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!?

 

[delboyd]

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.

Interesting. I get 60fps Vsynced on both titles, no frame drops or anything like that at all. Only thing with GTA V is the little hiccup now and again. Something definitely up. I'm just thinking that if it's more demanding it may be pushing the power requirements over the edge.

I'll drop my OC down later and see where that gets me.

 

[sommo89]

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.

Interesting. I get 60fps Vsynced on both titles, no frame drops or anything like that at all. Only thing with GTA V is the little hiccup now and again. Something definitely up. I'm just thinking that if it's more demanding it may be pushing the power requirements over the edge.

I'll drop my OC down later and see where that gets me.

let me know if you solve the problem by lowering the clock

 

[delboyd]

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.

Interesting. I get 60fps Vsynced on both titles, no frame drops or anything like that at all. Only thing with GTA V is the little hiccup now and again. Something definitely up. I'm just thinking that if it's more demanding it may be pushing the power requirements over the edge.

I'll drop my OC down later and see where that gets me.

let me know if you solve the problem by lowering the clock

Okay so observations:

Downclocked CPU to stock (4.4Ghz) with 1.22V
Downclocked RAM to 2133MHz with 1.6V

Issues still there although not AS bad, stutters are smaller but I've only been playing for 15 minutes.

Just about to take my GPU out and clean its teeth. Shall see how that ends up.

 

[sommo89]

I have now tried to increase the paging file and put the game settings to normal. I did not notice it more shots, now I try to raise the settings and see if anything changes

 

[delboyd]

Played a bit more tonight. Issue seems to get worse as time goes by. Drove in a ring around the island in the fastest car for 15 minutes. First few minutes were stutter free with no issues, gradually started to see more and more spikes and hiccups.

Tried disabling hyper threading, which used to fix Ubisoft games that stuttered. No such luck here.

 

[KNARF XD]

how much vram are you using? try to keep the bar (the bar in the settting menu for max vram usage) green, or try to use very low settings

 

[delboyd]

how much vram are you using? try to keep the bar (the bar in the settting menu for max vram usage) green, or try to use very low settings

In game indicator says around 2600MB, which translates to a real world usage of 3500MB I believe, well within the GTX980 capabilities.

 

[KNARF XD]

how much vram are you using? try to keep the bar (the bar in the settting menu for max vram usage) green, or try to use very low settings

In game indicator says around 2600MB, which translates to a real world usage of 3500MB I believe, well within the GTX980 capabilities.

i believe that 2600mb is 2600mb, but i could be wrong, but this at least crosses out a vram over-usage.

 

[-Lone-]

The in game VRAM indicator is wrong, it's like way off. It says 4.1GB in game for me, in real world my GPU is using anywhere from 4 to almost 7GB of VRAM, using an average of at least 5GB.

 

[MinhVN]

Just turn On/Yes everything in the "Advanced Graphic" option. Kinda weird logic of "you lag more to lag less" but it worked. Give it a try

 

[sommo89]

Hello guys, I solved the problem similar to yours. I increased the amount of ram to 8g and I increased the amount of the paging file, but moving on secondary hard drive and not leaving them on the hard disk on which I installed gta v. i play with all settings on very high, excluding for the grass quality (normal), in the advance options i disable only the shadows high resolution

 

[Lorkanus]

I seem to have solved this problem on my system by switching to Direct X 10,1. Hopefully they will patch the game to fix this.

Core Quad Q6600 2.4
4Gb DDR2 ram
ATI R9 290 2GB
Kingston SSD 60GB for windows
2 TB WD 7200rpm for games

Robin.

 

[delboyd]

New power supply came today. EVGA supernova 850W. No more restarts it seems, thankfully. Recent patch on GTA V seems to have fixed stutter a lot which I'm chuffed about.

 

[carver_g]

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. Not only did it fix the stuttering but the overall framerate increased as well. Thanks!

Dell Precision T3610
Xeon E5-1620v2 @3.7
8GB DDR3 1600
Dell 685W PSU 80-plus Gold
EVGA GTX970 SC

 

[Dannyboy30]

Hello,

I have solved the issue. It has to be a bug of gta V. Please read this completely to the end and then be so kind and contact a technician who shall take a look at it.

