Computer slowdowns, frustration over random FPS lag and performance issues

[epicsunset02]

Hi folks.

This will be my second post on Tomshardware, so hopefully this is in the right place.

I've been experiencing some stuttering and FPS lag over the past few weeks. This is extremely frustrating because I mainly play games as my main source of entertainment (we've probably all been here).

How does the lag start? Can you describe the lag?

The performance issues normally start as soon as I launch games. For example, playing games like Team Fortress 2 and EVE Online, the FPS fluctuations and stuttering are extremely noticeable, and don't really go away despite changing video settings. The best way to describe the lag are just FPS... spikes? For example, when I play a certain game, the FPS just randomly spikes down to around 10-15, and jump back up to normal.

Have you done anything to try and remedy the problem?

I haven't done really anything that has had a substantial impact. To be honest, I'm completely lost on what to do. Do I buy new parts? Do I mess with overclocking? Is it a certain aspect of my PC? I really don't know what I can do to diagnose the problem.

I will say one thing I've done though, and I'm not sure if it would have helped. I ran Memtest a few months back, and it returned a whole heap of errors. I don't know how to interpret the results that it spit out, so I'm lost on that front as well. So I know there is a problem with my RAM. To add to this, before I formatted my PC a few months back, I was always getting blue screens with the error "memory management". It hasn't happened once on this install (crossing my fingers!).

A few things I've done:

-Constantly run Malwarebytes (no malware detected recently)
-Constantly run CCleaner and all that good stuff
-Updated my drivers for my video card to the latest version

What can I do?

This is where I need some help.

I mean, 30fps time-to-time is alright, but I kind of get the feeling that it may get worse over time. I just want to have my computer to be stable while playing games, and have it last a long time.

So, what can I do? What should I do? Any programs I should download to monitor things? Should I mess around with my BIOS?

PC Specs (and their respective age):

Some parts haven't been changed in a few years. When I first built my PC, it was in July of 2011.

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 (non-K) @ 3.4Ghz (Since July 2011)
GPU: GIGABYTE GTX 760 4GB Video Card (Since sometime in 2014, I believe March of 2014)
PSU: Corsair TX850 Power Supply (Since July 2011)
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 1600 (Since July 2011)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 PRO (Since July 2011)
Hard Drive: 1TB Western Digital (Since July 2011)
OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Thank you for reading. I appreciate any help, and I am willing to provide as much information as possible if requested. Have a great day!

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Well RAM issues is something you need to get rid right now, could be defective RAM module(s) or a bad configuration in BIOS, so try first setting values to default (make sure to reestablish SATA mode to what you have it to avoid booting issues) and then test your ram modules again.

Sometimes an unstable connection can cause FPS drops while playing online, test some single player games and see if the problem replicates.

Defragment your HDD, it's possible that a fragmented HDD cause those stutters if said games continue loading info from it while gaming.

Finally, let's monitor your CPU/GPU temps, could be an overheating issue as well.

 

[robomanlamb]

Well RAM issues is something you need to get rid right now, could be defective RAM module(s) or a bad configuration in BIOS, so try first setting values to default (make sure to reestablish SATA mode to what you have it to avoid booting issues) and then test your ram modules again.

Sometimes an unstable connection can cause FPS drops while playing online, test some single player games and see if the problem replicates.

Defragment your HDD, it's possible that a fragmented HDD cause those stutters if said games continue loading info from it while gaming.

Finally, let's monitor your CPU/GPU temps, could be an overheating issue as well.

after doing all of this you might want to consider updating your GPU's and mobo's BIOS, I was getting constant stuttering and this fixed it quickly, I wish I could guide you in the right direction, but I have an AMD card, however, with those specs, you definitely should not be stuttering on TF2.

 

[epicsunset02]

Well, unfortunately, I just had a blue screen. I was playing EVE Online and had Firefox open with some tabs, along with Teamspeak 3 and Steam.

It was "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT". Apparently it was caused by the same address that has always caused the error: ntoskrnl.exe

Not really sure what to do now. Any advice? Any way to interpret this error any better?

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Run memtest86 again, if there's still errors it's simply time to get new ram modules.

 

[epicsunset02]

Run memtest86 again, if there's still errors it's simply time to get new ram modules.

