Question Begging somebody - Frame skipping/stuttering... I've tried almost everything

[borotech]

Can anyone please help me. I have spent a large amount of money and time on this PC and I am still getting frame skips on every game I play, regardless of settings.

My specs
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700x at stock speeds
MBD: Asus Prime X570P - latest BIOS
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Gaming OC (Triple fan version) at stock speeds - latest NVIDIA Drivers
PSU: Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3600 C18 AMD Optimized Memory - running at 3600MHz through DOCP. In dual channel (slot 2 and 4).
M.2: Sabrent M.2 NVMe 512GB SSD (SB-ROCKET-512)
CASE: Corsair Carbide 275R

Games tested:

• CSGO
• Rocket League
• Rainbow Six Siege
• Civilisation 5 (although this game is a mess usually anyway - thought I would throw in a CPU intensive one)

My problem is this:
I get a stutter in games, regardless of what framerate I am at and regardless of what settings I am using. These stutters can also be seen in RivaTuner Statistics Server as downward lines on the framerate/frametime graphs. They can occur randomly but particularly occur when I bring up a type of menu (e.g. scoreboard, quick chats, settigns menu, etc), or when something happens in game (e.g. goal scored in rocket league, bomb goes off in CSGO). The ones that occur randomly, mid game, when seemingly nothing new is happening are the most annoying. I would say the menu/something happening in game ones happen every third time one of these actions take place, and the random ones take place anywhere from every minute to every 30 secs.

Things that I have checked:

• Temps are fine (CPU, GPU and VRAM never go above 60C even at full, sustained load) - checked HWiNFO, ASUS BIOS, MSI Afterburner.
• GPU, CPU, RAM and SSD are all securely in place in the MBD.
• CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD usage are all normal when gaming (i.e. not maxed out).
• Nothing obvious is happening in Hardware Monitor/Task manager when the stutters occur.

Things that I have tried (to no avail):

• Different monitors (Old Samsung 1080p at 60Hz; BenQ PD2700Q professional colour grading monitor 1440p at 60Hz; LG 24GL600F gaming monitor 1080p at 144Hz G-SYNC compatible).
• Disabled unnecessary settings on monitor (e.g. black adjust, power saving, auto brightness, etc)
• HDMI vs Display Port
• Different HDMI and Display Port cables.
• V-SYNC On/Off on all monitors (in game and using NVIDIA control panel), NVIDIA Fast Sync On/Off on all monitors, G-SYNC On/Off on LG Monitor.
• Setting FPS limiter at various levels with RIvaTuner, as well as in-application on CSGO and Rocket League.
• Disabling/uninstalling unnecessary applications and processes (e.g. ASUS BIOS bloatware, Synology apps, Adobe Apps, Xbox Game Bar (including gamebarpresence.exe, RGB controllers, etc), Google Chrome)
• MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner (On/Off)
• DOCP RAM overclock (On/Off) (3600vs2666MHz, timings auto change as well).
• Tried multiple versions of both ASUS BIOS and NVIDIA Drivers (both game ready and studio).
• Loaded games onto an external SSD to see if M.2 was the issue.
• Multiple versions of Windows tested.
• High Performance Power plan in control panel.
• Disabled system sounds.

This PC should be more than capable of playing these games without stutters, my 8 year old PC can do this! Due to the current global situation I have spent a large proportion of my time trying to fix this and I am becoming increasingly frustrated and upset (as it feels like I've wasted a lot of money). Due to all the software things I have tried I am starting to think it must be hardware related. Unfortunately I sold all my other PC parts in order to pay for this new PC so I cannot swap them out to isolate the issue. I can't just send the PC back for repair as I shopped around for components (from multiple manufacturers and retailers) and without being able to isolate the specific component It is unlikely that I can claim on any of their warranties. I would be hugely grateful to anyone who could help me work out which piece of hardware it is (or suggest a software fix which I haven't tried already), as I have no qualms about sending it off for warranty repair/replacement (even if it takes a long time - it will provide me with great comfort just to know what the issue is).

Thank you very much.

 

[logainofhades]

Did you do a CMOS reset, after the bios update?

 

[TechyInAZ]

Dang, well 1. Dude you are AWESOME at troubleshooting, you have done more than I would have done to troubleshoot this problem.

2. Without a doubt, you have a defective unit in your system. It could either be the GPU or the PSU. If possible try swapping out the PSU or GPU with another one and see what happens.

 

[borotech]

Dang, well 1. Dude you are AWESOME at troubleshooting, you have done more than I would have done to troubleshoot this problem.

2. Without a doubt, you have a defective unit in your system. It could either be the GPU or the PSU. If possible try swapping out the PSU or GPU with another one and see what happens.

Thanks very much! Unfortunately, I do not have any spare components. I am going to try and do the CMOS reset like @TechyInAZ suggested and then I will try and get onto manufacturers. Its a shame as I suspect they will try and fob me off as I cannot confirm for certain what component is causing the issue.

Thanks though, it means a lot to hear that. I do pride myself on it which is why it is frustrating that I have not found out the solution yet! I will hopefully find a solution soon.