The following list contains all measures I took to solve the Problem:

Newest gpu driver - STUTTER
Older gpu driver from march (I uninstAlled the newer one with a driver cleaner) - STUTTER
Different graphic settings - STUTTER
Optimal graphic settings ("Nvidia Experience") - STUTTER
Very low graphic settings - (maybe occuring later, but still) -STUTTER
3 different audio cards (x-fi, onboard, usb-headset) - STUTTER
FRESH OS INSTALLATION WITH FRESH DRIVERS and literally only basic programs like chrome or Avira Antivirus - STUTTER
Took out one of my two RAM-blocks, then put that one back and took out the other -IN BOTH CASES STUTTER LIKE HELL, FROM SECOND ONE I'M in the game!! (with both being in, the STUTTER occurs just after 5-10 Minutes
Updated my BIOS -STUTTER
Installed newest mainboard-related drivers like chipset and so on - STUTTER
tried very different settings with the page file - STUTTER
OC'ed my CPU - STUTTER
Played w/o internet connection - STUTTER
Installed even completely new!!!! - STUTTER!!!

All the time it was clear to me that it had to do with memory. But 8 gb should definitely be sufficient, I mean due to the game's specs and the fact, that obviously real persons (friends, too) can play with 8 gb without having any issues. So it has to do with page file? It grows over time and that would explain why stuttering begins after a while, not immediately. It would also explain, why the stuttering occurs earlier with 4 gb inside, because data is being outsourced to the page file earlier.
It could be THAT ONE THING ALL PLAYERS WITH STUTTER PROBLEMS HAVE IN COMMON (because it sure ain't the hardware configuration)!
They all supposedly installed the game on the OS DRIVE!!! The same drive, where normally the page file is stored.
This still doesn't make too much sense, because an ssd Controller should be able to handle the game files and the page file (both being on the same volume) in a way, that you wouldn't notice performance-valleys while you're playing. It's a SAMSUNG 840 Pro 256gb and it should be able to handle it.
But still, I wanted to sort out that last idea that I had.
So I configured the page file to be stored on my D. It's the same Ssd only with 128gb.

AND
NOW
IT
WORKS
PERFECTLY!!!

What the hell? Aren't computers supposed to be absolutely logic??

 

[delboyd]

Hello,

I have solved the issue. It has to be a bug of gta V. Please read this completely to the end and then be so kind and contact a technician who shall take a look at it.

The following list contains all measures I took to solve the Problem:

Newest gpu driver - STUTTER
Older gpu driver from march (I uninstAlled the newer one with a driver cleaner) - STUTTER
Different graphic settings - STUTTER
Optimal graphic settings ("Nvidia Experience") - STUTTER
Very low graphic settings - (maybe occuring later, but still) -STUTTER
3 different audio cards (x-fi, onboard, usb-headset) - STUTTER
FRESH OS INSTALLATION WITH FRESH DRIVERS and literally only basic programs like chrome or Avira Antivirus - STUTTER
Took out one of my two RAM-blocks, then put that one back and took out the other -IN BOTH CASES STUTTER LIKE HELL, FROM SECOND ONE I'M in the game!! (with both being in, the STUTTER occurs just after 5-10 Minutes
Updated my BIOS -STUTTER
Installed newest mainboard-related drivers like chipset and so on - STUTTER
tried very different settings with the page file - STUTTER
OC'ed my CPU - STUTTER
Played w/o internet connection - STUTTER
Installed even completely new!!!! - STUTTER!!!

All the time it was clear to me that it had to do with memory. But 8 gb should definitely be sufficient, I mean due to the game's specs and the fact, that obviously real persons (friends, too) can play with 8 gb without having any issues. So it has to do with page file? It grows over time and that would explain why stuttering begins after a while, not immediately. It would also explain, why the stuttering occurs earlier with 4 gb inside, because data is being outsourced to the page file earlier.
It could be THAT ONE THING ALL PLAYERS WITH STUTTER PROBLEMS HAVE IN COMMON (because it sure ain't the hardware configuration)!
They all supposedly installed the game on the OS DRIVE!!! The same drive, where normally the page file is stored.
This still doesn't make too much sense, because an ssd Controller should be able to handle the game files and the page file (both being on the same volume) in a way, that you wouldn't notice performance-valleys while you're playing. It's a SAMSUNG 840 Pro 256gb and it should be able to handle it.
But still, I wanted to sort out that last idea that I had.
So I configured the page file to be stored on my D. It's the same Ssd only with 128gb.

AND
NOW
IT
WORKS
PERFECTLY!!!

What the hell? Aren't computers supposed to be absolutely logic??

