[SOLVED] CPU usage tanks, followed by frame drops

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
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I've noticed ever since I reinstalled windows that my computer does this thing where my games will be running fine, until my CPU usage will suddenly go way down, accompanied by my framerate doing the same. My temps never really exceed 70C. I've noticed when it's performing well, usage is somewhere around 35-50%, and when it's doing poorly, usage is somewhere around 20%. I noticed for the game Hunt: Showdown specifically, turning off VSync seems to have helped, but I don't think it completely resolved the issue. Is it the CPU usage dropping that's causing the spells of poor performance?
 
Solution
So far, what I've tried has pretty much just been disabling VSync (which did not work), as well as installing new graphics drivers (and yes, not like the super ultra clean install, but I did install new ones,
There's a REASON the "super ultra clean install", or rather, the Display driver uninstaller, exists. It's because just installing new drivers VERY OFTEN does not correct graphics card related problems. If you haven't tried that, being sure to follow the exact recommended method of being in safe mode first then running the uninstaller then you need to, because it almost never works to simply install a new graphics card driver IF the problem is actually related to the graphics card driver. Or rather, it is pretty common that...
No, it's the other way around, something else can't keep up making the CPU wait for things to do.
Usually the storage in conjunction with not enough ram or/and vram will cause data to be swapped to the disk causing games to wait for new data to be available.
This may be true, but you're jumping in front of a lot of assumptions here. There might well be reasons for the CPU to be tanking performance that have nothing to do with thermal throttling.
 
This may be true, but you're jumping in front of a lot of assumptions here. There might well be reasons for the CPU to be tanking performance that have nothing to do with thermal throttling.
I've noticed when it's performing well, usage is somewhere around 35-50%, and when it's doing poorly, usage is somewhere around 20%.
For CPU usage to drop there are only two explanations.
Either something else is holding up the CPU or the game is more single threaded in parts which is mostly the same as the first reason, only you can't do anything about it.
The CPU is forced to wait so usage goes down.

With thermal throttling CPU usage would go up as clocks go down, in the attempt to keep up. If there is background stuff going on, usage would go up.
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
For CPU usage to drop there are only two explanations.
Either something else is holding up the CPU or the game is more single threaded in parts which is mostly the same as the first reason, only you can't do anything about it.
The CPU is forced to wait so usage goes down.

With thermal throttling CPU usage would go up as clocks go down, in the attempt to keep up. If there is background stuff going on, usage would go up.
My temperatures are fine, GPU temps dont usually go above 60 and CPU temps dont go above 70. I should point out that this is a new error, it didn't start doing this until I reinstalled Windows 10 on my pc.
 
For CPU usage to drop there are only two explanations.
Either something else is holding up the CPU or the game is more single threaded in parts which is mostly the same as the first reason, only you can't do anything about it.
The CPU is forced to wait so usage goes down.

With thermal throttling CPU usage would go up as clocks go down, in the attempt to keep up. If there is background stuff going on, usage would go up.
You're kidding, right? I mean, I know you're not, but honestly, smart guy that I KNOW you are, and I know you are, very technically knowledgeable and able to argue well when it comes to tech discussions, this is kind of funny to me because it delineates the partition between intellectual knowledge of a thing and actual relevant experience.

There are PLENTY of other things that can cause ALL KINDS of problems with the CPU utilization and performance, or GPU utilization and performance, and while thermals are the most likely culprit usually, and not necessarily "core temps" but even more often "VRM temps", problems are CLEARLY not limited to those things. You know this. I know you do. So I'm not even sure why you'd post that.
 
Yes. You are right. Mostly.

However.

You are not being very forthcoming with information except where specifically asked. So, let's try this again.

WHAT, specifically, have you TRIED. I mean EVERY damn thing that you tried that did not work?

It kind of matters if you want to figure out what's going on.

And by "what did you try" I mean very SPECIFIC individual steps such as "installed Windows. Then installed motherboard specific drivers from the ..............." etc.

So lets cut to the chase and do this.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.

In ANY case, when it comes to drivers, you do not EVER want to rely on the Microsoft supplied drivers unless there is NO OTHER CHOICE because you are running a newer OS version on much older hardware and no drivers are available from the manufacturer for the OS version you are running. Then, and ONLY then, do you want to rely on the Windows supplied drivers for anything related to your motherboard (Chipset, onboard network adapters, audio, etc.), graphics card, PCIe expansion cards or peripherals like mouse, keyboard, printer, etc.

IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
Yes. You are right. Mostly.

However.

You are not being very forthcoming with information except where specifically asked. So, let's try this again.

WHAT, specifically, have you TRIED. I mean EVERY damn thing that you tried that did not work?

It kind of matters if you want to figure out what's going on.

