[SOLVED] Gaming rig feels really weird ?

[CallMeDenny]

Hey guys, just a general question here, I've had an issue with this for quite a while but I'm not entirely if it's just placebo or not, and it's really starting to bother me. I play a few games like Apex Legends, Rust, CS:GO, the list goes on. I run the settings on medium to low for a decent amount of FPS in the game. However, every time I play I notice stutters and micros utters with a little bit of screen tearing and it's starting to really bother me. I'm going to provide a list of my specs at the end of the post, I'm really hoping someone on here can help me I'd highly appreciate it. I'm constantly messing around with my settings trying to fix things but the issue is still there and I don't know what to do exactly. If you guys have some ideas of what I should upgrade on my build or any ideas to fix my issue in general, I would highly appreciate it! I've also noticed that my FPS would randomly drop by about 30-40 depending on the game, not on all games, but some.

Processor: i7-9700K @ 3.60 GHz
Video Card: RTX 2080 Super
Ram: 32gb
Motherboard: Z390
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series 750 Watt
Monitor: 27in Acer Predator 240hz

I'm not too smart with computers, I just know some basics and that's about it. I try to put in some time and effort here and there to learn quite a bit more and I've got some friends who teach me a few things here and there whenever they can. I'm just really having some issues here and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong with settings and what not. This issue is really starting to frustrate me and it's making it difficult for me to enjoy games anymore.

Thanks in advance everyone!
- Denny

 

[Ralston18]

Actually there is quite a bit you can do - just takes some time and effort. And the willingness to learn.

First, although I understand "constantly messing around" (I call it "tinkering") you need to be very methodical, change only one thing at a time. Too many changes at once will make it difficult to identify what all is actually happening. You can trade one problem for another. Maybe for worse.

Keep notes on what you change, where you changed it, and applicable configuration setting: before and after.

Some experimentation is likely to be necessary but I suggest some refocusing on finding the problem.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to observe system performance. Use both tools but only one at a time. Get a sense of what resources your computer is using: while sitting idle, doing light browsing, email, running local applications, and finally gaming.

Determine what resources are being used, to what extent (%), and what is using any given resource. You will need to leave a window open in order to watch and observe. As you become more familiar with each tool, it will be easier to discover more about what is going on with your system. And you will become smarter about computers.

For example you may notice that when stutters occur that something else is happening at the same time.

Look in Reliability History: What errors etc., if any, do you see at times the problems occurred. Those entries can be helpful.

However, do not rush to apply any given fix of any sort. Research further and make sure that the problem is clearly identified and that some found "fix" is indeed applicable. Avoid installing third party software or registry edits - some of those "solutions" will show up no matter what problem you are trying to resolve.

How old is the PSU? Heavy gaming use - correct? PSU's are a critical component and if the PSU is starting to falter or fail then problems of all sorts can start happening.

Another thing you can do:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place. Connections creep loose over time and thus can cause intermittent problems. (If you are not comfortable opening the case then find a knowledgeable family member or friend to help.)

Another note: Be sure to back up all important data at least 2 x to locations off of the computer in question. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Who knows what may be going on with the computer - anything could happen. But do not let that "anything" include losing your important data.

 

[dorsai]

Things I would recommend:

I'd double check that you have G-Sync turned on in the monitor itself. The settings are typically accessed using the buttons on the side of the monitor as controls. Also check the Windows monitor properties to verify 240hz is enabled and then also check the software nVidia control panel on your PC for G-Sync enabled.

You don't list what type of hard drive your system is using...if you're not using an SSD as storage for your game drive you should.

If you're overclocking anything set it back to stock settings and try it. Many overclocks seem stable but in reality can introduce issues when the system gets up to full temp. A lot of people overclock and spend 10 minutes testing and call it good...which is a mistake.

If you've made any power plan settings changes in Windows put it back to "balanced" and you can also try "performance" to see if it changes for the better. Stay away from any changes to C-states unless you're 100% sure you know what you're doing.

How's your internet connection ? Do you reboot your modem and router weekly ? Many people with fps issues overlook their internet connection when trouble shooting...since it doesn't hurt anything to power down your internet for 30sec it's probably the easiest but most overlooked fix to a poor online gaming experience.

 

[CallMeDenny]