I think you may be right about the ram, but something I also found something else while playing World of Tanks.

I was getting bad packet loss, like I can barely control the vehicle I was driving kind of packet loss. And every time I got these mini lag spikes, the damn game would drop a 10-20fps, and keep doing this.

Now, when my packet loss decided to go away, the game became stable again. I mean, I know my ISP isn't the greatest, but maybe it could be a cause of all the fuss. I'm also defragging the disk, and I have reset my BIOS to the factory settings.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll see how it goes.

 

[epicsunset02]

Hi everyone.

It's been a few days since my last post and unfortunately it really hasn't gotten any better. I'm sorry if this counts as "bumping". I don't mean to, I just need some extra assistance on what to do next.

I did defrag my disk and it helped a tiny bit, but not a whole lot. My disk is still slow. I've also been monitoring my temperatures using OpenHardwareMonitor and when I'm playing games like EVE Online or World of Tanks, they generally don't get over 60c on load. Whenever I play Source games, like TF2 or CS:GO, the temperatures get really bad. I almost wanted to abandon a competitive CS:GO match because the CPU temperatures according to OpenHardwareMonitor were getting into the high 80s and 90s. I didn't want to damage my CPU.

I almost feel like some of the games I play aren't using the full power of my CPU. I opened up CPU-Z and found that some cores were only running on 1.6Ghz instead of 3.4Ghz, which kind of surprised me. Is this some kind of throttling going on? I don't understand. I'd expect my CPU to be performing at maximum capacity on all cores whenever I'm trying to play a game.

Also the stuttering is still annoying as ever. They are like these... "microstutters" that occur while I'm playing a game. The FPS drops a few, but the game freezes for a split second in the process, and it's really annoying when you are trying to play a first person shooter or play games where you are trying to manage multiple things at once.

Could something be bottlenecking something else on my PC? The thought drifted through my mind a few times, but I really don't know what to do from here.

Or could the games I'm playing just be poorly optimized?

I'm just rambling at this point, but I'm trying to figure out what could be going wrong. I might just be overreacting to the whole situation, but I mean, I want my PC to last for a long time, and I want it to perform to the absolute best of its ability right now.

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What I've done:

1) Updated video card drivers
2) Reset the BIOS settings to default, this didn't really do much
3) Defragged my disk
4) Monitored temperatures through gaming, found out some games don't produce high temps, while others do
5) Monitored CPU/GPU usage, found out that my usage wasn't that high during gaming

Questions:

1) What do I do from here? I can provide as much information as possible.
2) Is my PC just getting old, or is it something on my end? (IE: Is it possible it is something simple I'm missing, like a BIOS setting or something?)
3) What should I upgrade? Is anything out of place here? (I can provide as much information as possible) (Specs from Speccy: http://i.imgur.com/iTw25vy.png)
4) Do the hard drive and RAM affect general performance that much?

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I look forward to reading any replies or comments. I really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to look at the thread and help me with my issue! It means a lot to me!

Thanks.

-Sun

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Well your CPU shouldn't be going over 72ºC-75ºC, after that it will throttle down which could cause microstuttering, and also is harmful for your components so you need to fix that, perhaps it's time to reapply some new thermal paste, would be a good time to invest on an aftermarket cooler if you have the stock one.

The CPU cores going some up to 3.4ghz while other staying at 1.6ghz is normal, most games use 1-2 cores so the remaining ones will stay at 1.6ghz since they aren't being used, if you're watching the CPU usage as total instead of each core it should be natural that it's usage won't go above 50% while gaming.

GPU usage... if you max graphics settings and resolution it should get used at 99-100% stable, if you use lower settings it might stay around 50-60% depending on the game, what you want anyways is that it's usage remains stable (like if it's at 54% it should never drop below it, if it drops or jitter too much that could be the reason of your microstuttering).

Let's fix the temperature issue and see if there's any improvement

 

[epicsunset02]

Well your CPU shouldn't be going over 72ºC-75ºC, after that it will throttle down which could cause microstuttering, and also is harmful for your components so you need to fix that, perhaps it's time to reapply some new thermal paste, would be a good time to invest on an aftermarket cooler if you have the stock one.

