Question [Help] Microstutters in Games and Desktop usage – Tried Almost Everything – Need Advice

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preekzy

preekzy

May 26, 2025
18
4
15
Hey everyone,

I've been struggling with persistent microstutters in games like FFXIV and Tarkov, and I'm seriously at a loss. I've gone through many troubleshooting both in BIOS and in Windows, and even replaced major components, but the issue still persists. I'm hoping someone here might catch something I've missed.
I've made a reddit post to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1kvzm4b/help_microstutters_in_games_and_desktop_usage/

My PC Specs:​

  • CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D (had same issue with previous 9800X3D chip)
  • GPU: RTX 5080 (upgraded from 4070 Ti, same stutters on both)
  • Motherboard: ASUS B650E-E (replaced from MSI X870 Gaming – same issue on both boards)
  • Cooler: NZXT Kraken 2024 (stock, not using USB/CAM features)
  • PSU: Corsair RX1000M
  • RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 64GB (30-40-40 EXPO) (Tried with Corsair Dominator 64GB as well)
  • Keyboard: Wooting 80HE
  • Mouse: Hitscan Hyperlight 1kHz
  • Monitor: AORUS FO27Q3 360Hz OLED (DP 2.1 Cable)
  • Audio: GoXLR
  • Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB (Tried another 990Pro 2TB)
  • Fan Controller: NZXT Controller

What I’ve Tried – BIOS Settings:​

  • Global C-State: Disabled and Enable
  • PSS Support: Disabled and Enable
  • Power Supply Idle Control: Typical and Auto
  • SMEE: Disabled And Auto
  • Latency Under Load: Disabled and Enable
  • SVM: Disabled
  • SVM Lock: Enabled
  • DF Cstates: Disabled and Auto
  • iGPU: Enabled and Disabled
  • CPPC: Dynamic Preferred Cores set to Frequency
  • PCIe + M.2: All set to Gen4
  • PBO: Advanced
    • Limits: Motherboard
    • Boost Override: +100 and 0
    • Curve Optimizer: -10 and 0
  • All Hyper-V features: Disabled
  • EXPO: Tried both Enabled and Disabled
  • Heavy DRAM timing adjustments
  • Resize BAR: Enabled

What I’ve Tried – Windows & General:​

  • Uninstalled: MSI Afterburner, NZXT CAM
  • Disabled all monitoring tools
  • MSI Util set to High Priority + MSI Mode enabled
  • HPET: Tried both enabled and disabled
  • Swapped CPU (same model) – issue persists
  • Disabled LAN, WLAN individually
  • Multiple clean GPU driver installs with DDU (including testing many 5080 drivers)
  • Installed Samsung Magician
  • Tried separate PCIe LAN card
  • Unplugged NZXT controller, fans routed directly to motherboard
  • Power plans: Balanced, High Performance
  • CPU min/max state: 100%
  • Demote/Promote thresholds: 100%
  • PCIe Link State Power Mgmt: Off
  • HAGs: On and Off
  • Game Bar: On and Off
  • Game Mode: On and Off
  • Latest AMD chipset & LAN drivers
  • Benchmarks: Cinebench, OCCT, Heaven – no signs of instability
  • Unplugged GoXLR, webcam, and all other peripherals
  • Win11 Freshinstall 3x

LatencyMon Results:​

  • LatencyMon shows occasional spikes in DPC latency
  • Most common offenders:
    • Wdf01000.sys
    • nvlddmkm.sys
    • EscapeFromTarkov.exe
  • Seen 17,000+ page faults from Tarkov alone
  • Sometimes results are good (low spikes), but often there are orange flags and audio crackles during spikes

Still Getting Microstutters​

Games run, FPS is good overall, but frequent tiny stutters kill the smoothness. I'm not seeing major spikes in temps or usage either.

Im already losing my mind. Please help..

Clip of my Stutter:
https://streamable.com/6p6m26 (look at the end when im scoping)
 
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Ralston18 said:
Appears that problems of some sort began on the 13th.

Click technical details for each error, warning, and informational event.

Look in Windows Update history for any failed or problem updates.

Also run "dism" and "sfc /scannow".

