GTA V PC Stuttering/hiccup issues

[delboyd]

Getting these weird hiccups/stutters when playing GTA V. Not at all sure what it could be. There's a few of them during this heist mission, the most obvious occurs at 8.21 on the YouTube video I linked (currently uploading), when leaving the club. The sound crackles for half a second then everything is fine for another couple of minutes.

So far I've tried uninstalling my sound card and going back to my on board sound. This has changed nothing but the audio quality, it still stutters. Mainly happens when on foot, not as much in vehicles.

VIDEO:

http://youtu.be/LnVGCfa17GI

8.21 is where it happens in the most obvious manner.

Hardware:

ASUS Maximus VII Ranger
i7 4790k @4.6GHz
GTX980 Super Jetstream, @ 1.5GHz
Team Xtreem 2400MHz 8GB
Xonar DGX (Taken out now)
OCZ 650W PSU
Sandisk 128GB as OS drive
Crucial M500 250GB as GTA V drive
2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB drives for data


Any ideas!?

 

[RCFProd]

Did you try enabling VSync?

And to be fair, isn't the motherboards onboard audio better than the Xonar DGX?

 

[delboyd]

Did you try enabling VSync?

Yeah it's already enabled 🙁

 

[KNARF XD]

update your gpu drivers

 

[delboyd]

update your gpu drivers

They're on the latest version released last night by Nvidia.

Just been playing again and noted that when I crash a car at high speed, I get the same kind of hiccup, but the sound turns to the kind of sound a PC makes when it hard locks up, kind of a digital interference sound. This happens for around half a second then everything carries on. Would it be possible that it's my CPU overclock?

 

[OcelotRex]

By chance did you purchase and install from Steam? If so I would verify the installation (right-click on GTAV from your Steam client library) to ensure it was installed correctly. You might end up having to back up your save games and reinstall the game.

If you're worried it's your overclock you can always test by reverting to the default profile, correct? I would check/reinstall the game first though.

 

[cindylo]

Wait for a patch. Try and disable these 3 things one by one, FXAA, MSAA, Tessalation. I turned them on and my FPS went from a nice 50-60 with 45 dips to 31 and 15 whenever my car hit something. It seems that cards with less than 3gb vram, or cards with more but don't have the horsepower to actually use it are having issues with some of those settings.

 

[Mr_Monkey]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

 

[Rhylee Hills]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

That actually worked! How bizarre! Something they need to fix,i alt tabbed and then back in and definatly noticed a smoother gameplay 😱 thanks for posting that dude ive been looking all day for something to fix an issue for me when it just has massive fps drops when im driving a car >.>

 

[delboyd]

Hmm very strange. Muted my sound to keep an ear on the GPU. Can actually hear when the stutters occur. I have a tiny bit of coil whine on my GTX980 that doesn't bother me, but whenever there is a stutter in game the coil whine stops for a fraction of a second.

Also, there is an option in graphics "Pause when application loses focus". The game keeps pausing while I'm playing, suggesting that the GPU is seeing the application as having 'lost focus'. Could this be a driver issue? I may try a DDU uninstall of my drivers and see if that fixes it. Wacky.

 

[Mr_Monkey]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

That actually worked! How bizarre! Something they need to fix,i alt tabbed and then back in and definatly noticed a smoother gameplay 😱 thanks for posting that dude ive been looking all day for something to fix an issue for me when it just has massive fps drops when im driving a car >.>

Yeah! I agree, it is rather weird that that is what fixes it. I will probably make a YouTube vid for people looking for a fix because it seems to work in most cases, as well as for that weird gta online heist glitch. I'm glad I was able to help!

 

[delboyd]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

That actually worked! How bizarre! Something they need to fix,i alt tabbed and then back in and definatly noticed a smoother gameplay 😱 thanks for posting that dude ive been looking all day for something to fix an issue for me when it just has massive fps drops when im driving a car >.>

Yeah! I agree, it is rather weird that that is what fixes it. I will probably make a YouTube vid for people looking for a fix because it seems to work in most cases, as well as for that weird gta online heist glitch. I'm glad I was able to help!

