[SOLVED] Computer stuttering, coinciding with CPU Max Frequency hitting low spikes

Oct 1, 2019
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Hey guys, my computer (a pretty decent one if I say so myself) has been having some problems as of late. I noticed it stutters while playing games no matter the quality of graphics and stutters when a lot of things are loading/going on at once.


TROUBLESHOOTING:
This is when I dove into the problem, I’m not a huge PC guy (my dad built my computer for me) so I had to learn everything and guess as I went. At first I thought it was due to the fact that I had too little ram, I had 3 Sticks of 8 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum at 3000 MHz, but my system information was only reading that I had 8 GB of ram installed, so I tested the other RAM slots, and saw that no matter the slot they weren’t picking up. So I bought 2 sticks of Corsair Vengeance 8 GB at 3000 MHz and the computer still only says I have a total of 16 GB, but as of right now that’s the least of my worries.


So I tested my computer out and guess what, that didn’t fix it! Great! So I troubleshot again, and started watching my resource monitor, and I figured out what Hard Faults are, I noticed occasionally when my computer stuttered they spiked so I figured it might have been this, but after some research I decided to cross it off.
However while watching Hard Faults I think I found out what really has been doing this shit. Everytime my computer stutters, it coincides with my CPU Maximum Frequency percentage taking a dip. My computer runs best when it’s been running for a bit and is operating between 85-100. But when I start to boot a program or my games load places it’ll Removed dip to <50% and that’s when my computer stutters and lags.


I did turn on high performance mode on my PC, I saw a forum that said that might help.


SPECS:

-Motherboard: ASUS X99–E Deluxe II
-Gpu: Double GTX 980 Hybrid’s
-RAM: 1 8 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum at 3000 MHz
2 8 GB Corsair Vengeance at 3000 MHz
-CPU: Intel i7-5930K @ 3.5GHz


QUESTION:

How exactly do I go about fixing this? This wasn’t a problem outside of maybe a few weeks ago, and honestly it’s becoming a pain in my ass. Thank you for you help! If there is any other details or troubleshooting things you want me to do let me know :)

Side note, I'm really really stupid when it comes to computers so I may need help if y'all ask me to run any tests or attempt to fix it in certain ways.
 
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Solution
Well first I would find out what your CPU temps are under load. You can use something like HWinfo64 or similar.

What water cooler? Unless your radiator is totally caked with dust I doubt dust is causing your CPU to heat up to the point it throttles. More likely a failed water pump if this just started happening out of the blue. Knowing your CPU load temps and idle temps would give me a better idea.
Oct 1, 2019
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CPU temps under load? If CPU frequency is dropping under full load that is called throttling, which often occurs because the CPU or motherboard VRM is overheating.

Oh that might be it, my cores are running quite hot. Which is strange because my CPU is water cooled, should I get some compressed air and clean the inside of my PC and make sure my fans are working ok?
 

Dunlop0078

Titan
Ambassador
Well first I would find out what your CPU temps are under load. You can use something like HWinfo64 or similar.

What water cooler? Unless your radiator is totally caked with dust I doubt dust is causing your CPU to heat up to the point it throttles. More likely a failed water pump if this just started happening out of the blue. Knowing your CPU load temps and idle temps would give me a better idea.
 
Solution
Oct 1, 2019
7
0
10
Well first I would find out what your CPU temps are under load. You can use something like HWinfo64 or similar.

What water cooler? Unless your radiator is totally caked with dust I doubt dust is causing your CPU to heat up to the point it throttles. More likely a failed water pump if this just started happening out of the blue. Knowing your CPU load temps and idle temps would give me a better idea.

I downloaded HWinfo64.

My cpu temps while gaming at max graphics (borderlands 3) and watching youtube were between 83-87 average with a high temp of 93. All my cores stayed around the same temps.

I'm currently away from my computer in class for the next 3 hours so I'm leaving my computer on with nothing running except HWinfo64, and I'll look at the temps when I get home.

I'm actually not 100% sure on the pump but it LOOKS like this.
 

Dunlop0078

Titan
Ambassador
Yeah thats not great. Does it say yes next to any of the values under where it says your CPU temp? Here is an example with my CPU, your graphs will look a bit different. However you should not see yes in any of those columns, if you do your performance issues are likely caused by heat or power.
Capture.png
 
Oct 1, 2019
7
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Yeah thats not great. Does it say yes next to any of the values under where it says your CPU temp? Here is an example with my CPU, your graphs will look a bit different. However you should not see yes in any of those columns, if you do your performance issues are likely caused by heat or power.
Capture.png


Yeah it said yes next to a few core's for thermal throttling, IIRC I had 6 (?) cores and it only said yes next to one or two at a time and wasn't constant. The cores would alternate between yes and no.
 
Oct 1, 2019
7
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Yeah thats not great. Does it say yes next to any of the values under where it says your CPU temp? Here is an example with my CPU, your graphs will look a bit different. However you should not see yes in any of those columns, if you do your performance issues are likely caused by heat or power.
Capture.png

At Idle it's around 70 degrees.
 
Oct 1, 2019
7
0
10
Yeah thats not great. Does it say yes next to any of the values under where it says your CPU temp? Here is an example with my CPU, your graphs will look a bit different. However you should not see yes in any of those columns, if you do your performance issues are likely caused by heat or power.
Capture.png
I fixed it. Bought a 2 pack of air duster cans and cleaned the <Mod Edit> out of it, and now its running 30 degrees cooler
 
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