Question apparently I'm running overclock on my processor?

[MrXaviDRN]

Ok guys, I'll admit this first - I'm a total rookie when it comes to PC hardware and software as well.

Long story short, I was playing The Witcher 3 on my PC for some time and it ran completely fine on medium-high settings, stopped playing for a week, came back, and suddenly the game is slow, clunky, stuttering, and takes much longer to react to my keyboard and mouse.

Now, I tried playing with the graphic settings, tried rolling back the video card driver to the one i used when the game was fine, both, to no avail. So I concluded that it has nothing to do with my video card.

I opened a thread on steam asking for help, and this guy started helping me, telling me to check if my CPU is overheating. I ran HWmonitor while nothing was open on the PC, and while playing the game. Here are the files I saved from HWmonitor: https://filebin.net/la23gw0uq602sjop

The guy said that from what he can see, I'm running a 'big overclock' on it, so he told me to reset my BIOS settings to default, set the right memory settings, and then set my SSD as a boot option. I don't completely know if I did all of this correctly, but here are shots of the changes I did and the BIOS settings: https://filebin.net/6cgfienw2isx7jn8

If I did it correctly, then it didn't work. I barely noticed any kind of change in the game, it was still running slow and clunky.

I really don't know what to do next, I've a couple of other things I've seen on the internet, but they are didn't work as well. It will be a great help for me if one of you guys could review this thread and try to solve this problem.

My specs:

OS: Windows 10 64 bit

Processor: Intel core i7-8700 3.20GHz (12 CPUs)

Video card: GeForce GTX 960

Memory: 8GB RAM

The steam thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/292030/discussions/0/1870623436620115423/

Thanks!

 

[MadsModsat]

To be honest, I'm unable to identify the overclock he's speaking of. I've looked through the CPU related notes in the files you uploaded, and they appear to be correct. The maximum multipliers shown, doesn't exceed a 46 multiplier, which is correct for your CPU.

I can see he calls himself an AMD man. That doesn't neccessarily mean he's not knowledgable when it comes to Intel CPUs, lots of people has an incredible amount of knowledge about both, but maybe this time, some of the values he identifies as being problematic, may not be wrong at all. CPU temps in your "after gaming" file are very good as well, the hottest core shows 59'c.

I read through the thread you link'ed to, maybe I'm not looking carefully, but he's a bit vague regarding what he considers a massive overclock.
Initially he mentions the normal clock frequency range for your i7 8700 CPU, but then proceeds to say, that even his CPU can't run that frequency.
But unless he has an identical CPU, that statement is meaningless, current Intel and AMD CPUs have different boost patterne and can't be compared directly

I'll have another look at the logs, I might have missed something obvious, but after viewing them initially, I can't see what the other guy is on about.

In my opinion, you'll need to look elsewhere to find the reason for the stuttering you encounter

I can see that XMP for your RAM is disabled. You didn't mention what RAM you have, but that's the only setting I notice is out of the ordinary - well, not out of the ordinary, but it stands out from the rest

 

[MrXaviDRN]

To be honest, I'm unable to identify the overclock he's speaking of. I've looked through the CPU related notes in the files you uploaded, and they appear to be correct. The maximum multipliers shown, doesn't exceed a 46 multiplier, which is correct for your CPU.

I can see he calls himself an AMD man. That doesn't neccessarily mean he's not knowledgable when it comes to Intel CPUs, lots of people has an incredible amount of knowledge about both, but maybe this time, some of the values he identifies as being problematic, may not be wrong at all. CPU temps in your "after gaming" file are very good as well.

I read through the thread you link'ed to, maybe I'm not looking carefully, but he's a bit vague regarding what he considers a massive overclock.
Initially he mentions the normal clock frequency range for your i7 8700 CPU, but then proceeds to say, that even his CPU can't run that frequency.
But unless he has an identical CPU, that statement is meaningless, current Intel and AMD CPUs have different boost patterne and can't be compared directly

I'll have another look at the logs, I might have missed something obvious, but after viewing them initially, I can't see what the other guy is on about.

In my opinion, you'll need to look elsewhere to find the reason for the stuttering you encounter

Ok, what do you think I should do? Do you have any idea what seems to be the problem, the thing that suddenly caused the game to stutter? Because I've tried a lot of things, including changing the BIOS settings to default - you can see here (https://filebin.net/6cgfienw2isx7jn8) that the settings were not at default state beforehand, and that by changing to default the CPU Fan Profile went from Turbo to Standard, if that's supposed to help in my situation.

