A really weird stuttering issue.

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Since I got this computer I'm having stuttering/choppy/jumpy gameplay problems and I wan't to know what Is causing this issue. I tried updating/re-installing the drivers for my graphics card. I also tried re-installing windows 7 and many many other things. I've written so much posts on forums like this and to this day I haven't found the solution.

I never actually thought that this could be caused by the COMPTUER CASE or some grounding issue but it is the only thing that I didn't replace when I bought this new computer. I'm running out of ideas and this is the only explanation that I can come up with. I've done stress tests and checks for pretty much almost all my parts and everything seems to be working fine apart from the coil whine that my graphics card makes when v-sync is turned off.

A thing to note though is when I sometimes slightly bump the computer or hit the table where my PC is sitting the computer makes a beep sound which I really don't know from where it is coming from. The problem is really noticeable when I'm moving through the map/moving my camera around and when the v-sync is turned off. However if the V-sync is turned on the issue is still there but it is slightly less noticeable. I can't even play simple games like Minecraft, Runescape, Call of Duty 2 etc since they all stutter/are choppy. I usually have 150+ fps in these kinds of games and 58-60 when v-sync is turned on so I really don't know what can be causing this.

So if you guys can help me out or give me some tips that would be really appreciated since I really finally wan't to solve this problem once and for all.

Here are some snapshots of Speccy when I was playing Bioshock infinite yesterday http://imgur.com/a/cSOES

PC SPECS:

ASUS Gtx 970 STRIX 4 GB OC model
Intel core i5 4690k 3.5 ghz quad core
MSI Z97 Gaming 5
1 stick of 8 GB RAM
1 TB Western Digital HDD
600W Corsair CX
 
Solution
I've experienced this after having the computer for a while. Not my current one, but ones I've had in the past. Try using Taskmanager or a different program to monitor cpu usage and see if theres something spiking in the usage at those stutters.

Also, try going into the Nvidia control panel and force vsync in there (second blue link).

I used to get this issue in league of legends. Only way I could solve it is to log out, and log back in. I'd start only the one program and it would run fine for a while and start again.
Have you run any HD utilities? I believe WD recommends Data Lifeguard Diagnostics. The beep-like noise you hear when you bump the case could be coming from the HD. They don't actually contain any speakers, but certain mechanical issues can cause a sound very much like a beep.
 


I did run a couple of S.M.A.R.T scans, I've also installed HD Tune and Crystaldiskinfo but no errors were reported.
 


There we go http://imgur.com/a/7eW5V but while I'm surfing the internet the disk usage usually goes a bit up and the CPU usage keeps jumping between 15-50% which is probably completely normal.

 
If I might chime in, vsync reduces framerate to the refresh rate currently being used by your display. This reduces screen tearing and certain jittery factors. If your display is at 60hz, it will reduce it to ~60fps. This reduces your load which also reduces coil whine on the card since it's not being stressed to spit out as many frames as it possibly can. There's no need to have higher frames than your display.

As far as the beeping? I'm not sure about that. Just wanted to let you know about the vsync and card part.
 
Yeah I would play with V-Sync on but the mouse movement with v-sync off feels a lot snappier and faster but with V-sync it causes mouse input lag that is really annoying and it feels like that the camera is moving in a really weird way.
 
It's because of the way the display is showing. It feels more responsive because the frames are updating over twice as fast. Though, this is at the expense of stuttering and screen tear. It will screen tear when it's running smooth fps and will stutter if something goes to load and since the card is as max load from trying to just rip out fps, it will pause or dip in fps for a second causing a stutter. Something else is likely the culprit, but with this, you'll see it much more drastically when cranking 120+ fps vs just a smooth 60 where the system can take it in stride better because of open resources.

More than likely there may be something running in the background causing the stutters, or something I may not have thought of.
 