And by "what did you try" I mean very SPECIFIC individual steps such as "installed Windows. Then installed motherboard specific drivers from the ..............." etc.

So lets cut to the chase and do this.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.

In ANY case, when it comes to drivers, you do not EVER want to rely on the Microsoft supplied drivers unless there is NO OTHER CHOICE because you are running a newer OS version on much older hardware and no drivers are available from the manufacturer for the OS version you are running. Then, and ONLY then, do you want to rely on the Windows supplied drivers for anything related to your motherboard (Chipset, onboard network adapters, audio, etc.), graphics card, PCIe expansion cards or peripherals like mouse, keyboard, printer, etc.

IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
So far, what I've tried has pretty much just been disabling VSync (which did not work), as well as installing new graphics drivers (and yes, not like the super ultra clean install, but I did install new ones, but that didn't fix it either).

As of trying a BIOS update, I know I updated my BIOS a year or two back, and I remember it being a tremendous effort and enormous exertion of energy, which is why I am planning on trying that only if everything else fails.

I've elected to start with attempting a manual install of new drivers for my MOBO (as I did not manually install any, AFAIK I'm just using the ones Windows 10 installed by default when I reinstalled Windows). However, on the Asus downloads page for the Asus Prime B450M-A, there are numerous options to download. Such options are LAN, Chipset, Audio, VGA Drivers, Software and Utility, SATA, and Utilities: Armoury Crate. Which download(s) do I go with?

Regarding my memory, my two sticks of 8gb DDR4 ARE installed in the second and fourth slot from the MOBO, but I don't know how to set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings.

And reinstalling Windows... is what prompted this issue in the first place.
 
So far, what I've tried has pretty much just been disabling VSync (which did not work), as well as installing new graphics drivers (and yes, not like the super ultra clean install, but I did install new ones,
There's a REASON the "super ultra clean install", or rather, the Display driver uninstaller, exists. It's because just installing new drivers VERY OFTEN does not correct graphics card related problems. If you haven't tried that, being sure to follow the exact recommended method of being in safe mode first then running the uninstaller then you need to, because it almost never works to simply install a new graphics card driver IF the problem is actually related to the graphics card driver. Or rather, it is pretty common that it doesn't work just to install new drivers over drivers that already have exhibited a problem. The key is often in registry entries and a lot of times the problem "sticks" in the registry and doesn't get removed by simply installing new drivers using a process that might leave some portions of it's framework in place if it feels it doesn't need to make any changes there because nothing in that regard has changed, and yet that is where the problem lies.

So IF that is the problem, it's a very good idea to do a clean install and not a clean install using the built in AMD or Nvidia utilities on their installers as they are not nearly as thorough as the Wagnard tools Display Driver Uninstaller.

Updating the BIOS should never be a problem. If it is, either you are doing something wrong, using the wrong method or have a problem with your board. Period. It literally should take no more than five to ten minutes to update your BIOS once you have the BIOS files unpacked onto a thumb drive. And using a thumb drive and the utility built into the BIOS OR for boards with BIOS flashback/Q-flash plus etc., that method, are how they should be updated. Automatic methods such as those that run off desktop utilities should be avoided. That is simply looking/asking for problems.

What is your current motherboard BIOS version?

If you have Armory crate installed, at ALL, get rid of it. It's nothing but pure garbage and is the exact reason we see a lot of users having problems with their hardware on ASUS boards a lot of the time. It is NOT necessary or required and is a POS, as are most of the "bundled" manufacturer board applications. I recommend never installing ANY of them unless you absolutely have to in order for something to work and it's wise to look around first because there are often open source applications that will do the same things without the same problems, such as for lighting controls, etc. Fan controls for motherboard fan headers should always be run through the BIOS configuration utility, rather than any desktop application as well.

What is the exact model of your memory kit and what speed are your sticks running at right now? You can download CPU-Z, install it, browse to the SPD and memory tabs and take screenshots, then post them here. On the SPD tab, below "Memory slot selection", you will want to choose slot 2 and then take a screenshot and then take another after selecting slot 4. If there is no information in the fields to the right after choosing those slots then you don't have the memory in the A2 and B2 slots.

XMP is enabled in the BIOS and on ASUS boards it is named D.O.C.P, which is because ASUS refuses to pay Intel royalty fees for the right to use "XMP" in their BIOS.

As far as installing Windows fresh causing problems that didn't exist before, there are generally only about two or maybe three ways this can happen.

The first and most probable one is that after installing it, you have not installed the required drivers for your motherboard and other hardware and Windows has either used driver versions that are not full featured or simply couldn't find appropriate drivers for some devices. Looking in Device manager for remarked devices will tell you if there are devices without drivers installed, but it's always best to simply download and install the latest chipset, LAN and audio drivers. You generally don't need to install the VGA drivers unless you are using the integrated graphics from the CPU through the motherboard for some reason.

