In-Game Stuttering / Freezing

[mysticwolf8]

Most recently, I've been experiencing in-game stuttering or freezing. I'm not sure really what to call it. Anyways, It's been getting worse the past couple days. Now to the point where it's hard to play. The more demanding games I play are Ark: Survival Evolved and AC Origins, those are two the games I've noticed it the most in. Every 3-5 seconds or so my game freezes for a second or two. Now it's gotten to the point where it does it more often and longer.

I don't think it's a virus because I rarely install anything new, and haven't in the past couple days. I ran a windows defender quick scan and it found nothing.

Here's a look at my specs:
• Intel Processor – Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz
• CPU Cooling - CORSAIR Hydro Series H75 - Liquid CPU Cooler
• Intel Motherboard – GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
• Memory – CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4
• Primary Hard Drive - 2TB 7200 RPM
• Secondary Hard Drive – SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III
• Optical Drive - DVD Writer
• Graphics Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit
• Power Supply – EVGA 120-G1-0650-XR 80 PLUS GOLD 650 W
• Operating System - Windows 10

 

[Frag Maniac]

How old is the PC and have you ever thoroughly cleaned inside the case? Dust can clog GPU heatsinks and AIO radiators and cause temps to rise.

It's also possible you have a corrupted GPU driver. Be very careful when cleaning the radiator. DO NOT touch the fins, as they are paper thin and will bend. Blow the dust out from the opposite side of the fan if it's pushing air through it, the reverse if it's pulling air through it. It's best to remove the fan first.

Also make sure you have at least 15% free space on your HDD. On a 2TB drive that's roughly 280 GBs. Also keep your HDD defragged and limit startup programs to only a few you need running every time Windows boots up, like Windows Defender, Mouse Software, etc.

 

[mysticwolf8]

How old is the PC and have you ever thoroughly cleaned inside the case? Dust can clog GPU heatsinks and AIO radiators and cause temps to rise.

It's also possible you have a corrupted GPU driver. Be very careful when cleaning the radiator. DO NOT touch the fins, as they are paper thin and will bend. Blow the dust out from the opposite side of the fan if it's pushing air through it, the reverse if it's pulling air through it. It's best to remove the fan first.

Also make sure you have at least 15% free space on your HDD. On a 2TB drive that's roughly 280 GBs. Also keep your HDD defragged and limit startup programs to only a few you need running every time Windows boots up, like Windows Defender, Mouse Software, etc.

I ended up reinstalling my graphics card driver and my games worked fine after that, thank you for the response. I did order some dust compressors because I need to clean out my pc however lol.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I ended up reinstalling my graphics card driver and my games worked fine after that, thank you for the response. I did order some dust compressors because I need to clean out my pc however lol.

Yeah usually a driver that didn't install right or got corrupted can be easily fixed by a reinstall, so good job.

By "dust compressor" if you mean intake filters, yes, I use them and my case gets very little dust inside. Also, it's advisable to set up your air flow so there's slightly more intake flow than exhaust. This creates a slight positive air pressure inside the case, which keeps dust from getting sucked in through any small crevices, as would occur with negative air pressure.