Question Built a PC yesterday. Games are stuttering every 2-3 seconds

Jul 10, 2020
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I've searched around and couldn't find a conclusive answer to this. It seemed to be a lot worse when Vsync is off. When it's on, I'll get smooth gameplay for about fifteen seconds and then it starts stuttering again. It seems to be happening whether the game is running on my old HDD or slightly newer SSD. I have an MSI B450M Pro M2 motherboard, Ryzen 3600, RX480, and two sticks of kingston 3200mhz ram.
I took a screenshot of task manager during the stuttering on Deus Ex. I thought maybe the spikes in SSD activity had something to do with it, but the spikes don't always happen and aren't totally aligned with when the stuttering happens.
View: https://i.imgur.com/xH3bF1N.png
 
Hang on, 89c on the gpu seems excessively high. Are you sure the fans are spinning freely? What gpu is it, if it’s a RX4xx then it’s old enough it might need fresh thermal paste.

Edit: sorry realised it’s a 480. That is old enough it might need new thermal paste.
 
Jul 10, 2020
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Hang on, 89c on the gpu seems excessively high. Are you sure the fans are spinning freely? What gpu is it, if it’s a RX4xx then it’s old enough it might need fresh thermal paste.

Edit: sorry realised it’s a 480. That is old enough it might need new thermal paste.
I think you're right! I think this is the problem. I underclocked the gpu and raised the fan speed and the temperature under load went from about 90 degrees to 85 and the stuttering was non-existent. That's still five degrees over the maximum for that gpu, and already the stutter is gone. So now I've gotta figure out how to keep it cool. I was advised against replacing the thermal paste though. My case only came with one fan so I'm going to instal two more on the front and see if that workds.
 
I think you're right! I think this is the problem. I underclocked the gpu and raised the fan speed and the temperature under load went from about 90 degrees to 85 and the stuttering was non-existent. That's still five degrees over the maximum for that gpu, and already the stutter is gone. So now I've gotta figure out how to keep it cool. I was advised against replacing the thermal paste though. My case only came with one fan so I'm going to instal two more on the front and see if that workds.
Add moar fans!!!
 
Jul 10, 2020
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The PC isn't blowing out hot air at the back end, so I don't think this can be blamed on the lack of front intake fans(I will be getting them anyway though). I even tried it without the side pannel on and it didn't change much. I've set the gpu fan to reach 100% and it's still reaching mid-eighty degrees. I blew out some dust from the gpu and it hasn't made a huge difference.