Could my i5 3570k be causing annoying game choking/stuttering?

[HeyItsMattSmith]

Note: Copy and paste from another forum I posted on that couldn't help. This applies to both DirectX and OpenGL games.

First off, let me describe the problem and then what I have attempted to resolve and the issues in doing so. Here is a list of my specs for reference:

Intel i5 3570k - MSI GTX 660 - 8GB Kingston 1600mhz RAM - GA Z77 3DH Motherboard - be quiet! 650W Gold PSU - Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200rpm Harddrive - I'm running from a 1920x1200 TV monitor

Very occasionally, and in some games more than others, I'll get a distinct choke moment in-game. The frame-rate, which was otherwise fine, will drop and create both a video and audio stutter for a few seconds. It will usually stutter 3 times, but no more. The really irritating thing is that it's not TOO frequent, maybe twice an hour at it's worse but it's very inconsistent. This makes it hard to test. It's not the end of the world, but it personally really annoys me considering the money I put into the rig. I've had the rig, and the problem, for just over a year now.

One of the primary reason I suspect it may be the processor is because a friend of mine had identical symptoms on an i3 laptop; I always assumed it was to do with Intel HD but the problem occurs with and without a graphics card in. Here is a list of diagnoses and attempts at solving the issue.

I completely uninstalled the intel HD drivers as I am using NVIDIA drivers, however, the problem still occurred. I tested my memory with memtest+ and came back with no errors at all. I ran a full error check on my hard-drive and I had no bad sectors, completely fine. I tried switching from VGA (DVI converted) to a HDMI connection and experienced the same thing. I thought it may have been to do with my CPU getting too hot with the stock cooler, reaching an peak of 73 degrees pushed to 100%, so I purchased an after market cooler. I never go over 60 degrees yet the problem persists.

I finally thought I cracked it today, and brought it down to integrated sound. I know there are links between Realtek HD audio and game stuttering, and it appeared to have an impact when playing muted and with sound. I put a PCI sound card in the system, and all seemed to be going well. Gameplay seemed smoother as did the audio quality. However, after about 3 hours gaming on the Dolphin emulator and an otherwise perfect gaming day, I got the distinctive 3 chokes of with the typical stutter. It wasn't a generic emulation stutter, it was definitely the normal stutter.

I've updated my BIOS. I've turned off on-board sound and video via the BIOS. My RAM timings and voltages are fine. Looking through resource monitor, sometimes I can get a lot of hard-faults (never more than 100) but I can't tell if it correlates with the stutters. Sometimes the CPU usage will jump up during the stutters (no more than 90% usage) and it seems like sometimes it won't (I'm not certain on that). It's hard to be conclusive with the resource monitor because the stutters are inconsistent and it's hard to sift through all of the possibilities when it only monitors for 60 seconds. Also, all of my drivers are updated and I see no obvious issues with conflicts and such.

I'll try and get some footage of the stutters when I can.

My question to you guys is: Is this a typical i3/5/7 processor error, could it really be down to anything else? What course of Action should I take?

Many thanks
Matt

 

[WarWolverineWarrior]

Are you monitoring all the temps/usages of all the hardware?

 

[photonboy]

The CPU is the very last thing I would suspect.
It's a bunch of switches hard-wired together which simply run calculations as they get sent from the main memory. If it was defective and couldn't run the calculations you would be crashing.

There are unfortunately a lot of things in SOFTWARE or HARDWARE such as motherboard issues that can translate into stutter but your issue is so infrequent it is hard to troubleshoot.

GRAPHICS CARD:
Are you saying you physically removed your graphics card and hooked up to the motherboard to use the iGPU in the Intel CPU and the same stutter pattern occurs?

Troubleshooting:
a) Software - hard to troubleshoot. Would suggest a reinstall of Windows, drivers etc to a spare drive (current drive removed). Don't Activate Windows. Install a single game known to have issues and test.

*If the issue still occurs with the reinstall then it's likely a HARDWARE problem.

b) run MEMTEST www.memtest.org (run overnight considering how infrequent your problem is)

c) apply latest motherboard BIOS if an update exists

d) make sure CPU/RAM are at default settings (XMP to apply in BIOS)

e) UNHOOK all USB or SATA devices not needed to test

f) *CLONE your C-drive to a different drive.

*I've seen drives be responsible for glitches like you describe. Unhook everything but C-drive, then CLONE it to another drive and use the CLONE instead. It appears you just have one drive.

g) Try a different SATA controller

Summary:
A lot of what I recommended translates into swapping parts. Unfortunately there's often no other way to do it. Reinstalling Windows simply confirms if it's a software or hardware issue.

Swapping parts can be a hassle, especially if you don't have the parts.

