Game gets stutters even tho my GPU/CPU aren't at 100% usage

[Kilo007]

So I think this happens in a lot of games, but in the last couple of months I was only playing Fortnite so I noticed it there. My GPU usage is around 30-40% (MSI Gtx 1070 Gaming Z) and my CPU is anywhere from 50-80% (i5 4460), and sometimes it stutters. What could be wrong? I also have an 1x8GB 1600MHz RAM and a 500W power supply. Could it be slow because of a bad hard drive?

 

[mjbn1977]

what kind of hard drive are you using? SSD or HD? Also, what kind of resolution you play in?

 

[Kilo007]

what kind of hard drive are you using? SSD or HD? Also, what kind of resolution you play in?

I'm playing on 1080p with all the settings at low except the Render distance which is at far. I also have the 500GB WD Blue hard drive, not sure how to check the exact specifications tho.

 

[Solandri]

I also have the 500GB WD Blue hard drive, not sure how to check the exact specifications tho.

WD decided to give their 5400 RPM drives an excessively short head parking timeout. This includes most (but not all) of the WD Blue drives. After something like 10-15 seconds of no disk activity, the drive parks the heads. The next time the computer access the drive, there's a fraction of a second pause while the computer waits for the heads to unpark. If this is your system drive or has a pagefile on it, Windows will freeze during this pause (even the mouse pointer freezes). In a game, this will show up as a stutter.

I came up with a simple batch file to constantly write data to the drive, to prevent the heads from parking. You can use it to test if this is the cause of your problems. If it is, you can try the other possible solutions I listed, or just run the batch file every time you game.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3291249/hdd-giving-problems-games.html#19105974

The ultimate fix is to replace the WD drive with a different drive. Maybe use it for archival storage, but definitely not as a system or program drive. I try to steer people away from the budget WD drives partly for this reason (they have a few other issues). But arguing with the fanboys gets tiring so most of the time I stay quiet unless the person asking specifically mentions a WD drive model I know is affected.

 

[Kilo007]

I also have the 500GB WD Blue hard drive, not sure how to check the exact specifications tho.

WD decided to give their 5400 RPM drives an excessively short head parking timeout. This includes most (but not all) of the WD Blue drives. After something like 10-15 seconds of no disk activity, the drive parks the heads. The next time the computer access the drive, there's a fraction of a second pause while the computer waits for the heads to unpark. If this is your system drive or has a pagefile on it, Windows will freeze during this pause (even the mouse pointer freezes). In a game, this will show up as a stutter.

I came up with a simple batch file to constantly write data to the drive, to prevent the heads from parking. You can use it to test if this is the cause of your problems. If it is, you can try the other possible solutions I listed, or just run the batch file every time you game.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3291249/hdd-giving-problems-games.html#19105974

The ultimate fix is to replace the WD drive with a different drive. Maybe use it for archival storage, but definitely not as a system or program drive. I try to steer people away from the budget WD drives partly for this reason (they have a few other issues). But arguing with the fanboys gets tiring so most of the time I stay quiet unless the person asking specifically mentions a WD drive model I know is affected.

Wow, nice to know that. Well I am getting an SSD and a new HDD for Christmas so I am going to replace this one, but I was afraid that the stuttering was caused by another component and not the HDD. I will test the batch file right now.