Google Disables Chrome’s RAM Reducing Feature Due To a Major Drawback

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Google Chrome new update

 

Google has decided to disable the hyped RAM reducing feature for Chrome because it had a serious side effect.

The RAM reducing feature was detailed by Microsoft for Microsoft Edge which now uses the same engine as Google Chrome. According to Microsoft, it led to a 27% reduction in memory usage and in turn meant that Google Chrome could benefit from that feature (segment heap) present in the latest Windows 10 update.

However, an Intel engineer early this month discovered that the segment heap feature slowed system performance on PCs in several tests. These tests included Speedometer 2.0, WebXPRT3, and JetStream2. The feature affected CPU speeds in testing. A Google programmer performed more tests and found similar or even worse slowdowns.

The Google programmer, Bruce Dawson states in the thread that thanks to the new feature, it led to a 10% slow down in Speedometer 2.0 and a 13% increase in CPU/power consumption which he termed is too great for them to keep. He says that the current plan is to disable the feature for Chrome 85 and “reconsider in the future.”

Dawson also says that they are taking the decision to revert this change very seriously and thinks that the increased CPU cost is enough to harm battery life.

Reducing RAM usage on Chrome was a really good idea at first but the downside of having an increased CPU load is too great of a disadvantage for Google. We will have to wait and see what the company will do in the future where we can have a similar feature implemented without the significant drawback.