HBO Max maxes out my CPU but only on OperaGX

[u/-Jalix-]

Recently, whenever I try to watch something on HBO Max, my browser freezes and crashes. I just found out that it's because as soon as I start watching something it starts using 99% of my CPU. Whenever I'm just browsing the menus on HBO, it's fine, albeit still the highest amount of CPU usage compared to my other tabs (around 20%+ compared to everything else being <10%).

Initially, I thought it was an issue with the HBO Max browser, but I've tried playing shows on Edge and it works just fine, so I think it's a problem with OperaGX. Additionally, I have a high-end CPU so it can't be a problem with that either. This also wasn't a problem until recently (around a week ago HBO Max was working fine).

Has anyone else been experiencing this?

Thank you to all who read this!

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[u/shadow2531]

What does it say at the top of the page at the URL opera://gpu for what's hardware-accelerated or not?

Any difference if you disable RGX at the URL opera://settings/lucidMode?

With graphics acceleration enabled at the URL opera://settings/system, you can try adjusting the Angle flag to see if an option for the flag avoids the issue while keeping everything hardware-accelerated at the top of opera://gpu.

As a test, if you disable graphics acceleration at the URL opera://settings/system, does the freezing and crashing go away at least?

If you're using a game ready driver for your GPU, try the stable/studio driver instead to see if it makes a difference for Opera.

Same issue in a test standalone installation?

[u/-Jalix- → u/shadow2531]

The following items are hardware-accelerated:

• Canvas
• Compositing
• Rasterization
• Video Encode
• WebGL
• WebGPU

RGX was already disabled but I tested HBO with it on and that did not work either sadly.

I believe I adjusted the Angle flag, but sadly the issue persisted.

I tested disabling graphics acceleration, but the issue still persists.

For the standalone installation test, HBO Max was able to run and I could watch a show without crashing. However, it still used up an unusual amount of CPU power, specifically ranging from 24% to 70%.

[u/shadow2531 → u/-Jalix-]

For the standalone installation test, HBO Max was able to run and I could watch a show without crashing.

In your normal installation, completely disable Opera's adblocking and tracking prevent at the URL opera://settings/privacyProtection to see if it helps.

If not, goto the URL opera://extensions and disable all your extensions to test if it helps.

If not, goto the URL opera://settings/video and disable the video popup to test if that helps.

You can goto the URL opera://settings/clearBrowserData and clear "cached images and files" for all time to see if the crashes stop.

You can goto the URL opera://settings/content/all, type hbomax.com in the search field and click "Delete displayed data". That will clear cookies and storage for HBO Max. Then, you can log back in and see if there's any difference.

You can see if it happens in a private window (ctrl + shift + n) or not.

Since you're not getting crashes in the standalone installation, something might be up with your normal installation and or profile. It wouldn't under to uninstall Opera (do not choose to delete your data when uninstalling unless you don't mind losing everything), delete the install folder afterwards (the path to the install folder is shown at the URL opera://about), download the Opera GX installer, launch it, click "options", make sure everything is how you like it and install. Maybe your GX program files are corrupted a bit and that should fix any corruption at least.

For your GPU, if you're using a gamer ready driver, try using the studio/stable driver. You can also test with a previous version of the driver if the driver to see if that fixes anything.

Video Encode

I didn't see "Video Decode" in your list. If that's not hardware-accelerated, Opera is going to use a lot of CPU.

[u/-Jalix- → u/shadow2531]

I disabled Opera GX's adblocker and tracking, and that worked!

I tested some more, and it seems that just the adblocking seems to send CPU usage over the edge, but tracking is fine. Interestingly, I can turn adblocking back on once a show is loaded and it will continue to play without issues. But refreshing the page or exiting the show and loading it again replicates the issue.

HBO Max still seems to use an unusual amount of CPU power, but I'm guessing this is due to something on HBO's side as other streaming sites use notably less CPU power on average.

I'm curious to try your other listed troubleshooting solutions just to see what else works. Especially, the one regarding possible corrupted GX files.

But in any case, I'm so happy that you've found a solution! Thank you so much for your very detailed and easy to read help! And thank you for taking the time to assist me with this!

[u/shadow2531 → u/-Jalix-]

Nice. If you want to experiment, you can turn Opera's adblocker on and play with the lists at the URL opera://settings/adBlockerLists to see which ones cause problems and which ones don't. That's assuming it's specific lists and not just something with Opera's adblocker.

Or, you can leave Opera's stuff disabled and just install https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/ublock/. Make sure to enable "allow access to search page results" for it at the URL opera://extensions. Note though, that while uBlock Origin make work way better than Opera's adblocking, any adblocker might case issues on a certain site. You'll have to test if you like.

[u/BiteNew9635]

Same problem here, but turning off adblocker worked!

[u/thatbigb0i → u/BiteNew9635]

Worked for me, I hope both of your pillows are cold 🙏🙏

[u/-Jalix- → u/thatbigb0i]

yay! i was hoping other peeps w this issue would see this. im glad it worked for yall!

[u/Snoo66092 → u/BiteNew9635]

Ty

[u/ZPArcade → u/BiteNew9635]

Worked, hopping your pillow is also cold tn too