Thanks a lot for replying.

 

[MadsModsat]

I did look at the BIOS settings you mentioned earlier, and they look fine. I noticed you disabled CSM Launch Mode. As long as your Windows boots in UEFI Mode, that shouldn't mean anything (and if it didn't launch in UEFI mode, you wouldn't be able to boot properly, so you should be good).
XMP is also disabled, but you didn't mention what RAM you have installed (make and model)

Unless you changed any BIOS setting right before your began experiencing stuttering in The Witcher, I don't think that's directly linked.
Usually, complete default settings can be optimized a bit with some manual settings, but at default you should have a functioning system.

I apologize for not offering any solutions. But the only thing I know about The Withcer is, that you supposedly can make it look great with mods.

So instead of unintentionally sending you off on the wrong path, I think it is safe to say, that someone on these forums will have some more insight.

Initially I was just hoping to get your thread some attention, because I'm not experienced enough with the exact problem you've run into.

But the files you have shared, does not show anything like what that guy on Steam told you

EDIT :

Something you could do, is to provide complete system specs

Motherboard (make and model), RAM (make and model), Power Supply (make and model), GPU (make and model), drives.. -everything you can find about your setup, will be helpful when troubleshooting

If you don't know the exact PSU you have, take a picture of the sticker on it, that show a name and a table with some numbers.

Motherboard should be able to identify with CPU-z or HWInfo, which you already use. You'll be able to find the RAM in HWInfo as well

 

[MrXaviDRN]

I did look at the BIOS settings you mentioned earlier, and they look fine. I noticed you disabled CSM Launch Mode. As log as your Windows boots in UEFI Mode, that shouldn't mean anything (and if it didn't launch in UEFI mode, you wouldn't be able to boot properly, so you should be good).
XMP is also disabled, but you didn't mention what RAM you have installed (make and model)

Unless you changed any BIOS setting right before your began experiencing stuttering in The Witcher, I don't think that's directly linked.
Usually, complete default settings can be optimized a bit with some manual settings, but at default you should have a functioning system.

I apologize for not offering any solutions. But the only thing I know about The Withcer is, that you supposedly can make it look great with mods.

So instead of unintentionally sending you off on the wrong path, I think it is safe to say, that someone on these forums will have some more insight.

Initially I was just hoping to get your thread some attention, because I'm not experienced enough with the exact problem you've run into.

But the files you have shared, does not show anything like what that guy on Steam told you

My RAM manufacturer is Kingston, and the 'DeviceLocator' is ChannelB-DIMM1. I don't think that that's what you asked for but that's what I found when looking on the internet how to find RAM model and make.

Thanks anyway for helping kind stranger.

Btw - Should I post this on PC gaming since we know the problem has nothing to do with overclocking?

 

[MadsModsat]

It could very well be hardware related, so I don't think you need to worry about the section you posted in. If it is wrong, a mod will move it for you.

It is important with the most accurate details you can find, because hardware could very well be the reason for your problems. So the more details available, the more precise help you will recieve.

If you don't know the exact PSU you have, open your case and take a picture of the sticker on it, that shows a name and a table with some numbers. PSU is very important, as age and make and model can tell if an underperforming PSU may be at fault.

Motherboard should be able to identify with HWInfo, which you already use. You'll also be able to find the RAM in HWInfo as well. In the main Window, not the Sensors section

How full are your SSD drives?

Did you do any major changes to your system recently?

 

[MadsModsat]

Has there been any recent updates to The Witcher? Are your mods (if you use them) compatible with the current main game version?

Could a recent update have broken some of the mods?

I have a friend who plays it a lot, and he often talks about holding back on updates due to mod imcompatibility, and delayd updates on some mods.

That's the reason why I ask.

I get the feeling when I hear about The Witcher, that it can be complicated at times with regards to modding the game ,and new game updates.

It is just to narrow down the prossible reasons for your recent problems with the game

 

[MrXaviDRN]

Has there been any recent updates to The Witcher? Are your mods (if you use them) compatible with the current main game version?

Could a recent update have broken some of the mods?

I have a friend who plays it a lot, and he often talks about holding back on updates due to mod imcompatibility, and delayd updates on some mods.

That's the reason why I ask.

I get the feeling when I hear about The Witcher, that it can be complicated at times with regards to modding the game ,and new game updates.

