Google Talk plugin eats up CPU

Question

Every time I try to enter a Google+ Hangout or video chat with google talk the cpu is driven to maximum (both cores), but the resolution of the webcam seems poor (<320x240) and the fps is even poorer (<10).

This happens already when starting a hangout and the webcam preview is displayed. The google talk plugin and google chrome dev are installed from the yaourt.

My system is x64, chrome and plugin (?!) should be x64 too.

WebRTC works like a charm for me, but every time the plugin comes in, it eats up as much cpu as it gets. Any ideas anyone? Is there someone who could confirm this?

System specs: Lenovo x121e, AMD e350 cpu, Archlinux, Google Chrome Dev

Solution

Google+ Hangout is resource intensive. The []1 list that

• Any 2 Ghz dual core processor or greater
• 1Mbps uplink and 1-3 Mbps downlink Intenret connection

The best course of option is to upgrade to a better laptop, anything that has a 3rd generation Intel i3/i5/i7 or comparable laptop. The Lenovo x121e is a lower end laptop that was first sold in 2010. Likewise, the AMD e350 CPU is for the budget conscious, and barely perform as well as the much older Pentium 4 processor.

One option you can use to reduce your resource usage is to tell Google+ Hangout that you are on a slow connection

Comments

[Admin]

The resolution and the frame rate are not necessarily proportional to the resource consumption. It sounds like a driver issue, but as you're using a dev version of Chrome, that could be playing into it too.

[Ramhound]

What exactly is the question? Why was the original question "can anyone confirm this?" remove from the question itself. In its current form the question cannot be given an answer, because there is no question, so an answer cannot exist.

[hanxue]

@user2021355 I noticed attempted to edit my answer but was rejected. You may want to post it as your own answer instead, it may be helpful to others :)