Question Is my computer underperforming? Huge stutters in games

[WhiteMoon]

Hello! Im trying to diagnose if something is wrong with my computer.

I think that something is wrong because i have alot of stutters in old games with every option set to low, for example PUBG and Fortnite (fps can go from 80/90 to 20/30 with stutters all game long). While 1 or 2 years ago when i used to play these games i had no problem at all. Also i saw a lot of youtube videos where they show my same setup in those games, medium to high graphics settings with no problem at all (no stutters and higher fps overall)

To be honest i have no idea where to start, maybe you guys can guide me through this journey. I will really appreciate it!

My setup is:
I5 4690
EVGA GTX 970 (drivers up to date)
16GB RAM (4x4gb)
GA-H97-Gaming 3

Any more info needed please tell me and i will try to respond asap.

Thanks!!

 

[CountMike]

Hello! Im trying to diagnose if something is wrong with my computer.

I think that something is wrong because i have alot of stutters in old games with every option set to low, for example PUBG and Fortnite (fps can go from 80/90 to 20/30 with stutters all game long). While 1 or 2 years ago when i used to play these games i had no problem at all. Also i saw a lot of youtube videos where they show my same setup in those games, medium to high graphics settings with no problem at all (no stutters and higher fps overall)

To be honest i have no idea where to start, maybe you guys can guide me through this journey. I will really appreciate it!

My setup is:
I5 4690
EVGA GTX 970 (drivers up to date)
16GB RAM (4x4gb)
GA-H97-Gaming 3

Any more info needed please tell me and i will try to respond asap.

Thanks!!

I would start with clean windows and driver installation, It's also an old system, CMOS battery may have lost power abd BIOS is running at bare minimum settings with no optimization.

 

[WhiteMoon]

I would start with clean windows and driver installation, It's also an old system, CMOS battery may have lost power abd BIOS is running at bare minimum settings with no optimization.

I did a clean windows installation 4 years ago and i dont have too many things installed to be fair. Do you think that i should format and install again anyway?

I will change the battery today and will keep you updated!

 

[CountMike]

I did a clean windows installation 4 years ago and i dont have too many things installed to be fair. Do you think that i should format and install again anyway?

I will change the battery today and will keep you updated!

Change battery first and enable any optimization in BIOS including XMP and run some benchmark programs.

 

[geofelt]

If you are using the stock cooler, test to see(when powered down) if it is securely mounted and does not wiggle.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I'll be honest, I think that your problem is that old Devil's Canyon CPU. That thing came out almost a decade ago and it's a non-K SKU so you can't overclock it.

The fact that adjusting your settings has no effect tells me that it must be a CPU bottleneck. This is because the CPU makes the same number of draw-calls to the GPU regardless of resolution or graphics settings. Turning graphics settings down alleviates GPU stuttering but CPU stuttering would persist even at potato settings. I believe that this is why you're seeing no benefit from turning the settings down.

 

[WhiteMoon]

Change battery first and enable any optimization in BIOS including XMP and run some benchmark programs.

Hi, I did follow your instructions, changed battery, RAM is running at the maximum that this motherboard allow which is 1600MHz. And i changed 2 other settings, CPU clock ratio or something like that from AUTO to x39 and some other setting that i don't remember the exact name right now from AUTO to Enhanced performance.

I ran a CPU benchmark, the final score was 3471. I have no idea if something is bad in this picture to be honest with you, the only thing that i can see is that the CPU is not running at 3.9GHz, is that ok?

If you are using the stock cooler, test to see(when powered down) if it is securely mounted and does not wiggle.

Hi, im not using the stock cooler, im using a Cooler Master one, i think Hyper 212

I'll be honest, I think that your problem is that old Devil's Canyon CPU. That thing came out almost a decade ago and it's a non-K SKU so you can't overclock it.

The fact that adjusting your settings has no effect tells me that it must be a CPU bottleneck. This is because the CPU makes the same number of draw-calls to the GPU regardless of resolution or graphics settings. Turning graphics settings down alleviates GPU stuttering but CPU stuttering would persist even at potato settings. I believe that this is why you're seeing no benefit from turning the settings down.

Hi, yes, you are completely right, the CPU is really old, but sadly right now i cant afford to upgrade, a lot of things going on and i live in a 3rd world country so everything related to technology is really expensive with our currency.
But i dont understand how people using my same setup dont have these problems, for example

View: https://youtu.be/HkECCRPPggg?t=1080

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hi, yes, you are completely right, the CPU is really old, but sadly right now i cant afford to upgrade, a lot of things going on and i live in a 3rd world country so everything related to technology is really expensive with our currency.
But i dont understand how people using my same setup dont have these problems, for example

View: https://youtu.be/HkECCRPPggg?t=1080

Hey, I wasn't judging, we all use what we can. Since you can't upgrade or overclock your CPU, there are other things that you can do to help it out. When gaming, make sure that you have no other programs running. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make to just make sure that your browser isn't open when gaming (along with other things).

Another thing that you can do is to disable your antivirus software while gaming. If your browser is closed, you'll only be connected to Steam, EA, uPlay, etc. and they don't have viruses. That would go a long way to reducing your CPU overhead and it might help to eliminate the stuttering. Once your gaming session is over, you can re-enable it before using your browser again. You could also disable Windows Update while gaming and re-enable it when you're done.

Little things like that can make your gaming a lot less problematic.

 

[WhiteMoon]

Hey, I wasn't judging, we all use what we can. Since you can't upgrade or overclock your CPU, there are other things that you can do to help it out. When gaming, make sure that you have no other programs running. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make to just make sure that your browser isn't open when gaming (along with other things).