To kill several birds with one stone, I recommend something like THIS:
a) Reinstall Windows/drivers and a game to an SSD.
(You don't appear to have an SSD so it's a good time to get one. Recommend the 120GB Samsung 840 EVO. Ignore the size limit, you can use your hard drive later.)

b) Does the stutter still exist?
If yes, it's likely a hardware issue.
If yes, swap the SSD to another SATA controller (different color) if possible.
If no, then problem mostly solved. Attach the 500GB but boot to SSD and see if problem comes back.

 

[HeyItsMattSmith]

Yeah all my temps are very reasonable, at least the ones I can monitor from windows, so my CPU GPU although I haven't monitored the HDD temp when the stuttering occurs. Maybe I should look into that.

 

[photonboy]

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4140#bios

Latest BIOS is F21 (I think this is yours). Probably won't help but if you don't have it go for it.

HEAT and GAME:
Here's a good troubleshooting technique if you suspect overheating:

1) Run FRAPS and pick a game known to stutter which you can get well over 60FPS (or drop the quality settings down so you get close to 100FPS average).

VSYNC must be OFF to test the maximum frame rate.

2) Now play the game with VSYNC ON (confirm FRAPS reports 60FPS now you can hide FRAPS).

Huh?
With VSYNC ON and you not stressing your system near max your computer will not stutter at all or as much.

 

[HeyItsMattSmith]

Thanks for the response.

Unfortunately, v-sync simply isn't an option. I play fighting games and shooters competitively and the latency introduced by v-sync is very noticeable to me, but I shall test it anyway to confirm if it helps.

I don't have another 500GB+ hard-drive, however I might be able to format an old virus ridden from an old family PC and run windows 7 on there, see if it suffers the same issue.

If I this confirms it to be a drive issue, I'll probably invest in a large SSD and use this drive for other storage.

I'll keep on reading any other suggestions anyone might have.

Thanks again photonboy.

 

[HeyItsMattSmith]

The CPU is the very last thing I would suspect.
It's a bunch of switches hard-wired together which simply run calculations as they get sent from the main memory. If it was defective and couldn't run the calculations you would be crashing.

There are unfortunately a lot of things in SOFTWARE or HARDWARE such as motherboard issues that can translate into stutter but your issue is so infrequent it is hard to troubleshoot.

GRAPHICS CARD:
Are you saying you physically removed your graphics card and hooked up to the motherboard to use the iGPU in the Intel CPU and the same stutter pattern occurs?

Troubleshooting:
a) Software - hard to troubleshoot. Would suggest a reinstall of Windows, drivers etc to a spare drive (current drive removed). Don't Activate Windows. Install a single game known to have issues and test.

*If the issue still occurs with the reinstall then it's likely a HARDWARE problem.

b) run MEMTEST www.memtest.org (run overnight considering how infrequent your problem is)

c) apply latest motherboard BIOS if an update exists

d) make sure CPU/RAM are at default settings (XMP to apply in BIOS)

e) UNHOOK all USB or SATA devices not needed to test

f) *CLONE your C-drive to a different drive.

*I've seen drives be responsible for glitches like you describe. Unhook everything but C-drive, then CLONE it to another drive and use the CLONE instead. It appears you just have one drive.

g) Try a different SATA controller

Summary:
A lot of what I recommended translates into swapping parts. Unfortunately there's often no other way to do it. Reinstalling Windows simply confirms if it's a software or hardware issue.

Swapping parts can be a hassle, especially if you don't have the parts.

To kill several birds with one stone, I recommend something like THIS:
a) Reinstall Windows/drivers and a game to an SSD.
(You don't appear to have an SSD so it's a good time to get one. Recommend the 120GB Samsung 840 EVO. Ignore the size limit, you can use your hard drive later.)

b) Does the stutter still exist?
If yes, it's likely a hardware issue.
If yes, swap the SSD to another SATA controller (different color) if possible.
If no, then problem mostly solved. Attach the 500GB but boot to SSD and see if problem comes back.

I tried switching to the main SATA III port which, although it seems to have reduced the problem (or I may have had a lucky gaming day), I still had the stutter on occasion. I also tested my games with v-sync on but it didn't fix it.

I've ordered a 16GB USB3 pen to be able to reformat and install windows on my old hard-drive, but I'm going to try running a game directly from the USB pen. Surely this would determine whether it is a hard-drive issue or not?

UPDATE: Still waiting on the USB Drive, however I decided to go from IDE to AHCI mode on my harddrive, which I hadn't done already. Unfortunately, the stutter still occured.

UPDATE 2: The USB memory stick came, and as far as I can see, there has been no stutter when gaming directly from it, which leads me to believe the hard-drive is the source of my problems. Unfortunately, my warranty has run out. Can I still send it to them for repair, and will the cost be less than the price of buying a new drive? I plan on getting an SSD in the future anyways but I was curious. This is a Seagate Barracuda drive btw.