Question My gaming computer can't handle YouTube streams and videos?

[dovlePC]

I've been using Microsoft Edge on my 1.5-year-old computer with the following specs:

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit
• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z690-P D4
• CPU: 12th Gen Intel i5-12400F
• GPU: ASRock AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT Challenger D 12GB
• RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 3200 32GB (4x8GB) CL16
• Storage: Patriot 1TB 2.5 SATA3 SSD

I primarily use this setup for gaming, and it generally runs smoothly. However, I've been facing issues lately, especially when watching YouTube videos or livestreams on Microsoft Edge. Specifically, the more content I watch, the more things gradually become slow and choppy. Additionally, if I try to seek through the livestream and go back 30 minutes, the entire browser freezes, appearing as if it's about to crash, and then unfreezes 5 to 10 seconds later. It even made the entire computer crash recently.

I'm perplexed because I upgraded my RAM from 16GB to 32GB, because I'm aware browsers are infamous for eating all your RAM. Yet, when I checked the RAM utilization in the task manager during one of these freezes, it only showed about 10GB out of the 32GB being used. Is browsing and watching YouTube videos really that demanding that my computer can't handle it or is there something else going on?

 

[punkncat]

Go into settings and turn off hardware acceleration, see if that helps.

 

[dovlePC]

Go into settings and turn off hardware acceleration, see if that helps.

Thanks! Trying this now, surprised it was even enabled.

 

[dovlePC]

Update after testing it for a while. I felt like there was an improvement initially, but now It's lagging again and it's so sluggish and slow to respond, like I just turned on my music playlist on YouTube and I couldn't click the "shuffle on" button for 20 seconds and the music video is a slideshow. When I slide my mouse over to it, the pause button showing up is delayed and then pressing it takes another 3 seconds for the video to actually pause. It feels like I'm running it on a potato computer.

 

[dovlePC]

Just found this article - https://www.windowscentral.com/soft...s-certainly-think-so-but-there-might-be-a-fix

"The weekend is supposed to be a time to rest and relax, but for a number of folks who use Microsoft Edge, it's far from that. There are threads appearing on Reddit suggesting that Google has nerfed YouTube performance in Microsoft's web browser to a level that makes the site unusable. "

Article goes on to say that there are hundreds of threads on Reddit with users complaining about the exact same issues I am having (freezes, slow performance etc)

Well FIDDLESTICKS AND DOODLEBUGS! I hate to do it, but I guess it's time to go back to Chrome. I'm totally flabbergasted that a company can be so shameless that they GOOF UP something so hard it crashes my computer. If this is true, FUDGE GOOGLE!

Edit: Had to replace a few swear words because apparently you can't say ANY on this forum.

 

[punkncat]

Something unrelated that might help.

Are you running an Ad Block program on YT? If so, even if you pay for the ad free experience, whitelist or turn off the blocker while on there.

 

[dovlePC]

Something unrelated that might help.

Are you running an Ad Block program on YT? If so, even if you pay for the ad free experience, whitelist or turn off the blocker while on there.

Yes! I saw that in one of the articles I've read. I have both adblock and pay for YouTube Premium. I turned AdBlock off yesterday and it does seem A LOT better.

 

[punkncat]

Yes! I saw that in one of the articles I've read. I have both adblock and pay for YouTube Premium. I turned AdBlock off yesterday and it does seem A LOT better.

Same situation with me. After YT opted to actually take action on the ad blocking I opted to go ahead with the service and it has been particularly worthwhile on my Firestick and phone. I didn't consider that in spite of paying, the method they are using to block the ad blockers borks things up pretty well.