It is just to narrow down the prossible reasons for your recent problems with the game

I'm not using any mods. As for your other reply, I'll reply later this evening or tomorrow because I don't have the time right now (I assume you live in US so I'm 7-10 hours ahead of you).

Thanks a lot for being helpful!

 

[MadsModsat]

No, I'm in Denmark, central europe so I don't know what that translates to in time difference.

But I really hope someone else will give their opinion on what might cause this.

Right now, I'm mostly trying to ask the questions that are usually valuable information when troubleshooting, so the other ones who come across your thread has some good info the base their suggestions on

I'm running low on ideas, other than uninstalling your graphics drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller in Windows safe mode, then reboot and install most recent graphics driver.

Fingers crossed someone more knowledgable will quickly identify the issue

 

[MrXaviDRN]

No, I'm in Denmark, central europe so I don't know what that translates to in time difference.

But I really hope someone else will give their opinion on what might cause this.

Right now, I'm mostly trying to ask the questions that are usually valuable information when troubleshooting, so the other ones who come across your thread has some good info the base their suggestions on

I'm running low on ideas, other than uninstalling your graphics drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller in Windows safe mode, then reboot and install most recent graphics driver.

Fingers crossed someone more knowledgable will quickly identify the issue

I'm from Israel so that's a 1 hour difference.

I've already tried uninstalling the graphic driver, through the uninstall program in the control panel. I then installed multiple drivers, including the latest one, the ones before that, the one that was installed when the game ran fine.

But aside from stuttering, I've come across some really weird things (that didn't happen before) like AIs getting stuck in walls and the ground, and enemies behaving weirdly, like bird monsters flying around their tales in circles instead of attacking me.
It's like the game is just dumber, so I guess it's a problem with the processing and not the graphics, although you could better tell what component is tied to the problem.

A solution I still haven't tried is just reinstalling the game, although I don't think that that will work, but I'll try it this night.

I'll try and upload the things you requested later.

Thanks.

 

[MadsModsat]

I then installed multiple drivers, including the latest one, the ones before that, the one that was installed when the game ran fine.

Because of this, I'd highly recommend you doing it again. Some drivers can make a system not run properly because of file conflicts, corrupted entries in the reg.database etc.


Download the most recent - and correct - driver for your system from Nvidia

Download Display Driver Uninstaller, as I linked to previously.

Reboot into Safe Mode, and use DDU to uninstall your graphics driver.

Select the option to "Clean and restart"

Once rebooted back into Windows "normal mode", make sure you install the most recent - and correct - driver for your system.

This procedure eliminates all leftovers from potentially failed driverinstallations, that could be giving problems. Several drivers installed randomly, especially incorrect ones, can lead to all sorts of problems.

Once this step is complete, it will be easier to narrow down the issue, if the driver itself wasn't the issue.

Have you tried to "Verify Game Files" in Steam, for the Witcher game itself? If you see a lot of unusual glitches or the game has trouble booting, or just issues in general, you could try to go to your Steam Library. Select Properties for The Witcher, go to Local Files, and there shoul be an option to verify the game files.
This can identify and fix potential broken files

Also, since you mention a reinstall, that could also be an idea, but I recommend trying to verify the files through Steam before a complete reinstall, it might save you some time if it works

 

[MrXaviDRN]

Because of this, I'd highly recommend you doing it again. Some drivers can make a system not run properly because of file conflicts, corrupted entries in the reg.database etc.


Download the most recent - and correct - driver for your system from Nvidia

Download Display Driver Uninstaller, as I linked to previously.

Reboot into Safe Mode, and use DDU to uninstall your graphics driver.

Select the option to "Clean and restart"

Once rebooted back into Windows "normal mode", make sure you install the most recent - and correct - driver for your system.

This procedure eliminates all leftovers from potentially failed driverinstallations, that could be giving problems. Several drivers installed randomly, especially incorrect ones, can lead to all sorts of problems.

Once this step is complete, it will be easier to narrow down the issue, if the driver itself wasn't the issue.

Have you tried to "Verify Game Files" in Steam, for the Witcher game itself? If you see a lot of unusual glitches or the game has trouble booting, or just issues in general, you could try to go to your Steam Library. Select Properties for The Witcher, go to Local Files, and there shoul be an option to verify the game files.
This can identify and fix potential broken files

Also, since you mention a reinstall, that could also be an idea, but I recommend trying to verify the files through Steam before a complete reinstall, it might save you some time if it works

I've tried verifying game files before, and steam said '1 file failed to validate and will be reacquired'. Verified again, all files were successfully validated. Verified again just now and it was successful again. Does this mean it's not sensible to reinstall?