The CPU cores going some up to 3.4ghz while other staying at 1.6ghz is normal, most games use 1-2 cores so the remaining ones will stay at 1.6ghz since they aren't being used, if you're watching the CPU usage as total instead of each core it should be natural that it's usage won't go above 50% while gaming.

GPU usage... if you max graphics settings and resolution it should get used at 99-100% stable, if you use lower settings it might stay around 50-60% depending on the game, what you want anyways is that it's usage remains stable (like if it's at 54% it should never drop below it, if it drops or jitter too much that could be the reason of your microstuttering).

Let's fix the temperature issue and see if there's any improvement

Hey RaDiKaL_,

I just got myself a little bit of a better CPU heatsink, and reapplied new thermal paste and my CPU temperatures on idle are a lot better, and on load I've tested EVE Online and Skyrim both on max settings, and they don't exceed 60c. (Skyrim got to around 55.5c and EVE Online only got to around 40-45c; will test with Source games even though they seem to primarily hog up the CPU).

So I think the temperature issue has been solved, which is fantastic because I don't want any components to be damaged. I am indeed still microstuttering however, and games just don't play like they used to (by this I mean I used to get 60 FPS and still had "frames to spare" if that makes sense, so when a big fight happens in a certain game my computer still has enough juice to keep giving me 60 FPS even with all of these big explosions and particles being shown on screen (this might even be a little naive, but this used to happen)). I'm super tired from work and school, so I hope this all makes sense.

But yeah, I really appreciate the suggestions! Looks like the thing runs a bit cooler now, and I'm all for that!

Realistically, do you think there is another way I might solve my microstutters without upgrading? Christmas is just around the corner, so I may be able to buy something for myself. Any suggestions? New RAM? Replacing my slow as crap hard drive?

Thank you so much for all of your help so far, look forward to your reply.

-Sun

 

[RaDiKaL_]

No need to upgrade, replace a faulty component if we would to find that one is indeed faulty, for now I'd like you to monitor the CPU and GPU usage with ProceXP and GPU-Z and upload the image of say 10-15 minutes of gaming, would be better if you could use AIDA64 (it's log will give us voltage variations, CPU/GPU frequency, Disk usage and more) so we can pinpoint where the system is having issues.

Another thing to monitor while gaming it's your DPC latency, if there's a DPC issue that's definitively causing the stuttering, to monitor it use this program: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

[epicsunset02]

No need to upgrade, replace a faulty component if we would to find that one is indeed faulty, for now I'd like you to monitor the CPU and GPU usage with ProceXP and GPU-Z and upload the image of say 10-15 minutes of gaming, would be better if you could use AIDA64 (it's log will give us voltage variations, CPU/GPU frequency, Disk usage and more) so we can pinpoint where the system is having issues.

Another thing to monitor while gaming it's your DPC latency, if there's a DPC issue that's definitively causing the stuttering, to monitor it use this program: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Hey RaDiKaL_,

I've just managed to hop back on my PC now (it's been a busy week).

I've acquired AIDA64 and I have no idea how to use it, and I don't know what any of this information means. I've also gotten the DPC program.

What should I do from here? Play a game for a bit and see what the DPC thing says? What should I do with AIDA64?

Thanks again,

-Sun

EDIT: Figured out how to log to file using AIDA. I left it on for 10 minutes and booted up World of Tanks and played a quick game. FPS was still stuttering, so this will hopefully give us some good results.

The file seems kinda big and bulky. I can't really make anything of it. I'll send you a private message with Google Drive links just in case it's not secure or something. If it doesn't work, I can try something else.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Ok, I've just looked at the logs, CPU freq is fine staying at 3.9Ghz, CPU usage seems ok with practically maxing thread 7 and balancing load on threads 1,3 and 5, CPU/GPU temps are fine too, voltages are stable as well...

The only thing that doesn't seem right is the GPU usage, it won't go above 72% and oscillates too much to my taste from 33% to 67%, ideally it should be at 99%-100%, and even if you play with low graphic settings it should be stable like at 40% but constant.

Let's make another test with a more graphically demanding game, max out settings and test it for like 20minutes, you could run GPU-Z along with AIDA64, for you it will be much more comfortable to see the GPU usage in it.

 

[epicsunset02]

Ok, I've just looked at the logs, CPU freq is fine staying at 3.9Ghz, CPU usage seems ok with practically maxing thread 7 and balancing load on threads 1,3 and 5, CPU/GPU temps are fine too, voltages are stable as well...

