Ok, so hardware acceleration in Chrome is when Chrome uses the GPU for making the browsing experience smoother. As far as I can tell, your specs should be find for this type of browsing. The limiters here would seem to be your CPU or RAM, but in my opinion, this is probably not what causes the lag. I think it is more likely in some way your internet connection.
Is your motherboard WiFi enabled?
Do you have a Wireless or Wired network adapter?
What are they, and what speeds are they rated for?
What is your
internet connection speed?
What other programs did you have running in the background?
Is this a one time occurence, or does this happen often/every time you switch tabs? If it is a one time occurence, then I would probably not worry about it.