Question Intermittent issue please help

[lemad]

PC specs:
I7-10700k (default turbo boost)
Asus H570-Plus
G.Skill 32gb (16x2) 3200mhz
Asus Strix 3080 10gb
EVGA 750W Supernova Gold
500GB Samsung M.2 NVME
1TB 860 EVO SSD
H100i Cooler

user benchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/49679365

I feel like I should include the whole story to really get to the bottom of this. I built this new PC around September. Originally, the only difference was I had a 3070 and a 16gb version of the G.Skill sticks. I ended up upgrading to the 32gb sticks and getting a 3080. After getting the 3080, I wanted to get a higher quality PSU for my build. I went and got an expensive PSU (Seasonic Prime Titanium) that ended up doing damage upon posting to my Cooler to the point I could smell a burning smell. I used all the cables provided with the PSU so I'm really not sure what happened. I ended up buying a new AIO since that one was a goner and using my old EVGA PSU listed in my specs again. The system was working fine no issues or problems whatsoever. I then discovered I forgot to enable XMP on my sticks so I enabled it and ran the default profile (I matched this up and it gives the same timings and voltages as my sticks need). I didn't really notice any issues at the time of doing this.

Now recently (not sure if its my OCD kicking in or unlucky games that im playing), I've noticed certain games getting minor fps drops. Now it doesnt drop and stay low fps but more like a hiccup like within 3 frames 140->70->130 or something like that. I noticed the main games this happens are UNREAL engine games. For instance fortnite has been doing this the MOST, but games like Hell Let Loose does this in DX12 and the new game Century: Age of Ashes. I even have multiple incidents of microfreezing with the last game but I dont have the problem with 99% of other games either and this issue is not the primary issue im facing but maybe could be related? I have tried doing a reinstall of windows (atleast the way where you keep files AND programs), resetting bios settings, putting high performance power plan on windows and setting on GPU nvidia control panel. I have my CPU and GPU undervolted but I have tried taking the undervolt off and the issue would persist in the offending games. I have tried some other games like open world Black Desert and I dont get the fps drops that I do in the listed games besides 1 minor freeze which again could be completely benign.

I just want to know if something is wrong with my system or its the game's engine thats doing this. I'm also maybe concerned that it could be due to the PSU issue I had but again the fps drops dont occur in other games like Phasmophobia, Valorant, WoW, BDO, etc. I've ran 3DMark (17k GPU/11k CPU) and Cinebench R15 (2022) and get decent scores. My temperatures never go above 65c on either component. I have tried giving my DRAM voltage a bit more (1.39V) and changing to XMP Profile 2 which seemed to help maybe 10-15% in the offending games BUT maybe thats placebo. I've also tried to put the games on my SSD and NVME m.2 drives but both had the same issue. Lastly, I've tried DDU and using different drivers but im currently on 471.96. I've tried 511.23, 497.29, and 471.12.

Thanks for any response I really appreciate it.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"I've noticed certain games getting minor fps drops " and "I even have multiple incidents of microfreezing ".

Define/quantify "minor fps drops" and "incidents......".

Do you see any corresponding changes in Task Manager or Resource Monitor?

Also: "I'm also maybe concerned that it could be due to the PSU issue I had" - what was that specific issue?

Do your own driver installs - no third part tools or utilities. Go to the applicable manufacturer's websites, directly download, reinstall and reconfigure driver installations.

 

[lemad]

Question 1 but on a tangent: Okay first off let me start off by saying I may have fallen down a rabbit hole. I first noticed this on fortnite and upon posting about 3-6 other people have told me they were experiencing it as well. THE issue I experience in fortnite is almost as if I'm playing on an HDD (the best way I can explain it) like the old days where every so often or in this case its really sporadic so I cant really pin it to a specific thing I get these hiccups. For instance, I'm at 130 fps then for a single frame i go to 70 maybe 60 or maybe 80 fps then back up to 130 or 140fps. I dont see anything out of the ordinary on task manage as I've scraped windows 10 to the bare disabling pretty much any unnecessary things like Telemetry and background apps. Again for this issue I've actually been told others are experiencing it. Then I tried a few other unreal engine games and actually experienced the same issue which was strange just weird hitches in fps and dips. Again I am being a bit OCD about all of this because thats just how I am.

