There is no doubt that the most used application on our PC is the web browser. However, applications like Google Chrome are the ones that consume the most RAM . So it has become the perfect example of the lack of optimization for system memory. Why is this happening and what is the solution? Don’t worry about it. Since we are going to explain both things to you.
We believe that we do not need to tell you that good habits are important. We say this due to the fact that regardless of how the operation of a web browser affects the hardware of our PC, we must also take into account that misuse of these supposes a considerable loss of performance. So first of all and before explaining the reason why applications like Google Chrome consume so much RAM, we will give you some simple tips that anyone can follow.
The first one is that you should get used to working with few tabs . Since in the same way that you do not leave the lights in your house, you should not leave more tabs open when using Google Chrome. The second is that you should uninstall all the extensions that you are not going to use for anything from the browser and that all they do is consume resources without meaning.
Why does Google Chrome consume so much RAM?
To begin with, each of your web browser tabs is itself an instance of the application with all the general processes. Which are not limited only to the page, but also to the different extensions that we have active in the browser. However, this would mean a huge waste of processor resources. Fortunately, the operating system already takes care of giving priority to windows in the foreground. That is, those on which the user is interacting, but leave the rest on hold. Therefore, each Google Chrome tab takes up RAM space.
Wouldn’t that be dumping the data to the hard drive or SSD and retrieving it as needed? The act of taking a waiting application, temporarily dumping it to the hard disk and recovering it again is not feasible due to the slowness of magnetic disk drives and how badly they handle massive requests to their data by their nature. Let’s not forget that they only have one head to access the platter on the disk. Flash memories such as SSDs and eMMCs allow multiple accesses at the same time, but their write cycles are limited and this ends up limiting their useful life . In particular, it causes the SLC cache to run out faster.
Where then do we leave the information of the browser tabs that are open? Well, given the limitations of storage, what is done is to leave the data in RAM . They are not being processed by the CPU of our PC and, therefore, they do not use up its resources, but they are there, in a portion of the memory, making us increasingly need RAM with a greater capacity for Google Chrome.
RAM containment and access
When we talk about contention with RAM, we mean what happens when two or more different processes want to access the same resource at the same time. Which one has preference of both? Will the data modified by the first process be valid for the second? What we have to understand is that when we talk about a resource we refer to a specific piece of data in a set of specific memory cells.
Hence, instead of having a RAM memory chip in the memory of our PC, we have several. The processor’s memory controller that is responsible for accessing it can access different chips at the same time. And even to different sections within the same chip, called banks. Applied to web browsers, it means that the same data is replicated in the different banks to increase the speed of access to information and avoid disputes.
Hence, the browser consumes so much memory, since to speed up data access, what it does is give each tab of the web browser a portion of the memory space. As a note, the contention is aggravated when we use a single memory module in our system. When more modules, then there are not only more RAM chips and with them more memory banks, but also more access channels.
Our advice? Google Chrome needs more RAM on your PC
Unless your computer is an ultralight laptop that uses LPDDR memory, which is soldered to the board and not on memory expansion slots. Then you should have no problem installing additional RAM on your PC. Furthermore, as you may have deduced from the previous section, if the web browser does not have enough RAM storage, then it will start accessing resources already available , causing memory access contention. This results in increased access latency and significant performance loss.
That is why we have decided to make a small selection of the best RAM memory modules on the market so that the web browser runs smoothly and does not slow down your PC.
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4
Today having 16 GB is the minimum we recommend for your PC, which is why the Corsair Vengeance LPX kit, made up of two 8 GB DDR4-3200 memory modules, each with a heat sink included, is one of our first recommendations. It is an ideal memory for both Intel Core up to the twelfth generation, if you have a DDR4-compatible board, and for AMD Ryzen up to the 5000 series.
Crucial RAM CT8G4SFRA32A
Contrary to the previous case, it is possible that you already have a RAM memory socket occupied with 8 GB of memory. It is common in many pre-built PCs to save costs by placing a single standard RAM module. Since today the most used is DDR4 at standard speed, we have chosen the Crucial CT8G4SFRA32A 8 GB module.
G.Skill F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC Trident Z
Our recommendation is clear, if 16 GB is the minimum we recommend, then 32 GB is the maximum to ensure the maximum possible performance so that Google Chrome or the web browser that we are using has all the storage available. Like the other modules we have chosen, the G.Skill F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC Trident Z is also DDR4, since it is the most used type of memory today by most of our readers.