Question Computer "stuttering"/ GPU power and performance drops

[Hardcorehardy]

After having built a brand new computer I am running into an issue where my GPU (and sometimes CPU) performance and power usage drop. What is strange is that the screen will continue with video however I will be unable to change input. For example if I am strafing and shooting in a game and this issue occurs i can let go of my mouse and keyboard entirely and will continue moving and shooting for a second or 2.

My Specs:
ASUS Prime Z370-A
I7 8700k
MSI Geforce GTX 1080ti DUKE
Gskill Flare X 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3200 MHz
Corsair 850W p2 80+ platinum PSU
Samsung 860 EVO SSD
Seagate 4TB 6Gb/s HDD
Windows 10

CPU runs at about 30-60%. GPU ranges from 20-80% (depending on game but runs consistently other than these drops).
The problem occurs more the longer the computer is on.
According to all sensors this is not thermal throttling.
Restarting the computer will stop the problem for a while.
When the problem becomes more frequent it will occur using programs other than games.
When doing CPU and GPU stress tests after a restart the problem does not occur.
I have done windows RAM tests and Memtestx86 and both have not found any errors.
It seems the problem occurs when both the SSD and HDD are plugged in as well as just when the SSD is.
I have tested with another power supply and still seemed to have the issue.
I have run the GPU in another machine and DID NOT have the issue.
I have done a fresh install of windows and still had the issue.


I am not sure where to go from here or what to do next so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd install and run HWMonitor before beginning a gaming session....

After gaming for 10-20 minutes, you can note the max core clock speeds and temps achieved during the session...; any package/core temps pushing 100C would indicate throttling is occurring...

If playing online, it's also possible your frame rates (a 1080Ti would be very fast in most games at 1080P. for instance) could overwhelm servers with less than optimal bandwidth...

Test your performance in single player games first to make sure no thermal throttling is occurring before we introduce relying on someone else's internet connection for gauging achieved performance...

Have you engaged in any Asus preset overclocking routines built into the BIOS? (Many of these presets raise core voltage high enough to cause overheating) Also, if your cooling is marginal, you'd not want MCE enabled in the BIOS, which tries to clock all cores at max turbo of 4.7 GHz (for the 8700K)

What is your CPU cooling solution?

 

[Hardcorehardy]

I'd install and run HWMonitor before beginning a gaming session....

After gaming for 10-20 minutes, you can note the max core clock speeds and temps achieved during the session...; any package/core temps pushing 100C would indicate throttling is occurring...

If playing online, it's also possible your frame rates (a 1080Ti would be very fast in most games at 1080P. for instance) could overwhelm servers with less than optimal bandwidth...

Test your performance in single player games first to make sure no thermal throttling is occurring before we introduce relying on someone else's internet connection for gauging achieved performance...

Have you engaged in any Asus preset overclocking routines built into the BIOS? (Many of these presets raise core voltage high enough to cause overheating) Also, if your cooling is marginal, you'd not want MCE enabled in the BIOS, which tries to clock all cores at max turbo of 4.7 GHz (for the 8700K)

What is your CPU cooling solution?

I mainly play online games but generally have my framerate capped at 120. When playing the Division 2, i generally have about 70% CPU usage on high settings and CPU core temp only goes to 73 degrees C and no cores report thermal throttling. All cores report going to 4.4 GHz at maximum during my play session. I use a closed loop water cooler for my CPU. Unless my sensors are not working it doesn't seem thermal throttling is the problem.

The only BIOS clock change I made is using the preset for 3200MHz ram, I have not changed my CPU clock.

 

[Hardcorehardy]

Also not part of the original problem, but I noticed sometimes when having a video playing on my second screen will hardcap my FPS in game much lower than intended (such as from 120 to 40). When this happens, CPU usage drops but the problem can be fixed by pausing or minimizing the video. (Example: Game using 50% CPU and total usage at 70% without video; with video will drop to 27% and 35% respectively while I am playing the game)