I then logged onto BDO or black desert online and without any monitoring software I feel like it was pretty seamless maybe one or two little dips but nothing as bad as fortnite. However, I dug deeper and used Rivatuner for frametiming and noticed especially on INITIAL launch of the game using some abiltiies or loading in gives me some spikes in frametiming. I'm not sure if thats normal or not but thats where I'm at right now.

Question 2: I had this system working fine but after upgrading to the 3080 I decided to invest in a good new PSU since my GPU was experiencing coil whine (myth or not I wanted to see if a better quality PSU would fix it). I invested 230 dollars into a Seasonic Prime Titanium after always hearing the name Seasonic everywhere for quality PSU's. Again, I am no expert but I've built enough PC's to know how to connect a PSU (I did it with the one I'm using now). I used the cables they provided and upon trying to boot the PC i got nothing not a POST or a sign of power. I switched the back switch off and back on and checked connections. Then after pressing the only other button on the PSU (a switch that goes from silent to hybrid mode for fan speeds) I got power but directly to a BIOS screen that said CPU fan was not detected. Then I smelled a burning smell it fried/surged my cooler.

I took it back to Microcenter a nd a gentleman there told me they actually had a similar case a few weeks ago. So they reimbursted me for the cooler (very nice of them since Seasonic wouldnt do anything unless I sent my whole PC to taiwan (i believe?)). I put the new cooler in and I actually didnt experience any issues I even ran benchmarks and things came out normal. Now fast forward in time ( that was maybe 1-2 months ago) I'm experiencing these issues and its making me a bit anxious to maybe if it couldve damaged something else or if this is completely separate.

Question 3: I NEVER install geforce experience or any of that bloatware garbage I always download directly from manufacturer or advance driver search for GPU.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[lemad]

Quick update I did notice System was using (at times 5-8% of CPU) this was happening not at the same time of the stutter but probably 5-10 seconds before the stutter occurred. Windows desktop manager was using only 1-3% of CPU but was at the top of the list behind System and BDO. Total CPU usage at the time was 52-57%. However, let me just stress that was only one time that the system went above 2% usage so maybe that was benign. I may just try to do a clean install of windows. Would doing a reset but keeping files be detrimental to the troubleshooting process? Also, keep in mind I used this video to do a reinstall of window already a few days ago but did not fix my issue.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldqFdcGL1X0

 

[Ralston18]

How are the frame rates being captured? Some built in game frame rate counter or other utility?

In Resource Monitor and Task Manager look for small upward or downward pointing arrows in column headers. The arrows can be used to sort the values in ascending or descending order. Helpful if the order keeps jumping about faster than readable.

Another way to observe system performance is Process Explorer (Microsoft, free).

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Before reinstalling Windows again I believe that trying to identify a specific cause is worth the effort. Especially after the issues appear to be returning.

Take a look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events that are being captured. Some that started showing up during the last 1 - 2 months. Reliability History uses a time line format that can prove very helpful with trending problems.

As for Windows if you decide to reinstall:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/windows-10-clean-install-tutorial.3170366/

 

[lemad]

Hello again! Thanks for the response. I was capturing frame rates by using the in-game counter however the frametimings I used Rivatuner. I've checked Event Viewer and did not see any errors or unusual events. I actually have posted about the fps dips concerning SPECIFICALLY fortnite again. I've received more replies that they are also experiencing the same issue. I then watched a famous streamer play fortnite (and fortunately) he had the fps counter up and I saw the same erratic dips (120fps->55->120fps etc). I believe the fortnite issue is an engine issue. However, this still has made me more sensitive to any stutter in games even if its the usual occasional stutter I believe most people experience which kinda sucks. I'll maybe take the route to fully reinstall windows later when im a bit more situated and back up important files.

I don't really think the issue is hw-related just because of my benchmarking results but I guess there always could be something causing little hitches in other games or maybe again like I said im just more sensitive to it now and didnt usually put as much emphasis or focus on it as before.