Same reply I gave you on the R* forum:

I have 5 drives on my PC. C:, OS and some essential files + Page File. D:, Data HDD for music and pictures. E:, Games SSD (A Crucial M500 120GB with GTA on it). F, an 1TB HDD for Steam games. G:, a 200GB scratch disk for quick read writes such as temp files and copying/pasting to my phone.
Although GTA V is on my games SSD with the page file (12GB on a separate OS drive, I still get this annoying ass stutter.
What I have noticed is, if I refrain from tabbing out of the game at any point before I actually load into the game, the stutter takes MUCH longer to come around. If I tab out while the game is loading however, it stutters.

I'm absolutely baffled. You're 100% right in your suggestions about it being a memory management issue though. What we need is a patch to better purge the RAM every now and again when it starts leaking into the page file. There's no way this game can be using over 20GB of RAM+Page file. If R* don't fix it, I'm sure modders will eventually find a method of dealing with it.

 

[delboyd]

Why has this been marked as 'Solved'? It's no where near solved. The answer marked as 'solved' is completely useless and has NOT resolved the issue at all. I'll decide when it's solved mods!

 

[Soapmak3r]

I was having problems with GTA V over the last couple of days. The sound would crackle/drop out and I was getting FPS hitching/stutter.

After reading through this thread, and having done everything in it, I tried to think of what was suddenly causing these issues for me. Turns out that it was CPU power saving features in the BIOS that I had enabled within the last few days.

Basically, anything that dynamically changes the clock speed and voltage of your CPU to save power (during CPU idle states, or low usage) is bad news for GTA V. It really doesn't seem to like it.

The only one I left enabled was the voltage and CPU throttling in case of CPU overheating, and if you trust you cooler you should be able to disable that, too (I don't trust my Corsair H80i...Nothing but issues, though that is another, long, annoying story).

I was getting some really bad audio drop-outs/graphical freezing within minutes of playing the game. Now they all appear to have gone away again.

My Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 gave some handy descriptions of the CPU power saving features, but if you guys need me to post a screenshot or something here, that's no problem.

My System:
i7 4790K OC @4.2Ghz
Corsair H80i water cooler (nothing but trouble and air cooling is quieter, and would have been cheaper and much less hassle)
GTX 760 2GB
16GB DDR3 1600 RAM
Steinberg UR824 USB Audio interface

 

[7r1bb1e]

Can someone actually post a video showing these stuttering issues?

 

[Soapmak3r]

Can confirm that after posting this, I played for about 3 hours. No audio/visual hiccups at all.

Can someone actually post a video showing these stuttering issues?

I could re-enable the BIOS settings and take a video to post, but I'd really rather not go to that level of trouble just to satisfy your curiosity.

It's pretty simple though, the audio dropped out, there was a crackle, and then the game froze for about a quarter of a second. It could happen every few seconds, every minute or so, or every few minutes, but it was very frustrating.

 

[7r1bb1e]

I dont know if it will help you but GTA 5 freezes for 2 seconds on my PC if i lost the connection to the internet. Then it's ok again.

 

[Soapmak3r]

I dont know if it will help you but GTA 5 freezes for 2 seconds on my PC if i lost the connection to the internet. Then it's ok again.

After I disabled the CPU power saving features in the BIOS my performance is buttery smooth.

You aren't using Avast by any chance, are you? I recently switched to Avira as I discovered that any time I lost net connection, Avast was slowing my whole system down...Literally taking 10-15 seconds to open an audio or video file. Took Avast out of the system and everything returned to normal. Sad to see, as I really liked it for years,

 

[Tigzar]

I tried everything to find a solution even put the graphics to the lowest possible settings , still got stuttering , now im running at highest possible settings at 100+fps no stuttering at all ... how?

I downloaded the latest AMD BETA drivers , restarted pc .. it now runs smooth as hell , anyone with AMD graphics card i would suggest downloading the latest amd beta driver.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

select your stuff and windows then download the beta.

hope this helps . it helped me

 

[gaz0012]

I remember something similar with afew codemasters games where this happened when you had a ssd fitted for your boot drive , may be worth trying to install on your boot drive if this applies to you.

 

[scottfletcher28]

EVERYONE READ THIS

For everyone with a high frame rate but still lots of stuttering, try playing GTA V with no internet connection in offline mode. I know it sounds stupid, but Rockstar's DRM causes your systems RAM to be constantly scanned and thus causes the stuttering.

Not many people know this so spread the word and hopefully Rockstar will fix it!