Question Computer loading game textures slowly

[jerome11]

I built a new system a few weeks ago with the following components:

• ROG STRIX z690-E Gaming WiFi
• 12th gen Intel i9-12900k 3.2GHz
• Noctua DH-15 Cooler
• Corsair DDR5 5200 32GB
• 850W PSU
• 2TB Samsung EVO nVME SSD (in slot 2) (645GB Free)
• Gigabyte RTX 3070

Whenever I play games like AC Odyssey, AC Origins, Jedi Fallen Order etc. I see game textures change and pop into clarity. Trees and landscape etc.

I thought it was the GPU, as I was getting nasty frame drops and stuttering before. So I sent it into Gigabyte for repair. The only note I got from their online portal was 'Component bad, repair completed.' Reinstalled the card today and the stuttering and frame drops seem to be gone, but the issue with textures remains. My old rig with an RTX 2080 never had this issue. Granted I was also not getting 60FPS.

I get a solid 60FPS most of the time with some dips here and there, but no major stuttering or frame drops anymore.

I ran memtest and passed everything. I am using the AI overclocking feature on the MOBO, but turning this off does not change anything. XMP is on so I'm making full use of my RAM. System agent voltage set to 1.25V and DRAM VDD and VDDQ set at 1.325.

I noticed the my nVME SSD doesn't show as present in the BIOS, but I've got Windows 11 and my games on it.

Running Nvidia overlay during game play shows no spikes in temps.

I ran furmark and prime95 with no issues, though running IntelBurnTest crashes the system.

Can anyone help me narrow down what the issue could possibly be? All drivers are up-to-date, and I could order a new motherboard, and RAM from amazon for testing and return them if I don't need them.

Edit: while my 3070 was being repaired I popped in my old 2080 and was getting similar behaviour with of course lower FPS.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

We've been seeing reports of the RTX 3070 being faster than what its mere 8GB vram can sustain resulting in (depending on the game) textures not loading as well as performance drops and stuttering. Check your vram usage when this is happening.

 

[jerome11]

We've been seeing reports of the RTX 3070 being faster than what its mere 8GB vram can sustain resulting in (depending on the game) textures not loading as well as performance drops and stuttering. Check your vram usage when this is happening.

Thanks! When I look at the in-game readout on the settings screens my VRAM usage is nowhere near full. In Odyssey for example it's not even 50%.
Is there another tool I can use for an overlay to check realtime VRAM usage?

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

MSI Afterburner with the On-Screen Display overlay enabled will show you VRAM usage and much more. You will have to open the settings and check the box to enable OSD, and then look further to see which settings you want to display.

 

[jerome11]

MSI Afterburner with the On-Screen Display overlay enabled will show you VRAM usage and much more. You will have to open the settings and check the box to enable OSD, and then look further to see which settings you want to display.

I was able to play odyssey and Hogwarts Legacy with the VRAM monitor on. In Odyssey I'm getting a pretty consistent 5.2GB of VRAM usage while in Hogwarts it's about 6.2GB. Still pretty far below the full 8GB the GPU has. Also, while my card was getting serviced I popped in my old 2080 and experienced similar problems. Any chance this could be the motherboard, SSD or my RAM?

 

[jerome11]

Components:

• ROG STRIX z690-E Gaming WiFi
• 12th gen Intel i9-12900k 3.2GHz
• Noctua DH-15 Cooler
• Corsair DDR5 5200 32GB
• 850W PSU
• 2TB Samsung EVO nVME SSD (in slot 2) (645GB Free)
• Gigabyte RTX 3070

Symptoms:
Whenever I play games like AC Odyssey, AC Origins, Jedi Fallen Order, Hogwarts Legacy etc. I see game textures change and/or pop into clarity. Trees and landscape etc. will pop in as well. Recently with Hogwarts a whole wall of items suddenly appeared.

I thought it was the GPU, as I was getting nasty frame drops and stuttering before. So I sent it into Gigabyte for repair. The only note I got from their online portal was 'Component bad, repair completed.' Reinstalled the card today and the stuttering and frame drops seem to be gone, but the issue with textures remains. My old rig with an RTX 2080 never had this issue. Granted I was also not getting 60FPS. While the 3070 was out for repair, I put my old 2080 in and experienced the same issue with assets and textures.

Now I get a solid 60FPS most of the time with some dips here and there, but no major stuttering or frame drops anymore.

Tests and environment:

• Memtest passed
• Furmark had no issues
• Prime95 run for 6 hours with no issues
• Asus AI overclocking on (turning this off has no effect on the problem)
• XMP on
• System agent voltage set to 1.25V
• DRAM VDD and VDDQ set at 1.325
• nVME SSD doesn't show as present in the BIOS
• Windows 11 - up-to-date
• NVIDIA control pannel triple buffering on, power management at maximum performance
• All drivers up-to-date
• Temps normal (sub 80)
• VRAM usage between 5 and 6 GB

I need to narrow down the possible cause. Is it a faulty motherboard or CPU?