Tried that and it did nothing sadly. A driver reinstall has also done diddly squat. Very strange. After reinstalling drivers, I'm now getting the same hiccup but it ends in a 'GTA V has stopped working' instead of simply resuming.

 

[francofag7]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

that worked for me too! thanks a lot!

would you mind to share your graphic settings ? Im also on a 970 and dont quite know how to set them up yet

 

[delboyd]

Okay so done some more testing and come to a few more conclusions. The stutter/hiccup is much much more likely to occur during a collision a vehicle. Whether it's light foliage, a fence or even a lamp post. Upon colliding with these objects, a stutter is produced. It's almost as if the game is searching for something to result from the collision. Maybe a physics calculation from the CPU resulting in a spike, maybe a sound produced specifically for that event. Starting to feel it's the game as opposed to my setup. Will upload video soon showing collisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdKdSL6n-s

 

[Mr_Monkey]

I have had stuttering issues with my 970, they were a bit different than the stutters that you have showcased. However, what works for me is after I load the game in, if i alt tab out then back in, my game will run completely smoothly. this has also fixed the heist quick restart bug where you are locked to a screen of your character. might be worth a shot m8.

that worked for me too! thanks a lot!

would you mind to share your graphic settings ? Im also on a 970 and dont quite know how to set them up yet

I just let the game decide those for me - I am running at 1440p, and I didn't feel like fiddling with the settings too much. Ill get back to you once I get around to fiddling with them but that probably won't happen for another week.

 

[Mr_Monkey]

Okay so done some more testing and come to a few more conclusions. The stutter/hiccup is much much more likely to occur during a collision a vehicle. Whether it's light foliage, a fence or even a lamp post. Upon colliding with these objects, a stutter is produced. It's almost as if the game is searching for something to result from the collision. Maybe a physics calculation from the CPU resulting in a spike, maybe a sound produced specifically for that event. Starting to feel it's the game as opposed to my setup. Will upload video soon showing collisions.

Try taking out your video card and dusting the connectors? I'm pretty sure those calculations occur on the GPU, though I could be mistaken

 

[-Lone-]

What resolution and settings do you play at? I don't see that info anywhere.

 

[delboyd]

What resolution and settings do you play at? I don't see that info anywhere.

Good point. 1440p around max, a few sliders below maxed out, very highs instead of ultra.

So last night I was fooling around on a bridge punching people as you do, I hit the shadowplay record button and got a long stutter. The PC then just restarted itself. No BSOD, just a hard restart. I'm absolutely baffled. Could it be power supply issues?..

I'll try cleaning the card's teeth when I'm home from work.

 

[-Lone-]

It could be your PSU, you seem to OC quite a bit, have you tried stock or lower settings for a bit? It could be OC is too high or not enough power to compensate for your OC. Another possibility is the VRAM was getting over your maximum at that moment. So I would download GPU Z version 0.8.2 to monitor your GPU and play for a bit and if you see a stutter, alt tab out and look at what your GPU was at during the moment of the stutter. I would set it at refresh every 0.1sec.

 

[delboyd]

It could be your PSU, you seem to OC quite a bit, have you tried stock or lower settings for a bit? It could be OC is too high or not enough power to compensate for your OC. Another possibility is the VRAM was getting over your maximum at that moment. So I would download GPU Z version 0.8.2 to monitor your GPU and play for a bit and if you see a stutter, alt tab out and look at what your GPU was at during the moment of the stutter. I would set it at refresh every 0.1sec.

Would you say that GTA V is more demanding than the likes of Battlefield 4 multiplayer? I mean I can play that for hours and it doesn't crash once. Seems weird that it's only affecting GTA V. Is it plausible that after playing for around 10 hours on off yesterday the PSU was strained beyond its limits and was permanently damaged? My RAM is 2400MHz at 1.65V stock, maybe I could downclock to 2133MHz @ 1.6V... CPU I'll knock down to stock @ 1.2V and see how that fairs. I'll do what you said with GPU-Z as well..