Also, I'll try uninstalling the driver in a clean way like you said tomorrow. It's fine to install the newest driver through GeForce Experience right? And not manually.

Thanks.

 

[MadsModsat]

I would avoid using GeForce Experience, as it has a lot of auto settings, that eventhough you wouldn't hink so, it actually does not always setup the best game settings. You can usually get better performance both visually and performance vise, when you adjust graphics settings yourself.

So to begin with, what I would recommend is :

Download the most recent GTX960 Nvidia driver, and save it to your desktop and leave it there for now

Reboot into safe mode and uninstall drivers like I described above, using Display Driver Uninstaller. This will also remove GeForce Experience, by the way.

Once you have rebooted after uninstalling, and you are back in Windows desktop, open the GTX960 Nvidia Driver you saved to desktop earlier on, and choose to install the Nvidia Driver, without installing GeForce Experience.

If you like, GF Experience can be installed later on. But leave it out until you have found a solution to your problem.

This way you have the best possible conditions for your gaphics card driver. If this doesn't have any effect on your problem initially, it will have helped eliminate a few steps in the troubleshooting process.
So it is time well spent, and shouldn't take too long to complete

 

[MrXaviDRN]

I would avoid using GeForce Experience, as it has a lot of auto settings, that eventhough you wouldn't hink so, it actually does not always setup the best game settings. You can usually get better performance both visually and performance vise, when you adjust graphics settings yourself.

So to begin with, what I would recommend is :

Download the most recent GTX960 Nvidia driver, and save it to your desktop and leave it there for now

Reboot into safe mode and uninstall drivers like I described above, using Display Driver Uninstaller. This will also remove GeForce Experience, by the way.

Once you have rebooted after uninstalling, and you are back in Windows desktop, open the GTX960 Nvidia Driver you saved to desktop earlier on, and choose to install the Nvidia Driver, without installing GeForce Experience.

If you like, GF Experience can be installed later on. But leave it out until you have found a solution to your problem.

This way you have the best possible conditions for your gaphics card driver. If this doesn't have any effect on your problem initially, it will have helped eliminate a few steps in the troubleshooting process.
So it is time well spent, and shouldn't take too long to complete

I followed each one of your instructions, still the same...

I'll uninstall the game today and download it again through the night, we'll see tomorrow if it'll be ok.

Thanks.

 

[Karadjgne]

There's no OC, that guy who said that is clueless. The only thing you are running is Turbo mode, which is enabled by default direct from the factory.

There's a couple things I'd like, first is your storage, do you have an SSD, by who, how full is it. Second, find the motherboard manufacturer, go to the support/downloads page and update all the motherboard driver packages. This'll include audio and Lan, which are the two most interrupted drivers every time Microsoft updates windows.

If you redo the video drivers, I'd suggest a manual search, not the auto install, and choose a version 2 updates prior. Nvidia doesn't change its core drivers, that happens very infrequently, the only reason for the updates is the same additional game optimization files, which are for brand new releases, Witcher updates are most likely long ago optimized.

 

[MrXaviDRN]

There's no OC, that guy who said that is clueless. The only thing you are running is Turbo mode, which is enabled by default direct from the factory.

There's a couple things I'd like, first is your storage, do you have an SSD, by who, how full is it. Second, find the motherboard manufacturer, go to the support/downloads page and update all the motherboard driver packages. This'll include audio and Lan, which are the two most interrupted drivers every time Microsoft updates windows.

If you redo the video drivers, I'd suggest a manual search, not the auto install, and choose a version 2 updates prior. Nvidia doesn't change its core drivers, that happens very infrequently, the only reason for the updates is the same additional game optimization files, which are for brand new releases, Witcher updates are most likely long ago optimized.

I opened 'Optimize Drives' and it says I've got a hard disk drive, so I guess that answers your question if I have an SSD. By storage, do you mean file storage? I've got 145 GB free of 930 GB. I've tried checking on the internet how to find out who is the storage's manufacturer, to no avail, so I'm gonna need your help with that...

