Google decided to disable a RAM reduction feature that Microsoft created for Chromium-based browsers. While Microsoft claims the feature would reduce memory usage for Microsoft Edge, and in turn other Chromium-based browsers, an Intel engineer found that this comes at the cost of slowing down systems. Google will disable the feature by default in the upcoming Chrome 85, although it could “reconsider in the future,” according to a Chrome developer.
Google Chrome’s high RAM usage is notorious and often the butt of jokes and memes. Microsoft intended to reduce the RAM usage of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge by using a segment dynamic storage feature that the company analyzed last month. In Microsoft tests, memory usage was reduced by as much as 27 percent with the heap of segments compared to the legacy heap. Since Edge is Chromium based, Google initially decided to use the same feature for Google Chrome, which is also Chromium based.
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But earlier this month, an Intel engineer discovered that the segment’s dynamic storage feature decreased system performance on PCs in various tests, including Speedometer2.0, WebXPRT3, and JetStream2. Performance drops particularly affected CPU speeds in testing. Google developer Bruce Dawson ran more tests and saw similar slowdowns, and in some cases even worse.
Dawson states in the thread that “The cost of the CPU (10% slowdown on the 2.0 speedometer, 13% increase in CPU / power consumption) is too great for us.” He explains in his comment that the current plan is to disable the feature for Chrome 85 and “reconsider in the future”.
Dawson then adds in another comment: “We are making the decision to reverse this change (for now) very seriously. I think the increase in CPU cost is enough to harm battery life. I’m sure not it will be postponed for a long time. “
While it is important to reduce RAM usage in Chrome, it seems that the downside of this particular solution is too great in Google’s opinion. Dawson, specifying that the company will reconsider in the future, indicates that if this feature or something similar could be implemented without significant inconvenience, Google could be in favor of using it.
