diff --git a/api/v1beta2/artifact_types.go b/api/v1beta2/artifact_types.go
index 4bd1bfede..9ae05ed94 100644
--- a/api/v1beta2/artifact_types.go
+++ b/api/v1beta2/artifact_types.go
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ type Artifact struct {
 	Size *int64 `json:"size,omitempty"`
 }
 
-// HasRevision returns true if the given revision matches the current Revision
-// of the Artifact.
+// HasRevision returns if the given revision matches the current Revision of
+// the Artifact.
 func (in *Artifact) HasRevision(revision string) bool {
 	if in == nil {
 		return false
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ func (in *Artifact) HasRevision(revision string) bool {
 	return in.Revision == revision
 }
 
+// HasChecksum returns if the given checksum matches the current Checksum of
+// the Artifact.
+func (in *Artifact) HasChecksum(checksum string) bool {
+	if in == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	return in.Checksum == checksum
+}
+
 // ArtifactDir returns the artifact dir path in the form of
 // '<kind>/<namespace>/<name>'.
 func ArtifactDir(kind, namespace, name string) string {
diff --git a/controllers/helmrepository_controller.go b/controllers/helmrepository_controller.go
index f8c7fd210..fb0ced3a8 100644
--- a/controllers/helmrepository_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/helmrepository_controller.go
@@ -398,6 +398,8 @@ func (r *HelmRepositoryReconciler) reconcileSource(ctx context.Context, obj *sou
 			return sreconcile.ResultEmpty, e
 		}
 	}
+
+	// Fetch the repository index from remote.
 	checksum, err := newChartRepo.CacheIndex()
 	if err != nil {
 		e := &serror.Event{
@@ -410,6 +412,15 @@ func (r *HelmRepositoryReconciler) reconcileSource(ctx context.Context, obj *sou
 	}
 	*chartRepo = *newChartRepo
 
+	// Short-circuit based on the fetched index being an exact match to the
+	// stored Artifact. This prevents having to unmarshal the YAML to calculate
+	// the (stable) revision, which is a memory expensive operation.
+	if obj.GetArtifact().HasChecksum(checksum) {
+		*artifact = *obj.GetArtifact()
+		conditions.Delete(obj, sourcev1.FetchFailedCondition)
+		return sreconcile.ResultSuccess, nil
+	}
+
 	// Load the cached repository index to ensure it passes validation.
 	if err := chartRepo.LoadFromCache(); err != nil {
 		e := &serror.Event{
@@ -419,23 +430,24 @@ func (r *HelmRepositoryReconciler) reconcileSource(ctx context.Context, obj *sou
 		conditions.MarkTrue(obj, sourcev1.FetchFailedCondition, e.Reason, e.Err.Error())
 		return sreconcile.ResultEmpty, e
 	}
-	defer chartRepo.Unload()
+	chartRepo.Unload()
 
 	// Mark observations about the revision on the object.
-	if !obj.GetArtifact().HasRevision(checksum) {
+	if !obj.GetArtifact().HasRevision(newChartRepo.Checksum) {
 		message := fmt.Sprintf("new index revision '%s'", checksum)
 		conditions.MarkTrue(obj, sourcev1.ArtifactOutdatedCondition, "NewRevision", message)
 		conditions.MarkReconciling(obj, "NewRevision", message)
 	}
 
-	conditions.Delete(obj, sourcev1.FetchFailedCondition)
-
 	// Create potential new artifact.
 	*artifact = r.Storage.NewArtifactFor(obj.Kind,
 		obj.ObjectMeta.GetObjectMeta(),
 		chartRepo.Checksum,
 		fmt.Sprintf("index-%s.yaml", checksum))
 
+	// Delete any stale failure observation
+	conditions.Delete(obj, sourcev1.FetchFailedCondition)
+
 	return sreconcile.ResultSuccess, nil
 }
 
@@ -462,7 +474,7 @@ func (r *HelmRepositoryReconciler) reconcileArtifact(ctx context.Context, obj *s
 		}
 	}()
 
-	if obj.GetArtifact().HasRevision(artifact.Revision) {
+	if obj.GetArtifact().HasRevision(artifact.Revision) && obj.GetArtifact().HasChecksum(artifact.Checksum) {
 		r.eventLogf(ctx, obj, events.EventTypeTrace, sourcev1.ArtifactUpToDateReason, "artifact up-to-date with remote revision: '%s'", artifact.Revision)
 		return sreconcile.ResultSuccess, nil
 	}
diff --git a/internal/helm/repository/chart_repository.go b/internal/helm/repository/chart_repository.go
index 5ccc1b7de..c54888daa 100644
--- a/internal/helm/repository/chart_repository.go
+++ b/internal/helm/repository/chart_repository.go
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ type ChartRepository struct {
 	// Index contains a loaded chart repository index if not nil.
 	Index *repo.IndexFile
 	// Checksum contains the SHA256 checksum of the loaded chart repository
-	// index bytes.
+	// index bytes. This is different from the checksum of the CachePath, which
+	// may contain unordered entries.
 	Checksum string
 
 	tlsConfig *tls.Config
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ type cacheInfo struct {
 	RecordIndexCacheMetric RecordMetricsFunc
 }
 
-// ChartRepositoryOptions is a function that can be passed to NewChartRepository
+// ChartRepositoryOption is a function that can be passed to NewChartRepository
 // to configure a ChartRepository.
 type ChartRepositoryOption func(*ChartRepository) error