The only thing that doesn't seem right is the GPU usage, it won't go above 72% and oscillates too much to my taste from 33% to 67%, ideally it should be at 99%-100%, and even if you play with low graphic settings it should be stable like at 40% but constant.

Let's make another test with a more graphically demanding game, max out settings and test it for like 20minutes, you could run GPU-Z along with AIDA64, for you it will be much more comfortable to see the GPU usage in it.

Hey RaDiKaL_,

Thanks for looking over the logs. I just looked over them again and I understand how they seem to work now.

I ran another test, this time on Skyrim on Ultra settings, everything maxed out as far as it can go. My computer used to be able to play this stable 60FPS all the time, it might drop to 40 or 30 whenever a big scene is being rendered or whatever, but other than that I used to be able to play on 60FPS without any stuttering.

I can tell you right now I see what you are talking about. The game itself is stuttering horribly, going from stable to 30FPS, then back to 60, and all over the place, and the logs reflect it. In about 5 minutes of playing, the usage had gone from 88-90% solid all the way down to 50%, and started to float all over the place.

I'm about to run some more tests. I'm going to run EVE Online, which does stutter, but doesn't stutter in these huge increments (micro stutter is the term here?), and I'm also going to run TF2, and Skyrim again. I'll upload the logs with their respective names when I'm done. Oh, and EVE Online is completely maxed out, TF2 is maxed out besides the anti-aliasing (which is at like 8x anti-aliasing, and the maximum is 16).

I'll upload the logs when I've completed testing.

Thanks again for looking over the logs and letting me know what you thought! Appreciate it much!

-Sun

EDIT: Just sent you the new batch of log files.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

I've just looked at the logs you sent me, the GPU load varies too much indeed, I noticed two things I didn't see before, there seems to be a direct relation between GPU load and GPU % MC (I don't know what that value means, I don't have it in my AIDA64, I guess my GPU doesn't have that feature), the lower the GPU%MC the lower the GPU load, you might wanna find out what that value represents.

The 2nd thing I noticed now is the GPU Voltage varies during load, it doesn't go in parallel with GPU load but I'm not sure it's supposed to vary like it's doing it during load.

That could lead to either a faulty GPU (perhaps some capacitor or phase module) or the PSU not being able to properly handle the GPU load, I'd say it's the GPU since the problem also happens with low settings where the GPU doesn't need that much juice from the PSU, still, at this point it would be good to get borrowed another PSU (decent enough for your video card) and see if the problem dissapears.

 

[epicsunset02]

I've just looked at the logs you sent me, the GPU load varies too much indeed, I noticed two things I didn't see before, there seems to be a direct relation between GPU load and GPU % MC (I don't know what that value means, I don't have it in my AIDA64, I guess my GPU doesn't have that feature), the lower the GPU%MC the lower the GPU load, you might wanna find out what that value represents.

The 2nd thing I noticed now is the GPU Voltage varies during load, it doesn't go in parallel with GPU load but I'm not sure it's supposed to vary like it's doing it during load.

That could lead to either a faulty GPU (perhaps some capacitor or phase module) or the PSU not being able to properly handle the GPU load, I'd say it's the GPU since the problem also happens with low settings where the GPU doesn't need that much juice from the PSU, still, at this point it would be good to get borrowed another PSU (decent enough for your video card) and see if the problem dissapears.

Hmmm... interesting.

After a tiny bit of research, I think the GPU%MC is the GPU Memory Controller %.

You know, I did just think of something.

A few months back, I was messing around with Skyrim, and this was when it ran just fine. I made this thread shortly after, mainly to address issues with other games (like World of Tanks, EVE, TF2, that kind of things).

I had installed the newest drivers for my GTX 760, and I never played Skyrim until just recently, and it started to behave terribly. Is it possible that the drivers are to blame here? Like maybe even if they are the most recent and stable for some products, it might not be stable for my card? That's the only thing I can really think of, maybe just drivers aren't that great.

But if anything, I will try out the power supply thing. I'll see if I can have a friend lend a power supply if possible. If I can't find anyone to help out... we'll figure it out.

