High Memory usage in browser & GPU process

Skrybe

Not sure whether it's appropriate to discuss issues with the snapshot versions of Vivaldi here or whether it's only for the release version, but here goes.

I've noticed that if I leave Vivaldi open for more than a few days the memory usage steadily climbs to the point it starts slowing down not just the browser but Windows itself. When I checked in Windows Task manager it's using just under 3.5GB of RAM. Which is slightly lower than what Vivaldi's Task manager shows (just over 3.5GB) but that may be due to how GB are counted (1000 -v- 1024).

Anyway, regardless of how many tabs are open the Browser Process hogs a ton of memory. I've closed or suspended all but this tab and it's memory use is still climbing (and using between 10-16% CPU too). Similarly, the GPU process is using about 732MB of RAM and bouncing between 1-10% CPU. This tab (the vivaldi forum is using about 95MB RAM).

I have three extensions, Toomanytabs, Adblock plus and Anti Miner, using around 200MB RAM.

So, how can I free RAM from the Browser process without completely shutting down Vivaldi? Is that even possible? Why is it still chewing so much memory even after the tabs have been closed (I assume it's caching closed tabs or something)? Is it possible to add a setting to purge memory a little more aggressively?

Same questions for the GPU process. I understand that it's using GPU to render HTML and other items, not just video. But with a single webpage (this one) open it seems ridiculous that it's hovering around 3/4 of a GB.

edit: Ok, I just restarted Vivaldi and it actually dropped RAM usage in Windows Task Manager by more like 5GB than 3.5GB. Windows Task Manager is now showing Vivaldi as using 103MB. I'm now showing 120MB RAM for Browser and about 208MB for GPU while this page is sitting at 75MB). The extensions are a tad lower at 160MB. CPU usage seems to have dropped too. At least for the main Browser process which is sitting between 1-6% most of the time now.

Note: When I say vivaldi memory usage in windows task manager I mean in the Apps section, not background processes. I didn't note them down sorry.

Ayespy

@skrybe Some users have reported this, but no one knows for sure why, just yet. It appears to be limited to a small number of systems.

Currently, I have Vivaldi performing a kind of huge indexing and storage task, while having 31 tabs, and the entire browser is using just over 2.1GB (out of 16 GB available). Then again, I use no extensions, and don't run any 3rd party security software.

Pesala

Pressing Shift+Escape will provide some details of what is using the RAM.

Skrybe

@pesala

You mean Vivaldi's Task manager... that I said I was using in the first post?

@Ayespy

It's not happening all the time, but then I often shut the browser down completely when I've finished using it. So I suspect it's only happening when it's left running for a long(ish) period of time. For example, I haven't shut down Vivaldi since my initial post (so about 7 hours) and I've opened and closed a variety of sites tabs in multiple tabs and it's only sitting at about 200MB for the browser process in Vivaldi's Task Manager and 730MB for the GPU process. In contrast when I made the first post it'd been running for at least a few days, maybe closer to a week.

I'll watch it over the next couple days to see if it goes wild on RAM usage again. Maybe I can pin down a site that's misbehaving or something.

I wouldn't be surprised or upset if I was seeing 2.1GB of usage with 31 tabs and doing a heap of work. The problem I have is that I never go over 6 or 7 tabs open at once, and I typically close them as I read/watch the content in them. And they're fairly simple sites like Reddit or Imgur or news and review sites. It's not like a serious app is running in the browser.

If it makes any difference I'm running Windows 8.1 64bit and I'm using 1.16.1221.3, but it also happened with at least two other nightly builds. Probably 1.15.1146.5 and I'm not sure what the other one was (sorry). Let me know if there's any information I can post that may be useful.

Skrybe

Well I haven't restarted Vivaldi since the last post (4 days) and it's sitting at just over 2GB of memory for the Browser process (it's also sitting between 5-10% CPU constantly). The first day or so it was pretty well behaved sitting at around 200MB most of the time. And it would drop and climb as I shut and opened tabs, but generally sat around the 200MB mark.

However, after about 2 days it steadily started climbing and hasn't really stopped. I can't say there have been any huge leaps to blame on a single misbehaving page or app. It's just been a steady climb as I open and close tabs.

Interestingly, I see one Vivaldi process in Windows task manager using over 400MB but Vivaldi's task manager doesn't show any corresponding process. That process is also using a constant small amount of CPU (around 1%). I can pretty much map the other ones between the two task managers - 280MB to Background Page:Vivaldi, 260MB to Adblock plus, a bunch of ~50MB to tabs, but not that one. The only ones larger enough are GPU process at 650MB and Browser at 2GB so they don't seem likely.

Ayespy

@skrybe My money is on AdBlock Plus.

Skrybe

@ayespy

As the overall "leak" or as the 400MB process (430MB now, it's grown 30MB in 10 minutes)?

If it's the latter, I don't think so. I can see a process that matches the reported size almost perfectly between the two task managers. It's also showing zero % CPU usage for both processes. Whereas the 400MB process is still showing CPU in the Windows task manager (WTM).

Derp! I just realised I should be matching by Process ID instead of trying to guess based on similar memory usage. That would be a lot more accurate (sorry I haven't had much sleep).

The 433MB process (it keeps going up) is the same Process ID as the GPU process. So that's interesting. I guess the memory footprint value in Vivaldi's Task Manager (VTM) must include both system RAM and video card RAM because it's sitting well over 800MB (and fluctuates drastically). Similarly, the CPU usage figure in VTM is more volatile than the corresponding WTM process - 0-5% compared to 0.5-1%. So maybe it's actually measuring GPU usage?

Skrybe

Ok, a bit more checking shows I have one Vivaldi process in the WTM that isn't accounted for. But it's only 2.4MB in size. Every other task can be matched perfectly using PID between the two task managers.

And memory use is still climbing overal. Up to 2.1GB. So it's grown nearly 100MB in the last half hour.