You're right, this is a weird one. 2 possibly weird suggestions. One is to try a frame cap rather than V-sync. If things improve noticeably, it points towards the GPU or CPU performance fluctuations. The second thing to try is to disconnect every peripheral except keyboard and mouse, and to also try different keyboards and mice if you have any spares available. In particular if you have any wireless devices and can switch to corded. The mouse input lag with V-sync on being so noticeable stands out as unusual.
 

Try creating a new file named test.bat containing the following:

:repeat
@echo %RANDOM% > tmp.txt
ping -n 8 127.0.0.1 > NUL
goto repeat

Then in a command prompt, run test.bat and leave it running. It writes a random number to the disk every 8 seconds, preventing the heads from parking. If this causes the freezes to disappear, then you're suffering from a common WD head parking problem.

WD uses very aggressive head parking timers on their laptop and 5400 RPM desktop drives. I'm pretty sure the WD black drives are unaffected, but uncertain about the 7200 RPM WD Blue drives. After like 10-15 seconds of inactivity, affected WD drives will park the heads. When this happens and Windows needs to access the HDD again, Windows will freeze while it waits the half second or so for the heads to unpark. This freeze will appear in games as a stutter/chop/jump. Unfortunately, this timeout is baked into the drive's firmware - there's no Windows setting you can change to lengthen it.

If you're suffering from this problem, let me cut and paste from my previous posts on the topic on how to fix it:

  • ■You can just run the above batch file whenever you game.
    ■You used to be able to fix it with a program WD put out called wdidle3.exe. But they redesigned their website in 2015 and the page hosting it disappeared. You might still be able to get it from the Internet Wayback Machine, though I don't know if it'll work on newer WD drives - it may brick your drive.
    https://web.archive.org/web/20150908014215/http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113&lang=en
    ■You can use CrystalDiskInfo and disable all the power management (APM) settings on the drive (move the slider to the right til it says FEh). It'll probably cost you a few minutes of battery life, and on mine it would reset every few reboots and I'd have to do it again.
    http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html
    ■You can just replace the WD drive with a different drive (preferably a SSD). Please note that all the laptop WD green, SSHDs, and I suspect blue drives suffer from this short head parking timeout. I have been trying to steer budget buyers away from WD drives for over a year because of this issue.
 


Really interesting info. I mean the problem never goes away even with v-sync turned on. Is there any way to reduce or to remove somehow the input lag from my mouse that v-sync is causing. What I also find weird is that there are many people on this forum that have the same rig as me and they can run everything smoothly with or without v-sync being turned on.
 


In Bioshock infinite there is an area where you go downstairs to the some sort of shop. When I go down that
stairs and move my camera around the stuttering/jittering is horrible. It feels like I'm playing with 30-40 fps
Now when I turn on v-sync and visit the same location the stuttering isn't there anymore. Overall the v-sync
does help quite a bit but as I said it is still noticeable and I don't understand why I can't play games with
v-sync turned off.

Like you said I also tried capping the FPS. I used Dxtory to cap it to 60 fps while I turned
off v-sync in the control panel and in the game. The stuttering was somewhat gone the same way that it disappeared when v-sync was turned on. However when I capped my fps the tearing showed up and it was quite a lot of it. I really don't know what to do anymore.

I swapped the keyboard and plugged out all of the things that were not necessary like ethernet cable, usb, controller etc but the same thing happens.
 


I wrote the code in the notpad saved it as a .bat file on the desktop and launched it from there with the administrator permission. Then I opened up the game In hopes that this would maybe solve the issue which was not the case. The jitter is still there... Really nice thinking though !!

 
I've experienced this after having the computer for a while. Not my current one, but ones I've had in the past. Try using Taskmanager or a different program to monitor cpu usage and see if theres something spiking in the usage at those stutters.

Also, try going into the Nvidia control panel and force vsync in there (second blue link).

I used to get this issue in league of legends. Only way I could solve it is to log out, and log back in. I'd start only the one program and it would run fine for a while and start again.
 
Solution