In the May update of Windows 10, Microsoft introduced an improved dynamic memory management mechanism that will reduce RAM consumption by various applications.
Microsoft in the official blog dedicated to Windows, , which is already utilizing this new feature in the development of its signature Edge browser, which, as a reminder, is now based on the Chromium engine. According to the results of early tests, Edge's memory consumption reduction can reach up to 27%.
In the latest Windows 10 update (version 2004), whose rollout began in late May but was subsequently halted due to numerous issues, a more modern and efficient implementation of the so-called heap is in use. The use of the 'Segment Heap' mechanism has become available for classic win32 applications, that is, programs intended to work on x86 and x64 hardware platforms — the majority of which are found in Windows 10.
A heap is a method of organizing dynamic memory in a computer. The operating system allocates a certain area of RAM for the heap, part of which can be allocated to an application at its request during runtime. Specifically for browsers: when opening a website in a new tab, memory for hosting the web page will be taken from the heap.
The developers of the Google Chrome browser, known for its excessive 'appetite', also have the opportunity to use this new technology. According to , the gain in this case will be measured in 'hundreds of megabytes'. However, more accurate results will largely depend on the configurations of specific systems. The most significant effect from the changes will be felt by owners of computers built on multi-core processors — the more cores, the better.
Currently, the issue is that for the integration of this new technology, Google needs to use the Windows 10.0.19041.0 SDK. However, this version of the development kit is blocked due to operational issues. Therefore, integration of the new dynamic memory management mechanism into new versions of the Chrome browser will have to wait for some time.
Source: 3dnews.ru