 

[epicsunset02]

I've just looked at the logs you sent me, the GPU load varies too much indeed, I noticed two things I didn't see before, there seems to be a direct relation between GPU load and GPU % MC (I don't know what that value means, I don't have it in my AIDA64, I guess my GPU doesn't have that feature), the lower the GPU%MC the lower the GPU load, you might wanna find out what that value represents.

The 2nd thing I noticed now is the GPU Voltage varies during load, it doesn't go in parallel with GPU load but I'm not sure it's supposed to vary like it's doing it during load.

That could lead to either a faulty GPU (perhaps some capacitor or phase module) or the PSU not being able to properly handle the GPU load, I'd say it's the GPU since the problem also happens with low settings where the GPU doesn't need that much juice from the PSU, still, at this point it would be good to get borrowed another PSU (decent enough for your video card) and see if the problem dissapears.

Hey again,

It's been a little bit since my last reply. After much searching, I was unable to find a power supply. I don't have the money right now either, maybe by Christmas I'll be able to put something together. There has been some even stranger things going on...

I was just running around in Skyrim on Ultra like normal, getting the weird stutters and all of a sudden, just looking into the distance, my FPS drops exactly to 30, and stays there. It never goes above or below 30, it just sticks directly to 30. I'm not entirely sure if that's a big deal or not, but it seems a bit too odd.

The stutters have gotten a lot worse in EVE Online. Instead of stuttering a tiny bit, it's not stuttering a lot. Usually my FPS sticks to 60, but then I look in one direction, and it drops to 50, and sticks there for a bit, and goes back up to 59/60. It's really irritating!

So what should I do now? Any ideas? I can't find a power supply right now, so should I just keep running more tests and see what results yield from it?

I really am starting to think maybe my computer isn't as good as it used to be... Could be overreacting but hey, who knows?

Anyways, thanks for reading, and all the help so far.

-Sun

 

[RaDiKaL_]

I wouldn't spend on a new PSU just yet, like I mentioned in my previous post it kinda looks like it's the GPU, but it's easier to get borrowed another PSU than getting another GPU of your same model to determine which one is the culprit.

To test an older driver version is also something to consider like you said before, it's no news that a new driver version improves performance on some titles but ruins the performance on others, so give that a try if you haven't already.

 

[epicsunset02]

I wouldn't spend on a new PSU just yet, like I mentioned in my previous post it kinda looks like it's the GPU, but it's easier to get borrowed another PSU than getting another GPU of your same model to determine which one is the culprit.

To test an older driver version is also something to consider like you said before, it's no news that a new driver version improves performance on some titles but ruins the performance on others, so give that a try if you haven't already.

Hey RaDiKaL_,

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays. It's been a while since I was messing around with my computer, but I'd say the problem has gotten a tiny bit better. I haven't tried games like Skyrim recently, because I haven't felt like playing it. The stuttering has gone from these massive stutters to more tiny stutters that are usually barely noticeable, but are still irritating. In fact, whenever I click on something in the game that I haven't clicked on yet, it takes a while to load up, but usually when I go to click on it again, it doesn't lag or anything (caching? (hope that makes sense)).

I actually had MSI Afterburner installed and I just turned up the Power Limit % to 112%. I did some research and most folks seem to be saying it doesn't cause really any problems. I do get better performance when this is maxed out. If this is a bad idea, lemme know and I'll turn it back to default.

Also, one of my buddies from work heard I was having some computer issues, and he heard me complaining about my slow hard drive and bought me a 240GB SSD. So that's neat. What should I put on it? Windows, games, anything that I want to run fast?

Anyways, thanks for everything. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you sir.

-Sun

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Can't remember if you already tried defragging your HDD, if the SSD solves the issue it could be that the HDD was the culprit (perhaps with some failure regardless of it's fragmentation status).

Effectively, use the SSD for the OS, most used applications and as many games you can put in it that you play frequently.

I have no experience with using the power limit function, since other people says its fine I assume they know what they're talking about.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you as well.

 

[epicsunset02]

For now I would say the issue is semi-resolved. My hard drive is extremely slow no doubt, when I ran Defraggler it said my hard drive had a random read speed of like 4.5mb/s. If anything, I can always do a little more research and such.

Well thanks again sir. Marking you as the solution for helping me substantially over the past few weeks.

Thanks again!