Glad I bought the PSU from Amazon... Got a funny feeling it's on its way out...

 

[sommo89]

i have the same problem, i think there are 3 solution for me (but i don't test it yet)
1- more ram (i have 4gb)
2- more file paging
3- OC cpu (i can try to underclock to 4 ghz)

my sistem:
Cpu: i5 2500k @4.3 ghz
Gpu: r9 280x
Ram: 4gb
MB: asrock extreme v3
PSU: 850w corsair tx 80+

I do not think our problem is the power supply, I have a 850w psu from and if does not hold there something wrong
I can not try these solutions until this evening if you can try them let me know if you solve the problem

 

[delboyd]

i have the same problem, i think there are 3 solution for me (but i don't test it yet)
1- more ram (i have 4gb)
2- more file paging
3- OC cpu (i can try to underclock to 4 ghz)

my sistem:
Cpu: i5 2500k @4.3 ghz
Gpu: r9 280x
Ram: 4gb
MB: asrock extreme v3
PSU: 850w corsair tx 80+

I do not think our problem is the power supply, I have a 850w psu from and if does not hold there something wrong
I can not try these solutions until this evening if you can try them let me know if you solve the problem

Is it exactly the same issue as in the videos above?

Things I'm to try later are:

Underclock RAM
Underclock CPU from 4.6GHz to stock
Bump voltage on CPU
Remove GPU and clean teeth

 

[sommo89]

i have the same problem, i think there are 3 solution for me (but i don't test it yet)
1- more ram (i have 4gb)
2- more file paging
3- OC cpu (i can try to underclock to 4 ghz)

my sistem:
Cpu: i5 2500k @4.3 ghz
Gpu: r9 280x
Ram: 4gb
MB: asrock extreme v3
PSU: 850w corsair tx 80+

I do not think our problem is the power supply, I have a 850w psu from and if does not hold there something wrong
I can not try these solutions until this evening if you can try them let me know if you solve the problem

Is it exactly the same issue as in the videos above?

Things I'm to try later are:

Underclock RAM
Underclock CPU from 4.6GHz to stock
Bump voltage on CPU
Remove GPU and clean teeth

yes, it is the exact same problem, only that mine is sometimes worse, for example when I drive a car and I'm going to crash into another car or object environment I block the system for a few seconds (1-2 seconds ) and then leave without problems or nearly. i have the same sound lag

 

[delboyd]

i have the same problem, i think there are 3 solution for me (but i don't test it yet)
1- more ram (i have 4gb)
2- more file paging
3- OC cpu (i can try to underclock to 4 ghz)

my sistem:
Cpu: i5 2500k @4.3 ghz
Gpu: r9 280x
Ram: 4gb
MB: asrock extreme v3
PSU: 850w corsair tx 80+

I do not think our problem is the power supply, I have a 850w psu from and if does not hold there something wrong
I can not try these solutions until this evening if you can try them let me know if you solve the problem

Is it exactly the same issue as in the videos above?

Things I'm to try later are:

Underclock RAM
Underclock CPU from 4.6GHz to stock
Bump voltage on CPU
Remove GPU and clean teeth

yes, it is the exact same problem, only that mine is sometimes worse, for example when I drive a car and I'm going to crash into another car or object environment I block the system for a few seconds (1-2 seconds ) and then leave without problems or nearly. i have the same sound lag

Yeah I'm getting the same when I crash fast enough. Raising a support ticket later, I'll see where that goes.

 

[-Lone-]

Yeah, GTA V is more demanding than BF4, I can get constant 60 fps no problem at stock settings in BF4 at 4k ultra. Right now my GPU is OC'ed to 1200MHz and I still get 45-50 fps average, but in some places like the mountains/lots of grass areas I get down to 25-30 in GTA V. I still think BF4 looks better than GTA V in overall graphics, GTA V has some "super" real water graphics though, lol.