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

= = = =

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full? Connectivity?
Click to expand...
Hey, i've tried that many times already. To be fully accurate, i got that issue exactly when i switched to AMD. So im troubleshooting my problem since Febuary 🙁

I only use a C:\ drive. 990Pro, 2TB, Around 800GB used, in the first m.2_1 slot
 
VizzieTheViz said:
May sound silly but maybe try another mouse and keyboard just to rule out some USB shenanigans going on?
Click to expand...
I had a ViperV3 pro Before and had these stutters as well. I didnt tested it yet with another keyboard. i will take a keyboard from my company tomorrow and test afterwards. Ill keep you updated
 
preekzy said:
I had a ViperV3 pro Before and had these stutters as well. I didnt tested it yet with another keyboard. i will take a keyboard from my company tomorrow and test afterwards. Ill keep you updated
Click to expand...
Does this only occur with just the two specified games, or does this occur with any game? From personal experience, Escape from Tarkov has always had stutter and performance issues. Same with other online MMO games like FFIV.

For the following troubleshooting steps please go into your BIOS and set everything to default settings, and then set your EXPO profile to its rated speeds. Disconnect any extraneous USB devices besides 1 monitor, 1 keyboard, and 1 mouse. Make sure that V-Sync is off in the games you test with. V-sync can cause stutters. I would also try turning off G-sync on the monitor for testing. Make sure that G-Sync/Freesync is turned off in the Nvidia control panel and in the monitor's settings menu.

I would try a clean boot and only start and run tarkov or FF. Make sure to not start any other program. If you no longer experience the stuttering then some software/service conflict is occuring. If the stutters persist and you still suspect software it would have to be either windows and one of its services, the game itself, or a driver.

This may sound counterintuitive, but use DDU to uninstall your sound driver. Do not reinstall the sound driver before trying to see if this fixed the issue by opening up either offending game. If this fixed the issue, then something related to the sound drivers initial install likely went bad.

Another issue that could be going on is that the game files are on the same storage drive as the OS. This can mean that when the OS has to write or read to the storage at the same time as the game, the OS is prioritized and this can cause a stutter because of the delay caused to the game files being read. The only way to try this fix would be to use or buy another good NVMe drive for the games, uninstall and reinstall the games to the new drive.
 
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helper800 said:
Does this only occur with just the two specified games, or does this occur with any game? From personal experience, Escape from Tarkov has always had stutter and performance issues. Same with other online MMO games like FFIV.

For the following troubleshooting steps please go into your BIOS and set everything to default settings, and then set your EXPO profile to its rated speeds. Disconnect any extraneous USB devices besides 1 monitor, 1 keyboard, and 1 mouse. Make sure that V-Sync is off in the games you test with. V-sync can cause stutters. I would also try turning off G-sync on the monitor for testing. Make sure that G-Sync/Freesync is turned off in the Nvidia control panel and in the monitor's settings menu.

I would try a clean boot and only start and run tarkov or FF. Make sure to not start any other program. If you no longer experience the stuttering then some software/service conflict is occuring. If the stutters persist and you still suspect software it would have to be either windows and one of its services, the game itself, or a driver.

This may sound counterintuitive, but use DDU to uninstall your sound driver. Do not reinstall the sound driver before trying to see if this fixed the issue by opening up either offending game. If this fixed the issue, then something related to the sound drivers initial install likely went bad.

Another issue that could be going on is that the game files are on the same storage drive as the OS. This can mean that when the OS has to write or read to the storage at the same time as the game, the OS is prioritized and this can cause a stutter because of the delay caused to the game files being read. The only way to try this fix would be to use or buy another good NVMe drive for the games, uninstall and reinstall the games to the new drive.
Click to expand...
Oh wow, that’s a lot of info. I’ll try out each step you mentioned.


I remember having some annoying stutters in the Oblivion Remaster and FF7 Remake too, but from what I know, those games aren’t exactly well-optimized. I can reinstall them and check again for stuttering.


I also play a lot of OW2, and I rarely notice any stutters there. I super rarely play LoL as well—there I do notice some small hiccups and sound issues.

Talking about stutters, i just had a really annoying stutter in FFXIV, these stutters never happened on my old i7 13700k System.


