[SOLVED] Frametime spikes at regular intervals in any game.

[dollarwolv]

Hello. After buying Doom Eternal, I have noticed that my game lags at extremely regular intervals, about 2x per second, which is really annoying. GPU usage, Clock speed, Wattage as well as frame time spike in these regular intervals. After further investigation, I have noticed that not only does this happen in Doom Eternal, but in Overwatch, GTA V, Battlefield 1 etc. (those are the most demanding games I have currently installed.) My GPU makes a sound when under load, and I can even hear that the load drops at the same time that the game lags.
It apparently does not happen in CS:GO, which is installed on my SSD but is also not as intense. I will try moving one of the more demanding games to the SSD to see if it is related to the hard drive (which I think is unlikely).

My rig:
i7 7700k
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon
AMD RX 480
some cheapo SanDisk SSD and a couple of HDDs
Gigabyte M27Q

I have tried:
- Reinstalling AMD drivers
-Updating BIOS
-unplugging the USB header of my case
restarting the games

I have to add that sometimes this just goes away temporarily and I have no idea why. In GTA, tabbing out of the game and back into it helps sometimes. In Doom, it spontaneously disappears.

I have no idea what to do anymore. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Here is a video of the phenomenon visualized: https://photos.app.goo.gl/o6r4tVeFYumnCD5C7

 

[Ralston18]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Use Resource Monitor and Task Manager to observe system performance. Use both but only one at a time.

Observe first while not gaming and then while gaming. And do the same comparing the demanding versus the less demanding games.

Determine what system resources are being used, to what extent (%) any given resource is being used, and what is using the resource.

Hopefully you will find a pattern that also follows the 2 second intervals.

 

[dollarwolv]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Use Resource Monitor and Task Manager to observe system performance. Use both but only one at a time.

Observe first while not gaming and then while gaming. And do the same comparing the demanding versus the less demanding games.

Determine what system resources are being used, to what extent (%) any given resource is being used, and what is using the resource.

Hopefully you will find a pattern that also follows the 2 second intervals.

Thanks for the reply. I have made some progress: setting the max Clock Speed to -12% in the AMD driver makes it stop. Setting max power draw to -40% also makes it stop. I think it's a) thermal throttling which is unlikely because the temps don't really exceed 70° or b) the PSU can't supply enough power for the GPU, hence it clocks down when power draw hits ~110W. Do you think that's a possibility? The PSU is around 8 years old already and it is 500W.

 

[Ralston18]

If the available power is not enough to meet system demands then something "has to give".

The actual sequence of events is likely to vary.

An 8 year old PSU is probably well beyond a reasonable life span and, even if rated at 500 watts, may no longer meet system demands. And overclocking simply adds to system demands.

Especially peak demands.

Because the settings you put into place stopped the problems that is strong evidence that the PSU is faltering and failing in some manner.

The recommended PSU wattage for the GPU alone is 500 watts. Alone the operational wattage is 150 watts.

All in all my thought is that system power demands, especially at peak, are more wattage than the PSU can now provide.

FYI - start here:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

Not that you need to immediately go out and purchase a new PSU.

Just use the calculators to determine some consensus about the wattage requirements of your build.

Add wattage for "growth".