliot Kirk 

"We have a high priority bug tracking this issue and are actively investigating."

 

And that's what I got in today's email from Edge Support:

"I've been asked to have you use the Microsoft Edge Preview feedback tool for help on this issue. Looks like yours may be the first feedback on the issue. The engineering team uses customer submissions from that tool as a means to learn customer issues and track them. 

 

Can you share this bug number with us and the link to track it, just like Mozilla's Bugzilla does?

@Marco Mollace 

 

We are having the same issue. Edge seems to open from 9-10 processes per tab open. It seems to be using a lot of CPU clocks. This seems to be a huge issue and  hopefully they will address this in future builds.

 

image.png

@Marco Mollace 

Check Version 76.0.166.0 (Official build) Canary (64-bit) out, I think the CPU high usage has been fixed.

@Peter_Dinh 

 

Can someone post Browser Task Manager screenshot confirming that? We need to move on with testing, but some folks already uninstalled Edge.

@sambul95 Can you do it yourself? As a techician yourself, do not trust anyone else, instead "trust" yourself and "trust" your own eyes.

It's still too early to decide about it, this issue happen randomly and is not always present.
This issue appears to be fixed with this build on my end
best response confirmed by Marco Mollace (Brass Contributor)
Solution

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 VSync timer tick issue 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

@Tim_Scudder

 

Thanks for the update and your involvement in this matter. It shows how much more efficient product development is when augmented by direct communication with keenly interested browser testers. :)