The other stuff, ignore. You don't need to worry about RAID or SATA etc. Armory crate should be uninstalled if it is currently installed.

If you have other hardware that requires or works better with manufacturer specific drivers such as printers, keyboards, mice or other peripherals, it's a good idea to go to the product page for those devices and download and install those drivers as well.





.
 
Solution

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
There's a REASON the "super ultra clean install", or rather, the Display driver uninstaller, exists. It's because just installing new drivers VERY OFTEN does not correct graphics card related problems. If you haven't tried that, being sure to follow the exact recommended method of being in safe mode first then running the uninstaller then you need to, because it almost never works to simply install a new graphics card driver IF the problem is actually related to the graphics card driver. Or rather, it is pretty common that it doesn't work just to install new drivers over drivers that already have exhibited a problem. The key is often in registry entries and a lot of times the problem "sticks" in the registry and doesn't get removed by simply installing new drivers using a process that might leave some portions of it's framework in place if it feels it doesn't need to make any changes there because nothing in that regard has changed, and yet that is where the problem lies.

So IF that is the problem, it's a very good idea to do a clean install and not a clean install using the built in AMD or Nvidia utilities on their installers as they are not nearly as thorough as the Wagnard tools Display Driver Uninstaller.

Updating the BIOS should never be a problem. If it is, either you are doing something wrong, using the wrong method or have a problem with your board. Period. It literally should take no more than five to ten minutes to update your BIOS once you have the BIOS files unpacked onto a thumb drive. And using a thumb drive and the utility built into the BIOS OR for boards with BIOS flashback/Q-flash plus etc., that method, are how they should be updated. Automatic methods such as those that run off desktop utilities should be avoided. That is simply looking/asking for problems.

What is your current motherboard BIOS version?

If you have Armory crate installed, at ALL, get rid of it. It's nothing but pure garbage and is the exact reason we see a lot of users having problems with their hardware on ASUS boards a lot of the time. It is NOT necessary or required and is a POS, as are most of the "bundled" manufacturer board applications. I recommend never installing ANY of them unless you absolutely have to in order for something to work and it's wise to look around first because there are often open source applications that will do the same things without the same problems, such as for lighting controls, etc. Fan controls for motherboard fan headers should always be run through the BIOS configuration utility, rather than any desktop application as well.

What is the exact model of your memory kit and what speed are your sticks running at right now? You can download CPU-Z, install it, browse to the SPD and memory tabs and take screenshots, then post them here. On the SPD tab, below "Memory slot selection", you will want to choose slot 2 and then take a screenshot and then take another after selecting slot 4. If there is no information in the fields to the right after choosing those slots then you don't have the memory in the A2 and B2 slots.

XMP is enabled in the BIOS and on ASUS boards it is named D.O.C.P, which is because ASUS refuses to pay Intel royalty fees for the right to use "XMP" in their BIOS.

As far as installing Windows fresh causing problems that didn't exist before, there are generally only about two or maybe three ways this can happen.

The first and most probable one is that after installing it, you have not installed the required drivers for your motherboard and other hardware and Windows has either used driver versions that are not full featured or simply couldn't find appropriate drivers for some devices. Looking in Device manager for remarked devices will tell you if there are devices without drivers installed, but it's always best to simply download and install the latest chipset, LAN and audio drivers. You generally don't need to install the VGA drivers unless you are using the integrated graphics from the CPU through the motherboard for some reason.

The other stuff, ignore. You don't need to worry about RAID or SATA etc. Armory crate should be uninstalled if it is currently installed.

If you have other hardware that requires or works better with manufacturer specific drivers such as printers, keyboards, mice or other peripherals, it's a good idea to go to the product page for those devices and download and install those drivers as well.





.

I think my current bios version is 2807. I checked by inputting "wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion" in command prompt.

Here are my CPU-Z screenshots: memory tab, slot #2, slot #4

Regarding Armoury Crate, I honestly have no idea if I have it installed. I don't think I do, because I didn't manually install anything for my MOBO, but I'll be sure to check that, if I end up installing new drivers for my MOBO.

How does my memory look? I want to make sure that's not the problem before moving on to other things.
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
Ram looks good, it's slow, but good.

How is your storage? SSD, hard drive? Almost full?

I had a 3700x up until a few months ago when I bumped up to a 5700x.
SSD (system drive + high priority games) is maybe half full. Fairly new and in fine condition AFAIK.
HDD (storage + miscellaneous games) is probably three quarters full, it's a couple years old now and I wouldn't be surprised if it's slowing down. That being said, problems are arising in games on both drives.
 
