GPU Process has HIGH CPU Usage

[jtsom]

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Description of the issue:
“GPU Process” process is using excessive CPU when just showing TwitchTV page.

How can this issue be reproduced?

1. Launch Brave
2. Load Twitch.tv stream
3. Look at Task Manager

Expected result:
Not using almost all of the CPU, causing system to heat up and fans spin up.

Brave Version( check About Brave):
Version 1.19.63 Chromium: 87.0.4280.101 (Official Build) dev (x86_64)

Additional Information:

Have tried suggestions from other (closed without help) topics - turned off Hardware Acceleration, disabled #brave-adblock-cosmetic-filtering. CPU Usage remains HIGH.

[dallaz100]

v 1.18.70

[Mattches]

@jtsom,

Can you try disabling Hardware Acceleration in settings to see if this resolves the issue?

You’ll find this in Settings --> Additional Settings --> System --> Hardware Acceleration

[jtsom]

As I said in my initial post:

And that screenshot in my original post was with Hardware Acceleration disabled.

[Mattches]

@jtsom,
Apologies for missing that.
Can you tell me if you have any extensions installed? Additionally, can you test streaming Twitch in a private window and see if you get the same CPU usage?

Do you get the same behavior when streaming from other sites like YouTube, for example?

I’ve reached out to the team to see if this is a known issue or not.

[jtsom]

I have a couple extensions, but they are disabled. So far, it seem to be mostly Twitch, I don’t see such a large CPU usage on Youtube. Here is another screenshot with extensions disabled.

and this when opened in a private window.

[Mattches]

@jtsom,
Not super relevant, but I’m a fan of scammerpayback and similar channels as well!

I’m going to have to dig into this further – apologies for the long wait.

[SamGreenwood]

About 10 minutes ago I noticed that Brave is using over 3GB of RAM. It’s very off because it usually averages about 1.3 GB, which means it’s running at over twice what it typically does and I have fewer tabs open than usual. I checked Brave’s Task Manager and it said that GPU Process is using over a GB of RAM.

[fanboynz]

I’m comparing Brave and Chrome with twitch, I’m getting similar results. The CPU did bounce all over the place, on both browsers. Some instances Brave used more CPU, few seconds later Chrome would use more CPU. Video decoding can be taxing on some systems than others (Depending on the GPU/CPU), including users with video playback issues on youtube.

This is tested with a clean profile (Chrome Left, Brave Right), no extensions installed.

A few things to help:

• I would start testing by clearing browser cache, and simply restart the browser.
• Test in private-window mode with no extensions enabled.
• Test in a completely clean Brave profile. (or just test in Brave Beta as an option)

As always, the more tabs/windows open, the more extensions installed the more memory and cpu usage. Some extensions will use more CPU/RAM than others, each will have its own overheard (see below).

2020 Chrome Extension Performance Report