[SOLVED] Games are stuttering, factory new cpu problem?

[Sir. Barnaby]

Specs.

• I5-9500F (yes, the 9500, not the 9400)
• Asrock B365M Phantom Gaming 4
• EVGA GTX 1060 SC with some manual extra oc on top, the card does go up to 86 °C at rough times, but ive identified that this shouldnt be the cause of the stutters (i can test it more though)
• GOODRAM CX300 240GB SSD (storage drives shouldnt be a cause of the stutters, because i have tried testing Far Cry 4 on both an ssd and an hdd, both of them do stutter)
• 2TB HDD
• 500 HDD
• RipJaws V 2666mhz DDR4 Ram sticks
• 650w PSU (have to recheck though)

I experience stutters in some form in almost all of the games i play. Very annoying. Have tried so many "fixes" of which many of them havent worked at all.
Can someone help me on this? Have experienced them for over half a year now.

 

[RodroX]

The case is an ibox vesta s30. It fits my form factor motherboard nicely, but with all the wiring inside (which probably isnt done too well, none of the wires go through the back plate), its a bit cramped.
Coupled with the no-fan type of build, the temperatures naturally go higher than on most setups.

Ill probably add fans at some point, i had the idea of adding a pci blower cooler to the pc to get some temperatures and preferrably noise reduction. But your comment made me reconsider, i might try standard PC case fans.
Ill try and get some good ones that fit and that blow real good.
With that kind of a gpu its hard to make it quieter, its a factory overclocked card and i added some manual oc on top. This thing howls like crazy when the fan is at 100%, which it is at most of the time.

Audible across the house, easily.
Coupled with my headset, i can comfortably say that certain quieter footsteps in games are a lot tougher to hear.

Ill try hwinfo, thanks for the suggestion!

My brother have the same form factor 1 fan GTX 1060 OC version, but from Gigabyte smaller as yours. His case is really a budget one, but I took the time and care to route all the wirings away from the main components (CPU, GPU, Motherboard and RAM), and each one I could put on the oposite site of the motheboards tray (the back) I did. Keep in mind if you add fans, is not a bad idea to try to do some little cable management at the same time. This may not improve your thermal performance why a lot, but it will help to avoid dust to get stucked in the cramped mess of cables you mention, which wont be good in the long run.

Cheers

 

[Phaaze88]

With that kind of a gpu its hard to make it quieter, its a factory overclocked card and i added some manual oc on top.

Due to Pascal's sensitivity to temperatures, you're not even seeing the benefits from the factory OC, much less the manual one you applied.

This thing howls like crazy when the fan is at 100%, which it is at most of the time.

It's running like that because current case cooling is insufficient.

 

[Gfost73]

the fact the GPU fan gets to 100% should be concerning.. but I dont have the same GPU .. so maybe that's quite normal.. but I dont think so personally .. you clearly have cooling issues.. the Rx 570 athough is newer, requires a higher min PSU (450 watt) and even at stock my fans never got to 100% with my card hitting 83-85°C. it was because of those temps I discovered under volting was what the majority with the same card did to address the heat issue. which worked great for me.. but I also again have several fans to make sure my airflow is optimal.. as well my case is uncluttered and mostly cable free i dont think you will solve this issue without proper air flow.. you need fans..

 

[Gfost73]

please watch this case fan otimization

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

the fact the GPU fan gets to 100% should be concerning.. but I dont have the same GPU .. so maybe that's quite normal.. but I dont think so personally .. you clearly have cooling issues.. the Rx 570 athough is newer, requires a higher min PSU (450 watt) and even at stock my fans never got to 100% with my card hitting 83-85°C. it was because of those temps I discovered under volting was what the majority with the same card did to address the heat issue. which worked great for me.. but I also again have several fans to make sure my airflow is optimal.. as well my case is uncluttered and mostly cable free i dont think you will solve this issue without proper air flow.. you need fans..

I've known for some time now that i need fans in my pc. I just haven't got the info straight on what size do they have to be and will they be compatible with my pc. I'll look into it.
Its normal for the gpu to hit 100%, but as of late research its possible that 100% gpu usage comes with an input lag penalty.
Its problematic if your cpu hits 100%, this can cause stutters and other shenanigans.

 

[Sohom]

run this tool and post result here... https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon do u also face micro stutters while playing videos on vlc or other media players? imo the problem is with the drivers installed...

 

[Third-Eye]

I'm surprised nobody has said anything about the SSD. It appears it's dramless based on the terrible Phison S11 controller which also apparently suffers from controller failures quite often. I would say replace the SSD with a better SSD.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Ok, so i added a rather barebones molex fan to my systems box, it sucks air into the case and the psu fan is the exhaust. Definately not ideal, but perhaps better than nothing at all.
Temperatures seem to have dropped a bit.