Another thing that you can do is to disable your antivirus software while gaming. If your browser is closed, you'll only be connected to Steam, EA, uPlay, etc. and they don't have viruses. That would go a long way to reducing your CPU overhead and it might help to eliminate the stuttering. Once your gaming session is over, you can re-enable it before using your browser again. You could also disable Windows Update while gaming and re-enable it when you're done.

Little things like that can make your gaming a lot less problematic.

Hi, thanks for your answer!. I always do that, whenever i game i close everything else. The only thing that i don't disable is Windows Update and Windows Antivirus but i will follow your recommendation and i will disable those too!

In my post before i uploaded a picture running a cpu benchmark, do you see anything wrong in that print? I keep feeling that there is something underperforming because i see people with older setups that can play these games just fine.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hi, thanks for your answer!. I always do that, whenever i game i close everything else. The only thing that i don't disable is Windows Update and Windows Antivirus but i will follow your recommendation and i will disable those too!

It might not help but it sure can't hurt! 👍

In my post before i uploaded a picture running a cpu benchmark, do you see anything wrong in that print? I keep feeling that there is something underperforming because i see people with older setups that can play these games just fine.

Well, the performance tab in your Task Manager is showing the CPU tapped out at 100%. I would need to see a screenshot of your processes set to have the highest CPU usage tasks at the top of the list. That's where your issue lies. Whatever it is that's tapping your CPU out at 100% is causing this problem, I'm certain of it.

 

[WhiteMoon]

It might not help but it sure can't hurt! 👍

Well, the performance tab in your Task Manager is showing the CPU tapped out at 100%. I would need to see a screenshot of your processes set to have the highest CPU usage tasks at the top of the list. That's where your issue lies. Whatever it is that's tapping your CPU out at 100% is causing this problem, I'm certain of it.

That print was taken while running Cinebench, that's why the CPU is at 100%, the final score in the multicore test was 3471 but i dont know if that score is normal or below the average for this CPU because i couldn't find other results.

 

[CountMike]

That print was taken while running Cinebench, that's why the CPU is at 100%, the final score in the multicore test was 3471 but i dont know if that score is normal or below the average for this CPU because i couldn't find other results.

There are other benchmark programs with more details

Intel Core i5-4690 Benchmark

Download PassMark PerformanceTest - PC Benchmark Software

Benchmark the speed of your PC computer hardware, then compare the result to other machines. Includes disk, 3D and CPU tests.

www.passmark.com

 

[WhiteMoon]

There are other benchmark programs with more details

Intel Core i5-4690 Benchmark

Download PassMark PerformanceTest - PC Benchmark Software

Benchmark the speed of your PC computer hardware, then compare the result to other machines. Includes disk, 3D and CPU tests.

www.passmark.com

Hi, here are the results! If I'm not wrong my CPU is working as intended but i might be completely wrong since i don't know exactly how to read these numbers.

And this is the GPU results:

Disk benchmark, could this cause some problem? For what i can see I'm below average. Games are installed in this disk, OS in an SSD.

 

[CountMike]

Hi, here are the results! If I'm not wrong my CPU is working as intended but i might be completely wrong since i don't know exactly how to read these numbers.

And this is the GPU results:

Disk benchmark, could this cause some problem? For what i can see I'm below average. Games are installed in this disk, OS in an SSD.

Well according to that benchmark your CPU performs bit better than average same CPU so that means it can't be much better, but comparing to new i5 it has less than 1/4 performance, 4 times slower.
GPU fares better just above half of a modern GPU of same class.
Ram is pretty good for DDR3 but you are also running HDD so that's why low score, any SSD would easily be 4 times faster.
All together respectable for it's age.

 

[WhiteMoon]

Well according to that benchmark your CPU performs bit better than average same CPU so that means it can't be much better, but comparing to new i5 it has less than 1/4 performance, 4 times slower.
GPU fares better just above half of a modern GPU of same class.
Ram is pretty good for DDR3 but you are also running HDD so that's why low score, any SSD would easily be 4 times faster.
All together respectable for it's age.

I guess there is nothing i can do then. Thank you, Avro Arrow and geofelt for taking the time to reply and help!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hi, here are the results! If I'm not wrong my CPU is working as intended but i might be completely wrong since i don't know exactly how to read these numbers.

Passmark's average score for the i5-4690 which is 5600 so your CPU is doing quite well.

And this is the GPU results:

Passmark's average score for the GTX 970 is 9642 so your GPU is doing quite well (for a GTX 970). So that's not the problem either.

Disk benchmark, could this cause some problem? For what i can see I'm below average. Games are installed in this disk, OS in an SSD.

I really doubt that your disc is the problem because, as you pointed out, these are old games and old games were designed with the idea that they'd be loaded from a disc as opposed to an SSD. If your HDD is old though, it might be underperforming or in danger of failure.

There's a free utility called "Crystal Disk Info" that works remarkably well. I would recommend that you download it here.

 

[WhiteMoon]

Passmark's average score for the i5-4690 which is 5600 so your CPU is doing quite well.

Passmark's average score for the GTX 970 is 9642 so your GPU is doing quite well (for a GTX 970). So that's not the problem either.

I really doubt that your disc is the problem because, as you pointed out, these are old games and old games were designed with the idea that they'd be loaded from a disc as opposed to an SSD. If your HDD is old though, it might be underperforming or in danger of failure.

There's a free utility called "Crystal Disk Info" that works remarkably well. I would recommend that you download it here.

Hi! Yes, Disk looks good too according to Crystal Disk:

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hi! Yes, Disk looks good too according to Crystal Disk:

And it's even a 7200RPM so it's not a slow HDD either. Honestly, I'm at a loss for what's causing the stuttering. All I can think of now is to use DDU to remove the GeForce drivers and re-install them.