Are you sure I should download the latest motherboard drivers (they are all pretty heavy and will take a lot of time)? I mean, the game just suddenly started being slow a couple of weeks ago, it's not that it was always like this. What I mean is, nothing was changed in the motherboard, in this time frame, that could have cause the strange behavior of the game, according to my knowledge.

Thanks.

 

[Karadjgne]

Motherboard drivers are relatively small, should take minutes at most. The issue isn't with the drivers themselves, but with Windows 10. Microsoft thinks it's King, should be number #1 always, it's perfect, doesn't need outside interference. Unfortunately, that's far from the truth. But what happens is that (for instance) your motherboard has ASMedia Sata controller chip. The motherboard drivers are ASMedia, and tuned for that chipset to get the best performance, no bugs etc. It'll be driver version 1.05. Windows is self contained, has a generic version of any chipset it needs, so will have Microsoft Sata driver, which works, but only so-so as it has to meet all brands criteria and code. It's very simple. But it's version 2.08, so windows says 'it's newer, therefore better', but really is not.

Updating motherboard drivers to a current version (you don't need to do all the versions) bypasses Windows, makes the motherboard priority. This is very important for audio and network (Lan) drivers as they can and will bog a pc down if not in sync, can cause freezes, long boot/load times etc.

Finding your hdd is easy, look in Device Manager, at the very least it'll have a model listed and thats easy to Google.

I'd also check to see (Task Manager) just how much ram windows thinks you have, a huge slowdown can be caused if the running program ends up using more ram than is available for use, it'll then use pagefile.sys to apportion part of your hdd as ram, which is @ 20x slower or more.

 

[MrXaviDRN]

Motherboard drivers are relatively small, should take minutes at most. The issue isn't with the drivers themselves, but with Windows 10. Microsoft thinks it's King, should be number #1 always, it's perfect, doesn't need outside interference. Unfortunately, that's far from the truth. But what happens is that (for instance) your motherboard has ASMedia Sata controller chip. The motherboard drivers are ASMedia, and tuned for that chipset to get the best performance, no bugs etc. It'll be driver version 1.05. Windows is self contained, has a generic version of any chipset it needs, so will have Microsoft Sata driver, which works, but only so-so as it has to meet all brands criteria and code. It's very simple. But it's version 2.08, so windows says 'it's newer, therefore better', but really is not.

Updating motherboard drivers to a current version (you don't need to do all the versions) bypasses Windows, makes the motherboard priority. This is very important for audio and network (Lan) drivers as they can and will bog a pc down if not in sync, can cause freezes, long boot/load times etc.

Finding your hdd is easy, look in Device Manager, at the very least it'll have a model listed and thats easy to Google.

I'd also check to see (Task Manager) just how much ram windows thinks you have, a huge slowdown can be caused if the running program ends up using more ram than is available for use, it'll then use pagefile.sys to apportion part of your hdd as ram, which is @ 20x slower or more.

Ok, I might just be blind, but I can't find anything with HDD or storage in device manager, also googled where it's supposed to be, didn't find anything. Sorry for being just helpless... Here's a screenshot of device manager: https://filebin.net/5z6dgf6xjw71zgnh

How do I check how much RAM windows thinks I have?
I took a screenshot of the resource monitor while running the game, will it help?
https://filebin.net/myr9jc0hdd5hm7xr

I'll update the motherboard drivers as soon as I can.

Thanks.

 

[Karadjgne]

3rd line down. DISC DRIVES.

Ctrl-alt-del, select Task Manager. It'll show you how much ram windows recognises, and how much is being used.
Just because you have 8Gb or 16Gb installed doesn't always mean windows recognises all of it, sometimes windows has a brain-fart and either recognises only half of it, or decides to 'hardware reserve' a good portion of it, end result being you have a whole lot less for windows use than the cp actually physically has installed.

 

[MrXaviDRN]

3rd line down. DISC DRIVES.

Ctrl-alt-del, select Task Manager. It'll show you how much ram windows recognises, and how much is being used.
Just because you have 8Gb or 16Gb installed doesn't always mean windows recognises all of it, sometimes windows has a brain-fart and either recognises only half of it, or decides to 'hardware reserve' a good portion of it, end result being you have a whole lot less for windows use than the cp actually physically has installed.

This is a screenshot of device manager, with disk drives clicked on, and the first drive window open. Do you need anything else from there?

I've got 8GB of RAM installed, and windows does seem to recognize all of it, from my understanding of this screenshot:
https://filebin.net/5g94j02a76z2qmxw

Thanks.