Fix Chrome GPU Process High Memory footprint and usage

Chrome uses a hardware acceleration technology called the Graphics processing unit (GPU) to handle visual and graphic processing, and it also helps to show the web page correctly. When some users investigated why their system is so slow, they discovered that Chrome GPU Process has a high Memory footprint and usage. In this post, we will discuss this issue and see what you can do to resolve it.

Why is Chrome GPU process using so much memory?

When Chrome sometimes tries to use the GPU to render something, it consumes so much memory it becomes a concern for the user. If that’s the case, the very first thing you need to do is check if unnecessary processes are running in one of the abandoned tabs. You should also disable Hardware Acceleration as that encourages this behavior.

Fix Chrome GPU Process High Memory footprint and usage

If Chrome GPU Process has a high memory footprint and usage, first of all, close all the unnecessary tabs as multiple running tabs can have an effect on the resources and if that doesn’t help, follow the solutions mentioned below.

1. End the GPU Process in the Chrome’s Task Manager
2. Restart Chrome and refresh the Graphics Driver
3. Update the Chrome Browser
4. Update the Graphics Driver
5. Delete Chrome’s Cache
6. Disable Hardware Acceleration

Let’s get started.

1] End the GPU Process in the Chrome’s Task Manager

First of all, we need to end the GPU process from Chrome’s Task Manager. However, it will start automatically, but this time, hopefully, it will not take as much memory as it was doing previously.

Follow the prescribed steps to end the task:

• Open Google Chrome.
• Press the Shift + Esc key to open Chrome Task Manager.
• To check the high GPU consumption process, select GPU Process and click on End Process.
• You need to end all the tasks that are consuming memory.

Finally, check if the issue is resolved.

Read: How do I know which Chrome tab is using the most memory?

2] Restart Chrome and refresh the Graphics Driver

If there is an issue in Chrome’s graphic-handling modules, the GPU Process will likely show peculiarity and consume a lot of memory. In case the issue is caused due to this very reason, we can easily restart Chrome, and if that doesn’t work, restart the Graphics Driver. Follow the steps mentioned below.

Open the system Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and close all the Chrome-related processes. Now, start Chrome and check if the high GPU issue is resolved or not.

If the issue persists after closing all high GPU processes, you must restart the graphic driver.

Press the Windows + Ctrl +Shift + B keys simultaneously; this will refresh your graphic card driver. Remember that your system will be stuck for a few seconds, and you may even have a blank screen for a fraction of a second, but it only means that the command has worked.

3] Update the Chrome Browser

Update Chrome and see. Open Chrome. On the top right corner of the Chrome window, click the three-doted line. Finally, click on Help > About Google Chrome, and finally check if there is an update available. We hope that such a problem will never happen again after regular updates.

4] Update the Graphics Driver

If the graphic driver of your computer is outdated, then it may create high GPU usage issues in your computer. To resolve this issue, you may need to update the Graphics driver. But if the problem is unsolved even after updating the driver, then reinstall the driver. By doing this, the problem will be solved.

You can also install the latest version of the driver from the manufacturer’s website.

5] Delete Chrome’s Cache

If nothing works, we need to clear Chrome’s cache. Caches are stored on the system locally to make accessing frequently used items quicker. Deleting it won’t cost us anything as they are deleted after some time. So, go ahead and clear the cache of the Chrome browser. Follow the steps mentioned below to do the same.

1. Launch Chrome.
2. Now, click on the three dots and select Settings.
3. Then, navigate to Privacy and Security > Clear browsing data.
4. Set the Time range to All time, check Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site data, and Caches images and files, and then click on the Clear data button.

6] Disable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware Acceleration allows the computer to use the GPU instead of the CPU when doing a graphically intensive task. This may sound like a blessing, but sometimes, it’s not as GPU tends to get overworked. That is why we need to disable Hardware Acceleration from Chrome’s settings. To do the same, follow the steps mentioned below.

1. Open Chrome.
2. Click on the three dots and select Settings.
3. Go to Privacy and Security > System.
4. Then, disable Use hardware acceleration when available.

Hopefully, this will do the job for you.

Read: How to Free up, Reduce or Limit RAM usage in Windows?

How do I fix high memory usage on Chrome?

There are various ways to fix high memory usage on Chrome. You can close all the redundant and unnecessary tabs to save some memory. However, if there aren’t any unnecessary tabs running, run the malware scan as that could do the trick for you. If you want to know more, check our guide to reduce high Chrome Memory usage & make it use less RAM.

Read: Google Chrome lagging and slow to open in Windows.