What is your actual motherboard model because ASUS Prime B450-M does not exist. There are models such as Prime B450m-A, etc., but there is no B450-M.

As mentioned by Kona earlier, your memory kit looks fine, but it's very slow. 2400mhz on a platform that likely supports up to at least 3600mhz without any performance penalties, is leaving a lot of performance on the table.
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
What is your actual motherboard model because ASUS Prime B450-M does not exist. There are models such as Prime B450m-A, etc., but there is no B450-M.

As mentioned by Kona earlier, your memory kit looks fine, but it's very slow. 2400mhz on a platform that likely supports up to at least 3600mhz without any performance penalties, is leaving a lot of performance on the table.
It's a B450M-A.

As of my RAM, how do I increase the speed?
 

Kona45primo

Honorable
Jan 16, 2021
523
143
9,890
I wonder if you turn your fTPM off if that'll fix it... It should have been fixed with the latest bios and its no longer an issue for me. But I do remember shutting it off last year due to intermittent lag. Noticable and annoying.
 
You don't. You'd need to get a faster memory kit. It's already running at the fastest speed that kit supports right now without manually overclocking the memory and you wouldn't get enough out of that, aside from the fact that it isn't a very high end memory kit, just kind of average, for it to make all that much difference anyhow. You might be able to bump it up to around 2666mhz but believe me, it's not worth the effort and there is a VERY involved process of testing for thermal and stability compliance required to validate it anyhow. If you have to ask the question on how to increase the speed, you do not want to attempt manually overclocking it. It's already at the fastest speed it can run at without doing so.

You are on a VERY old BIOS version, and before you do anything else it would be a REALLY good idea to update to version 3802.
 
I wonder if you turn your fTPM off if that'll fix it... It should have been fixed with the latest bios and its no longer an issue for me. But I do remember shutting it off last year due to intermittent lag. Noticable and annoying.
He doesn't have the latest BIOS. The latest BIOS is a beta version anyhow and I would avoid updating to that and stick with version 3802 for now. 3802 addresses the random stuttering problem anyhow, but his problem doesn't seem to be stuttering, however it COULD still be related.
 
fTPM shouldn't even be enabled since he's on a BIOS version that pre-dates the fTPM being enabled by default which doesn't happen until version 3205 on that board. As a side note, since he is running Windows 10 and does not require fTPM to be enabled, once he updates to the latest stable BIOS version he will want to be sure to disable fTPM in the BIOS immediately after updating so it doesn't balk at trying to boot, possibly. Depending on whether he currently has a legacy installation or a full UEFI installation with Secure boot already enabled, he could just leave it enabled in that case, most likely, but there is no need since Windows 10 does not need it to be.
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
213
13
1,595
fTPM shouldn't even be enabled since he's on a BIOS version that pre-dates the fTPM being enabled by default which doesn't happen until version 3205 on that board. As a side note, since he is running Windows 10 and does not require fTPM to be enabled, once he updates to the latest stable BIOS version he will want to be sure to disable fTPM in the BIOS immediately after updating so it doesn't balk at trying to boot, possibly. Depending on whether he currently has a legacy installation or a full UEFI installation with Secure boot already enabled, he could just leave it enabled in that case, most likely, but there is no need since Windows 10 does not need it to be.
When updating bios, do I have to do that whole song and dance with the CMOS battery? Every tutorial I'm looking at for my MOBO says I need to put a .CAP file on a USB, then use the BIOS to just update from that.
 

Ethonodon

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
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Ok, so here's what I've tried now:

I updated my BIOS to 3802. I did not do the process of removing the CMOS battery, as every guide I found online said that all it does is reset time and settings. I disabled fTMP and enabled D.O.C.P, and I also did that "super ultra clean install" of my graphics drivers, using the newest ones available for the 3070 Ti. I'm still getting terrible stuttering issues in my games.

Something I'm noticing though is that very little (~4GB) of my GPU memory is being used when I'm stuttering, despite the usage for my GPU sticking to 95-100%. I don't know if that's helpful information at all, but I'm honestly just stumped, because so far, I've tried:

-Installing new graphics drivers using DDU and safe mode
-Installing a new BIOS version, the version you recommended
-Installing new chipset, LAN, and audio drivers
-Enabling D.O.C.P

None have worked.


To recap: My games usually run fine for a short while. For example, testing this issue I was playing Mordhau. The game runs at roughly 100-120fps for maybe 2-3 minutes, then stutters and tanks to hovering in the single digits. While it does this, my GPU usage spikes to 100% and my CPU usage goes way down.

Is there any performance stat that would be especially helpful in determining what's causing this and why? I have my MSI Afterburner OSD set up, which is how I'm seeing my GPU usage and whatnot, but is there any other knowledge that would be especially useful in finding out the source of my issue?