Furthermore, i tried playing FH3 with minimum settings at a low resolution with an fps cap of 72fps, so that my gpu usage would be at about 42% average when playing and the temps somewhere around 56C.
It still had some odd stutters at times.

Perhaps the temperature is not the problem?

@Sohom Tested the latency, results came rather positive.

@Third-Eye This might also be the cause. My windows is installed on that ssd, so perhaps everything stutters because the windows backend is facing problems?

Will probably test stuttering more later with Quake Champions, since the games "gore" option had made it stutter very obviously before.

 

[RodroX]

Theres no "modern" game engine that Im aware of that can run at a fix FPS number all the time, loading scenes, movies, maps, ia, big explosions, etc. all that can cause small stuttering that is normal.

In the last in-game picture you posted (I believe is FH3), even thought the GPU is only at ~40% usage, the CPU usage is over 80% on all 6 cores, that means there are lots of things going on in the background that just eye-candy features on the screen (most of them should be disable since your runing on low settings).

I will really try remove the manual OC (if you have'nt already) from the card, add two fans to the case, and do some little cable management.

Cheers

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Theres no "modern" game engine that Im aware of that can run at a fix FPS number all the time, loading scenes, movies, maps, ia, big explosions, etc. all that can cause small stuttering that is normal.

In the last in-game picture you posted (I believe is FH3), even thought the GPU is only at ~40% usage, the CPU usage is over 80% on all 6 cores, that means there are lots of things going on in the background that just eye-candy features on the screen (most of them should be disable since your runing on low settings).

I will really try remove the manual OC (if you have'nt already) from the card, add two fans to the case, and do some little cable management.

Cheers

The manual OC has been removed quite some time ago now. It made the computer really noisy and didnt add too much to the performance.
Also yes, fixed FPS is not really possible with most game engines, its normal to see stutters to 1fps and shish when loading for example, but during gameplay im still getting the impression that stuff should be very smooth.
Big explosions should probably create a dip in framerate rather than a full blown stutter.

In some games though, im getting some very predictable stutter.
For example, in FH3, every time i drive past a speed camera, the screen flashes (which is intended) and the it seems to skip one frame/creates a guaranteed stutter (probably not intended).
In Quake Champions, every time i die there is a small stutter.
In Minecraft the world stutters a lot when flying around in creative mode with high draw distances. This one grinds my gears quite a bit, is it actually supposed to stutter with high draw distances? Big explosions dont stutter in that game, the fps just dips.
The entire topic just sucks.
Stuttering is gg. Cant wait to somehow get rid of it.

 

[Phaaze88]

I'm surprised nobody has said anything about the SSD. It appears it's dramless based on the terrible Phison S11 controller which also apparently suffers from controller failures quite often. I would say replace the SSD with a better SSD.

I haven't completely disregarded that issue, but with the OP's current 'near zero airflow' setup, I had to question whether their storage drives were also hanging up due to high temps, which is why I asked them to check the operating temps of the drives with HWINFO.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Forgot to upload that part. Here:

All three drives seem relatively stable, pictures taken about 30mins after driving around in forza.
Its also not a completely airflowless system now, there is some primitive airflow after i added an intake fan. Isn't great yet though.
The PSU acts as an exhaust in that case.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Okay, i might have found a game to test the stutters well with. Minecraft seems to do just that, constantly. Its ok mostly, but when flying and running around it seems to stutter, sometimes in perfect periods. Maybe a chunk loading issue. Could be caused by the ssd, the rams, or something else.

 

[Third-Eye]

Okay, i might have found a game to test the stutters well with. Minecraft seems to do just that, constantly. Its ok mostly, but when flying and running around it seems to stutter, sometimes in perfect periods. Maybe a chunk loading issue. Could be caused by the ssd, the rams, or something else.

That is "normal" from the game generating new chunks (terrain.) Shorter view range reduces the stutter on slower systems.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

That is "normal" from the game generating new chunks (terrain.) Shorter view range reduces the stutter on slower systems.

It's quite a fast system though. Is it really normal for that game to stutter with high view distances? That just seems odd to me, sure its generating chunks but, that just sucks if its meant to be like this.

 

[Third-Eye]

It's quite a fast system though. Is it really normal for that game to stutter with high view distances? That just seems odd to me, sure its generating chunks but, that just sucks if its meant to be like this.

It's dependent on the memory and HDD/SSD speed and data connection to them from the motherboard.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Removed 2 memory sticks and tried minecraft with those, still experienced stutters. Issue not likely connected to the rams, although i didn't expect any sort of a boost either.
It is quite hard to make high render distances not stutter, likely a problem with the storage drive. It makes a bit of sense aswell, this ssd was used in my older pc build aswell, and it might have helped the stutters back then.

