Question Is there any correlation between these graphs that can answer why my game stutters?

[localhostport80]

Lately, when I have been gaming, my PC begins to stutter a bit. I maintain a high framerate, ~250, yet my game feels obvious "choppiness". These are the graphs:

(Part 2)

So let me explain. The frametime graph is most relevant. Ignoring the two outliers in the graph from Alt+Tabbing in and out, you can see that the first half of the graph has consistent "low" (~5ms) curves, albeit a few spikes which are not noticeable. However, the second half of the frametime graph begins to get much more "rampant". This is when the game begins to feel "stuttery". The frametime now is spiking up to 20-30ms, and games feel choppy. The main game I play is Overwatch. I run on mostly low settings, 75% renderscale, which is very easy on my PC. My specifications are below:

• GTX 1080 Founders Edition (Issue persists with and without mem clock, core clock, power limit OC)
• i7 8700k (OC @ 4.9GHz, issue persists with and without OC)
• G.Skill 3000mhz RAM (XMP enabled)
• Corsair H115i Pro
• MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon
• S340 Elite Case
• 500GB SSD (game/OS is installed on here)
• 2TB HDD
• 650W EVGA PSU
• Monitor Setup:
  • 2x 144HZ DisplayPort Connected ASUS VG248QE
  • 1x 60HZ Sanyo TV (issue persists with this TV disconnected

So far, I notice there is a slight correlation between the Power %, Voltage Limit graphs with the Frametime graphs. In other words, when the frametime spikes occur, the lower graphs seem to have some sort of correlation and show similar spikes.

I'm not sure what to do. I don't have any videos running either. This issue occurs when I have no other windows opened. Framelimit is not affected much.

 

[Ralston18]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Heavily used for gaming, bit-mining, rendering, etc..?

 

[localhostport80]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Heavily used for gaming, bit-mining, rendering, etc..?

Sorry, forgot to include that in the post. It is an EVGA 650W PSU. I forgot the exact model.

All these parts are 2 years old as of today.

My PC has not been used for bit-mining. I do play Overwatch on it regularly, but Overwatch is already a very low-demanding game, and compiled with the low settings I run, it is 0 to no stress.

 

[John Chesterfield]

I forgot the exact model.

Well you'll need to open it up and find that out, EVGA make some good supplies and some utter rubbish.

 

[localhostport80]

Well you'll need to open it up and find that out, EVGA make some good supplies and some utter rubbish.

Found. It is a 650W SuperNova G2.

But yeah, this stuttering is annoying. I'll first play and the game will be buttery smooth, then all of a sudden there's like a 30 second interval of just stuttering. And then it finally dissipates and the game is smooth again. It's like something is running in the background or something, I don't know. But the issue persists even with programs closed.

 

[localhostport80]

Just disabled EIST and Intel C State, the stuttering persists. Updated my GTX 1080 graphics driver as well as my chipset driver, the issue persists. I've tried DDUing awhile back and the issue persists. Help

It feels like no matter what, the game always feels buttery smooth on a fresh boot. It is only until I play a few ranked games of Overwatch the stuttering begins to set in. Maybe this points towards some sort of memory issue? Page file or something?

 

[John Chesterfield]

Someone with more knowledge may come along and correct me, but I thought that was one of EVGA's good models.

Sounds more like a RAM issue to me, do you have a friend who also runs a system with DDR4 who would lend you his or her memory to test?

 

[localhostport80]

Someone with more knowledge may come along and correct me, but I thought that was one of EVGA's good models.

Sounds more like a RAM issue to me, do you have a friend who also runs a system with DDR4 who would lend you his or her memory to test?

Nope, I don't sadly. I have XMP enabled if that helps. Should I memtest or something?

 

[John Chesterfield]

Memtest is certainly an idea, you could also try manually dialing in your XMP profile.

 

[Karadjgne]

Cpu sets frames. It pre-renders every frame before shipping to the gpu. The gpu lives upto the frame rate or fails, according to detail levels and resolution.

Meaning that running on low settings there's no challenge to fps from a gtx1080 on a 1080p monitor fed by an i7-8700k at 4.9GHz.

What that means is that if for any reason whatsoever the cpu does not deliver a constant framerate, you see it as choppy. This can be anything from Antivirus checks, net hiccups, windows security checks, whatever in the background just makes a blurb.

With 250fps outputs and only 144Hz visual output, you'll only see a constant 144fps. Any drop to like 100fps will be noticable.

Honestly, I'd jack up the detail settings, that's all gpu, look online for optimal manual settings as to not limit the cpu output much, and see if the game doesn't improve.

 

[localhostport80]

Cpu sets frames. It pre-renders every frame before shipping to the gpu. The gpu lives upto the frame rate or fails, according to detail levels and resolution.

Meaning that running on low settings there's no challenge to fps from a gtx1080 on a 1080p monitor fed by an i7-8700k at 4.9GHz.

What that means is that if for any reason whatsoever the cpu does not deliver a constant framerate, you see it as choppy. This can be anything from Antivirus checks, net hiccups, windows security checks, whatever in the background just makes a blurb.

With 250fps outputs and only 144Hz visual output, you'll only see a constant 144fps. Any drop to like 100fps will be noticable.

Honestly, I'd jack up the detail settings, that's all gpu, look online for optimal manual settings as to not limit the cpu output much, and see if the game doesn't improve.

Interesting. So my issue seems to spark from too much power, rather than too little power? In other words, I am running the game at such low detail that my CPU/GPU don't need to "work", and thus draw less power? I'll try cranking up the settings later today.

In response to your statement about the possibility of virus checks, net hiccups, etc. in the background, is there any way for me to check what exactly it is? There is so much stuff on my PC to sift through, I feel like diagnosing this stuttering will be near impossible. My CPU usage doesn't seem to act erratically when the frametime spikes occur in the graphs, if that helps.

 

[localhostport80]

Game still feels relatively stuttery.