@Ralston18 @dorsai Hey guys! Appreciate the response from the both of you, it means a lot! Instead of responding to each individual post, I'm going to just respond in one to make things a little easier for you both to read! As to the first thread, I did overclock my computer just to see if there's some improvement with it and honestly, it didn't help much. Yes, there's a significant FPS boost in-game for a majority of my games, but there's still the screen tear / stutters. Currently, I'm wired, I don't really reset the internet often considering I feel as if I don't need to. My ping in most games is around 15-20, which is fairly fine for me! I haven't taken the computer apart since I replaced the parts, and I'm really hoping not to have to do that because it was extremely tedious for someone like me! This was a prebuilt computer which I just tore most of the cheap components they used out and replaced them with much better components. The PSU is in good use, I replaced it about 4-5 months ago when my old one went down the drain. PC was constantly shutting off on me while playing games and it was the PSU which was causing these issues. iBuyPower prebuilt tend to use fairly cheap components and high end GPU / CPU's. As for overclocks, my motherboard is a MSI Z390 and the BIOS was extremely easy for me to read in comparison to other brands, I find ASUS to be extremely difficult for me to understand so I just went with an MSI from previous experience. I enabled Game Boost which overclocks the CPU I believe and then I went into MSI after burner and did the following for my OC: Core Voltage: MAX. Power Limit: Max, Temp Limit: MAX, Core Clock: 110MHz, Memory Clock: 450 MHz. (If this doesn't look right to anyone, please feel free to tell me so! I'm trying my best to learn more about computers, it's genuinely a fun but expensive hobby to be apart of!) With that being said as well, the Power mode I set to Performance. It was on balanced for the longest time and I set it to performance and it seemed to be running fine! Also, do you guys recommend running G-Sync on the monitor for gaming? A lot of people told me to keep it disabled because there was some issue with latency, etc. I'm not entirely sure how that works, however, if that's inaccurate I'll be more than happy to enable it again!

The one thing I didn't change out was the HDD and SDD. The hard drive is currently a 1TB and the SSD is 500gb. I don't use up all the space on the SDD considering I only play a few games, not too many. I believe the SDD is a Samsung, however, I'm not entirely sure. It came with the computer. If this is something I should replace, I'll gladly do so!

I leave for vacation this Thursday, so hopefully when I get back, maybe I just clean out the computer internals completely or even replace some of the parts if you guys recommend there's something else I should have in-place of what I currently have. Thanks for the responses guys, it genuinely means a lot!

 

[dorsai]

A lot to chew on here but lets go with the easy stuff first.

Being wired or wireless on your internet connection has no impact on whether or not you should be rebooting your modem occasionally. Any issues you may be having on the network side might be resolved by rebooting your modem. If you were having issues between your PC and modem they may be resolved through rebooting your PC, hardware updates, or driver updates. It would be a good idea to learn how to access your modem diagnostics and understand the connection information provided by the modem. If you're on a cable modem you'd want to look at "correctables" and "uncorrectables"...if you see the modem reporting more than low single digit counts ( 0 being ideal of course) it indicates as issue on the ISP side and it may resolve with a reboot. You can have a great ping and still have connection issues so don't use that as the only guide to your connection quality.

The entire point of G-Sync is to get rid of stuttering and screen tearing by syncing the monitor and GPU...who ever said to disable it was simply wrong. It's possible there was at one point an nVidia driver issue that may have caused problems with G-Sync but I don't run an nVidia card right now so I am not current on where things stand with their drivers.

I would recommend you not use MSI Game Boost at all...it is not a reliable way to overclock a system and should be disabled and ignored. For trouble shooting purposes you should disable any manual overclocks you've set to see if the stuttering issues are fixed by removing the overclock.

As far as hard drives like I said earlier the best idea is to use an SSD for your gaming drive...a regular SATA6 or m.2 SATA SSD is fine, there's no benefit to an NVME drive over SATA for a gamer.

 

[Ralston18]

And I add the suggestion that before you "clean" things out that you spend bit more time looking for the problem.

Observe system performance via Task, Manager, Resource Monitor, and even Process explorer. Do so while gaming with the thought in mind that the objective is to find some pattern that precedes the stutters, etc..

Or discover if some certain repeatable activity causes the stuttering. You are not playing to win. Listen to the fans, watch memory usage, watch GPU usage, etc.. Find out if you can deliberately create the problem (s) by something you do. Either in or out of the game.

Per @dorsai 's post it appears that you have a number of things to take a closer look at: G-Sync. Test with G-Sync both enabled and disabled changing nothing else. Likewise for Game Boost. Or overclocking....

Just be methodical. Start simple - minimal configuration that is stable. Then change only one thing at time. Keep notes.

= = = =

Look at what all is launched at startup: Task Manager > Startup.

Disable start-up apps that you recognize and can temporarily do without. Research unrecognized apps to find out what they may be. Especially if there is some indication that the app is related to video/GPU use. Do not immediately disable or uninstall. Could be something truly needed.

 

[CallMeDenny]

@dorsai @Ralston18 Thank you both for your responses, you have no idea how much I appreciate your help! I'll take a deeper and more in-depth look at everything that's running in my computer! I have enabled G-Sync, it's somewhat better, along with that I will be disabling my overclocks! On the other hand, for future overclocks, what do you guys recommend for my specs? I've tried doing some extensive research as to what others are doing with similar hardware but wasn't able to find much information on it so I had to toy around with it on my own a little bit. I noticed a lot of the time V-Sync makes things a little bit better, but on the other hand it also effects a lot of my other processes in-game which can be extremely frustrating. I've also messed around with settings in the Nvidia control panel and, nothing. Issue is still there. I tried using RIVA tuner for most games, which seems like it didn't work, kinda feel like that program doesn't do much besides make matters much worse in my case, however, this is much different for many other people! Thanks guys ❤

 

[dorsai]

This may seem counter intuitive but you might also want to try setting a frame rate cap of 235 or so while running GSync...about 5 fps below your monitor max should do. That should keep Vsync from kicking in and possibly introducing input lag at higher fps while keeping screen tearing away at lower fps.