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mnalep
Participating Frequently
April 20, 2013
Question

Why is Flash CPU usage so high on my PC?

  • April 20, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 81668 views

To other psoters here - Please do not hijack my thread for any other performance issues with Flash other than high CPU usage.

This thread is (hopefully) dedicated to why the CPU usage on my desktop PC jumps when I go to a page with flash 'content'. Thank you!


I am hoping that there is an answer for why my computer is using a very high amount of CPU percentage when I am viewing flash content?

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 2 on a Gateway GT5432 desktop computer.

I have Shockwave Flash version 11.7.700.169 installed.

I am using Firefox version 20.0.1 (but I have seen same problem of high CPU with Google chrome).

Here is one page that is causing the high CPU usage.

-   http://logansroadhouse.com/Default.aspx

That page appears to have lots of Flash content.

If I open that logans roadhouse page, my CPU usage goes from an average of 12%, to 80%!

The process I see jump are:

- Firefox's "plugin-container.exe" goes from 0% to about 50%

- Firefox browser "firefox.exe" goes from around 8% to 14%

- Adobe's plugin "FlashPlayerPlugin_11_7_700_169.exe" goes from 0% to 16%

- TOTAL CPU change from 8% to 80% after opening up just this one page !

When I close the page, the CPU usage goes down again. Open again - CPU goes high again.

Also if I go to the firefox addons page and DISABLE the SHOCKWAVE FLASH plugin, then go to that Logans Roadhouse page, very little of the content I saw with Flash enabled is visible - which I take to mean it is a page consisting of lots of Flash 'content'. Also the CPU usage remains low (8%) if I go to that page - after disabling the Shockwave Flash plugin.

I have seen the CPU also go high on youtube.com pages also - CPU jumps just as I said above - if Flash is enabled. CPU then drops after disabling Flash plugin.

I was hoping you had a fix for my problem? My PC becomes almost unusable with the CPU so high. It sure looks like it is the Flash plugin driving the CPU so high.

      This topic has been closed for replies.

      3 replies

      P
      petramal
      New Participant
      November 2, 2015

      On our computer there is also high CPU usage using Flash with Firefox. However, the CPU usage is much lower, a third or a quarter, when the very same sites  are opened using Flash with Microsoft Edge (the new browser bundled with Windows 10). Consequently, the CPU heats up dramatically with Firefox+Flash, but the temperature is moderate with Edge+Flash. So it seems to be a problem of the Flash plugin for Firefox.

      Until the problem is solved by Adobe and/or Firefox, open up Tools>Add-Ons>Plugins in Firefox and change the setting for Shockwave Flash from Always Activate to Ask to Activate. Then Flash will run (and send CPU usage shooting up) only if you want it for some particular feature on a website and choose to activate it.

      ams-ams
      ams-ams
      Participating Frequently
      November 26, 2015

      Same here petramal.  I was running Flash Player version 19.0 r0 within Firefox 42.0 on Windows 7, and disabled it because of high CPU usage.

      jeromiec83223024
      Community Manager
      jeromiec83223024Community Manager
      Community Manager
      December 8, 2015

      You guys might want to try out the 64-bit Firefox Beta.  This version uses Firefox's native plugin sandbox, instead of the one that we had to retrofit to 32-bit Firefox.  It should also make much better use of available memory on 64-bit machines.

      Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Developer Edition or Beta & Help Determine the Next Firefox — Mozilla

      P
      paulHATESadobe
      New Participant
      June 3, 2015

      Because the flash player coding is absolute crap. I have a 2.8GHZ quad-core intel xeon with 10gb DDR ram and when i open a youtube video the shockwave flash can run close to 90% of the CPU power. How ridiculous is that?

      chris.campbell
      Community Manager
      chris.campbellCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      April 20, 2013

      On my system (windows 8, Intel i5 2500K @ 3.3Ghz) I'm seeing the following after fully loading the URL referenced above

      Firefox: .3% - 1.2%

      Plugin container: .4% - 1.0%

      FlashPlayerPlugin_11_7_700_169.exe: .4% - 2.2%

      Of course our CPU's are different so I wouldn't expect the percentages to be the same.  However, I'm definitely not seeing anything dramatic.  Do you notice any difference if you temporarily disable protected mode (see the bottom of the FAQ below)?

      How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

      M
      mnalepAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      April 20, 2013

      I added the line ProtectedMode=0 to that mms.cfg file, and it made very little difference to the overall CPU usage.

      The "FlashPlayerPlugin_11_7_700_169.exe" file was lower - at about 6% , instead of 16% - but the other two files were about the same:

      - Firefox's "plugin-container.exe" goes from 0% to about 50%

      - Firefox browser "firefox.exe" goes from around 8% to 14%

      - Adobe's plugin "FlashPlayerPlugin_11_7_700_169.exe" goes from 0% to 6%

      - TOTAL CPU changed from 8% to 70% after opening up that page - with protected mode disabled .

      (For reference purposes, my PC has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60Ghz CPU chip.)

      T
      thoughtspart3
      Participating Frequently
      April 20, 2013

      I have very similar pc specs, same flash version, and use firefox too.  I am also experiencing very high cpu usage (80-100%) with any site that uses flash player.  When I switch to HTML5 on You Tube the problem goes away.  All other video players work fine with low cpu levels.  There are many other people experiencing similar problems.

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