I’ll give that method a shot: disconnecting USB devices, using just one monitor, turning off all sync options, and doing a clean boot. Before that, I’ll remove all sound drivers using DDU.


Technically, I have a 970 Evo installed as my D:\ drive, but I disabled it so my GPU could run at x16 instead of x8. Do you think that makes a big difference?
 
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helper800 said:
If its at least PCIe 4.0 x8, it should be fine.
Click to expand...
So I've tried following:

- Clean Boot
- Installing the game on a D:\
- Disconnecting every usb besides mouse and keyboard
- MemTest86 (Pass)
- Disconnecting 2nd Monitor

Sadly it didnt helped.

I noticed something when i installed the 2nd CPU. If the PC is horizontal lying on my Table, it wont boot. Error code 00 Asus. Once i flip it vertical like a normal PC, it boots up
 
preekzy said:
So I've tried following:

- Clean Boot
- Installing the game on a D:\
- Disconnecting every usb besides mouse and keyboard
- MemTest86 (Pass)
- Disconnecting 2nd Monitor

Sadly it didnt helped.

I noticed something when i installed the 2nd CPU. If the PC is horizontal lying on my Table, it wont boot. Error code 00 Asus. Once i flip it vertical like a normal PC, it boots up
Click to expand...
I would go over every single cable connection to and from the PSU making sure they are firmly attached, same with the front I/O, reseat the graphics card, reseat the RAM, and possibly even reinstall the CPU and take a good picture of the pins to inspect them before you reinsert. A PC should not have boot issues in relation to if it sits vertical or horizontally. I would also make sure that there are no loose cables or screws anywhere in the case. Make sure to flip the switch on the PSU before touching anything inside the PC.

We have ruled out software and most driver issues as the cause of the stutters, so, if it is not a weird hardware issue related to the PC not booting in a flat orientation it may be a driver bug causing the stuttering. I would do all testing from this point forward after having performed a clean boot as a default.
 
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helper800 said:
I would go over every single cable connection to and from the PSU making sure they are firmly attached, same with the front I/O, reseat the graphics card, reseat the RAM, and possibly even the reinstall the CPU and take a good picture of the pins before you reinsert. A PC should not have boot issues in relation to if it sits vertical or horizontally. I would also make sure that there are no loose cables or screws anywhere in the case. Make sure to flip the switch on the PSU before touching anything inside the PC.

We have ruled out software and most driver issues as the cause of the stutters, so, if it is not a weird hardware issue related to the PC not booting in a flat orientation it may be a driver bug causing the stuttering. I would do all testing from this point forward after having performed a clean boot as a default.
Click to expand...
I've checked pins, all, good here:
https://imgur.com/a/IvBUvLU
View: https://imgur.com/a/IvBUvLU


I also checked every single cable but everything seems to be rock solid.
Is there a chance that the Motherboard screws are to tight? So the motherboard bends a lying flat and that causes microstutters and not booting?
 
preekzy said:
I've checked pins, all, good here:
https://imgur.com/a/IvBUvLU
View: https://imgur.com/a/IvBUvLU


I also checked every single cable but everything seems to be rock solid.
Is there a chance that the Motherboard screws are to tight? So the motherboard bends a lying flat and that causes microstutters and not booting?
Click to expand...
I doubt that its because the screws are tight unless its because they are way over torqued. Could there be a rogue case standoff for the motherboard pressing into the board where there is no hole?
 
helper800 said:
I doubt that its because the screws are tight unless its because they are way over torqued. Could there be a rogue case standoff for the motherboard pressing into the board where there is no hole?
Click to expand...
I doubt it, its a Lian Li o11d evo rgb. It exactly has 9 holes, like my mainboard. I will loose them a tiny bit and check every possible cable again.
 
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helper800 said:
I doubt that its because the screws are tight unless its because they are way over torqued. Could there be a rogue case standoff for the motherboard pressing into the board where there is no hole?
Click to expand...
Sadly that wasn't the issue. But atleast worth a try.