It might be my windows install as well, since im now starting to doubt if it was done correctly.
It was done as follows:
I plugged all of my drives into my new pc so that it would boot up.
After it booted up, i selected the "reset this pc" option in windows. This wiped my drives and windows seemed to reinstall. It seems logical, but maybe this wasnt the right course of action.

 

[Third-Eye]

Removed 2 memory sticks and tried minecraft with those, still experienced stutters. Issue not likely connected to the rams, although i didn't expect any sort of a boost either.
It is quite hard to make high render distances not stutter, likely a problem with the storage drive. It makes a bit of sense aswell, this ssd was used in my older pc build aswell, and it might have helped the stutters back then.

It might be my windows install as well, since im now starting to doubt if it was done correctly.
It was done as follows:
I plugged all of my drives into my new pc so that it would boot up.
After it booted up, i selected the "reset this pc" option in windows. This wiped my drives and windows seemed to reinstall. It seems logical, but maybe this wasnt the right course of action.

If your HDD is 7200rpm, you might have better luck with Minecraft if you install it to your HDD and move the created folder in the .minecraft appdata folder to your HDD with a symbolic link to the HDD location placed in the .minecraft folder on C:. The default render distance is 12 chunks and I get no stutter with 12 chunks on my Ryzen 5 2600 with DDR4 3000Mhz dual channel mode and SATA Samsung 850 Evo 500GB I'm using for the OS. I don't even remember getting stutter on my i7-2600k and DDR3 1600Mhz with the same OS installation on the same SSD and same game settings. I know I only start seeing noticeable stutter at 14+chunk render distance.

I would just get a new SSD and clone the OS drive with either the cloning software provided with the SSD or use a free program like Macrium Reflect Free. You may want to just reinstall the OS instead, so you can eliminate possible issues with your current installation. If it's in your price range, try to get one of the better name brand models like an Samsung 860 Evo, Crucial MX 500 or maybe even a Western Digital Blue 3D NAND.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Tried a new game, squad stuttered very bad after about 30 mins of gameplay with high view settings.
Still not certain if its my ssd. Old setup (to my memory) didnt have problems with squad.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Okay, after a long while i have decided to get a new M.2 NVMe drive and 3 case fans.
I'm getting 2 120mm Corsair ML120 magnetic fans, one to the front and one to the side of my case.
Due to the small form factor the best i can get for a rear exhaust is a 92mm Noctua NF-A9 PWM, despite the small size it is quite a neat fan.

For my PSU, at peak my system drives about 250-260w from the wall outlet, so i am postponing that upgrade. But i do have plans to get a Corsair RM650x, its rather pricey but the reliability on this unit should hold up even after several upgrades.

Ill post the results here after i manage to receive some parts

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Okay, after a long while i have decided to get a new M.2 NVMe drive and 3 case fans.
I'm getting 2 120mm Corsair ML120 magnetic fans, one to the front and one to the side of my case.
Due to the small form factor the best i can get for a rear exhaust is a 92mm Noctua NF-A9 PWM, despite the small size it is quite a neat fan.

For my PSU, at peak my system drives about 250-260w from the wall outlet, so i am postponing that upgrade. But i do have plans to get a Corsair RM650x, its rather pricey but the reliability on this unit should hold up even after several upgrades.

Ill post the results here after i manage to receive some parts

So the thermals are still <Mod Edit> since i havent done any cable management, but i did read the thermals only on my gpu.
If i want to cool that, i probably need to just get a new card, which is the long term idea.

The thought is to get an RM1000x psu, since i found an used one for a decent price. Will check the ideas later though.

 

[John Chesterfield]

Don't buy a used PSU.

 

[Sir. Barnaby]

Don't buy a used PSU.

We could say that dont buy used anything, because it can be a gamble at times. I wouldnt say its a rule made out of steel, but im not buying anything at the moment. A quick change of ideology: my current psu should be fine for the pressure it is getting.

Recently tried battlefield 1 multiplayer, and that too stutters at times. Most notably when loading in, and running around the recently-loaded map.
Im pretty much out of ideas. Im increasingly having the thought that the cpu i bought is having some kind of problems. Or the ram.
Or the gpu.
Or maybe even the psu. But there seems to be no way to test for these things.

 

[Gfost73]

could stutter be more HDD or SSD Lag while trying to load new maps or areas? maybe its the data transfer from HDD/SSD causing mild stutter? not sure if it can but seems logical if it is too slow to keep up with loading files.

 

[Gfost73]

also is this game online? maybe the stutter is network lag? I know some of my games online if I have a not so great connection will lag and cause stutter cuz your moving (or so you think) but bandwidth of network isn't really letting you move, so when it catches up you "jump" from place to place.. a buddy of mien was banned from a game due to this and people thought he was using some sorta hack but in reality his internet was garbage..