I have this issue when opening a launcher for the very first time after a boot, League, BSG-Launcher, FFXIV Launcher, any type of launcher, my whole pc freezes for 10sec. I opened latencymon while doing it and got this issue:
https://imgur.com/a/OF8FTHy
View: https://imgur.com/a/OF8FTHy

It probably doesnt have anything to do with my stutters, but i noticed it.

I will probably test a fresh installation next weekend on a new nvme. If that doesnt work, ill try a different psu becasue that is literally the only part i have not replaced or tried yet.
 
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preekzy said:
Sadly that wasn't the issue. But atleast worth a try.

I have this issue when opening a launcher for the very first time after a boot, League, BSG-Launcher, FFXIV Launcher, any type of launcher, my whole pc freezes for 10sec. I opened latencymon while doing it and got this issue:
https://imgur.com/a/OF8FTHy
View: https://imgur.com/a/OF8FTHy

It probably doesnt have anything to do with my stutters, but i noticed it.

I will probably test a fresh installation next weekend on a new nvme. If that doesnt work, ill try a different psu becasue that is literally the only part i have not replaced or tried yet.
Click to expand...
You can test your current SSD for issues as well. This issue is certainly perplexing. I do not think this is an issue inherently with AMD, their chipsets, or BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer either. There are plenty of people that have similar setups without issue... I can usually hunt down these issues. Did you end up uninstalling the sound driver with DDU in safe mode to test?

The only other thing I can think of is that there was some user error during one of the diagnostic steps so it masked the underlying issue. Either that or the games you experience these stutters in are what they are.

I have a few questions about these stutters. Do the stutters occur on a tight interval? For instance: one stutter every 14-15 seconds. Are the stutters always the same duration across games? Open up task manager or HWiNFO on a second monitor or in and OSD. Do the stutters in the game correspond to an uptick in storage read/write usage? If it does is there a corresponding spike in CPU usage at the same time?
 
helper800 said:
You can test your current SSD for issues as well. This issue is certainly perplexing. I do not think this is an issue inherently with AMD, their chipsets, or BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer either. There are plenty of people that have similar setups without issue... I can usually hunt down these issues. Did you end up uninstalling the sound driver with DDU in safe mode to test?

The only other thing I can think of is that there was some user error during one of the diagnostic steps so it masked the underlying issue. Either that or the games you experience these stutters in are what they are.

I have a few questions about these stutters. Do the stutters occur on a tight interval? For instance: one stutter every 14-15 seconds. Are the stutters always the same duration across games? Open up task manager or HWiNFO on a second monitor or in and OSD. Do the stutters in the game correspond to an uptick in storage read/write usage? If it does is there a corresponding spike in CPU usage at the same time?
Click to expand...
What Software do you recommend to test the current ssd?

I've did DDU and uninstalled the realtek Sound Driver, i also disabled all Sound driver in the bios so i only have possible sound while using my goXLR. Tho i noticed in Devidemanager "high definition audio driver" is always coming back.

I will test some other games i have usually don't play. The weird part about this is, while I was on my Intel system i had 0 stutters in FFXIV. Just slightly "lower" fps. After swapping to AMD the stutters become annoying and noticable.

In Tarkov i can alwyays notice a very tiny stutter that appears every 10-30sec. These are mostly very tiny microstutters. Tho, i also notice after like every 10min a heavy 0,5-1sec Stutter.

In FFXIV i mostly notice stutter when something big is happening. Let's say a big mechanic or people loading in. Sometimes i can play the game for 2h and dont notice anything. Then sometimes i play for 2h and have the craziest 0,5-1sec Stutters and just want to close the game.

In OW2 is a bit rare. I usually only get them when literally everything is happening at once. Tho i see them very rare here. Still they exist.

Even while using the browser, scrolling or opening some Desktop applications i can notice these siny microstutters.

I was using INTEL since i remember and never noticed any stutters, only real fps drops. So this is the first actuall time im using a AMD System. Even tho i've build this pc in Febuary and been troubleshooting since.

Im currently using Win11Enterprise and on Version 23h2 since im hearing this is the most stable version for amd.

The programms i usually have running and installed all the time that are also running in the background are Steelseries.gg SONAR and GoXLR Drivers. (I've alreay uninstalled them once both, no changes)
 
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