Question Micro-stutter issue since day one, new GPU hasn't fixed it ?

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stormy fairweather

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Jan 4, 2011
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right from the day i got my system it never felt 'right'. not even scrolling up or down pages in a browser feels smooth. videos looks terrible. and almost every game stutters. some games look and feel pretty smooth if their reported fps is over 120, some still feel stuttery with fps over that. and every game feels stuttery beneath it. which means every game locked to 60fps is simply off the table. even with stable fps and frametimes reported by afterburner there are constant 'microstutters'. they are most visible when panning, they never show up in recording or reporting software, and fps doesnt drop. but the stutters are THERE. and i know im not losing my mind (entirely) because my nintendo switch looks great at 60 fps.

to start, i spent countless hours over the course of YEARS trying to isolate this issue. driver versions out the yazoo. upgraded to win 11, reformatted and went back to win 10. various bios chipsets. every configuration of settings you could think of; freesync, vsync, advanced sync, etc. ran every diagnostic i could; everything from furmark (looks great, but cant be sure there are no stutters cause it doesnt pan), memory diagnostic (says everything is good). read hundreds, if not thousands, of various forum threads trying all sorts of odd 'fixes' here or there that worked for one person or another. everything from disabling xmp, to disabling pageswapping. and the stutter remains. it *seemed* such a minor thing i was sure it was just a setting or toggle somewhere that was set wrong, which was why i kept messing with it until the warranties expired rather than returning it as i should have done at the outset.

so, replaced the monitor. figured since everything before that reported it was running fine it might be that. nope. new monitor, same issue (and the guy i loaned my old one to broke it so stuck with the new one now). didnt work, still stutters. tbh, this was a lazy attempt at fixing it i should have known better than. anyway, failing all those software/settings fixes i finally just said <Mod Edit> it and bought a new video card. the. stutter. remains.

currently, i am at a total loss what could be the issue. i just borrowed some coin and ordered a new processor out of desperation, because i simply dont know what else could resolve this. a new motherboard is the only other part i COULD replace. but as far as i can tell when a processor or motherboard is faulty the computer just doesnt POST or will frequently BSOD, and i dont have those issues. and it has run the same for years. none of which matches up with the symptoms of a faulty mobo/processor, but again i dont know what else to do. im very much HOPING when the new processor arrives it will sort the issues out, but i thought the same thing while waiting for my card to arrive. i've made dozens of posts on various forums, with all the same advice and troubleshooting steps to follow being offered and have run the gambit so many times it isnt even funny. but this time i figured since i just replaced the video card that should eliminate a LOT of potential causes and maybe someone here can offer an insight that has otherwise been missed

so please. if you have ANY idea what the hell could be going on i would be eternally grateful

cpuz report https://mega.nz/file/LVBTxL5B#M80pQtfcK9bcvMddc-YYdCKdQYedfBfbZlmBoM5AXFo
 
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Hello @stormy fairweather,

I am @Vikko151, a slightly new Tom's Hardware's member that can whatever help you with @rgd1101 (Having 2 points of view can be extremely useful).

So, first of all, like @rgd1101 mentionned, it'd very helpful to know your specifications. But it's also very important to know that micro-stutters don't come from nowhere, but for one or more of those reasons:

  • Corrupted drivers: I saw you unsuccessfully tried this, but this might be indeed the first thing you should do when you get micro-stutters. If your GPU got corrupted drivers, it may not treat the images correctly.
  • Hardware bottlenecks: This issue can be determinated only if we got your specifications! But unless on GPU Bottlenecks (The GPU doesn't get any problem in this scenario), having a component that makes the GPU not able to use it's full power, or worse, to perform correctly can result to micro-stutters since, I think, it creates irregular delays, making a game uncomfortable. It's also important to know that those bottlenecks can ALSO concern the PSU, which is basically the main reason @rgd1101 highlights the fact you've to mention is brand and it's model.
  • Bad sectors or disk errors: Another important factors in (micro-)stuttering is the disk on the one you installed your games. Like if it's well known that SSDs can reduce tearings and (micro-)stuttering, a SSD or HDD who got a problem can also cause those graphical problems. Try checking all your disks with "CHKDSK /R" and "CHKDSK /F". If your drives are slow, it can take time, but it does the matter to try.
  • Optimizing your computer: You probably did it, but if you haven't optimized your computer, then I guess you should start off now. Here is a list of different tutorials that could help you. If you did it, make also sure you optimized your GPU panel, disabled every synchronisations and screen scalings, which is explained at the end of this video:
https://www.windowsdigitals.com/windows-11-services-to-disable-for-gaming-performance/ (Do not disable Windows Event Log!)
And if you are experienced enough: https://geekflare.com/windows-registry-hacks-to-improve-gaming/

  • Faulty or bad monitor cable: Actually, the creator of the Windows 11 optimization guide I mentionned said: "Though also, if you do try setting higher refresh rates, and your screen say for instance starts flickering, this can be an indication that your, say for instance your HDMI cable, is actually not from good standard..." . But it can also be a faulty cable. If you got other display cables, you should mabye try them to see if it fixes your issue.
And there is other simple things you can do like "sfc /scannow" and "DISM /Online /CleanupImage /RestoreHealth" (I said it correctly this time!), disable Fullscreen optimizations, bla bla bla... Well, I'm pretty sure you did those simple tricks.

I hope this helped you, and if it doesn't works or if something isn't clear, do not hesitate to tell us what's wrong. You can always trust Tom's Hardware.

@Vikko151
 
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AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
radeon rx 6600

---

got an amd ryzen 9 5900x in the mail hoping that will resolve this. ye, i've done the memory scans and checkdisks, and i wasnt kidding when i said DOZENS of drivers. on multiple OS.
 
stormy fairweather said:
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
radeon rx 6600

---

got an amd ryzen 9 5900x in the mail hoping that will resolve this. ye, i've done the memory scans and checkdisks, and i wasnt kidding when i said DOZENS of drivers. on multiple OS.
Click to expand...
Hey there,

What bios are you currently running? Some older bios' have stutter bugs in them, so updating the bios to the latest one, may solve this issue.

You can use CPU-z to determine what bios is installed.
 
stuttering is caused by a temporary lack of a critical resource.
Commonly the cpu.
Do a quick check and run the cpu-Z bench and look at the single thread performance rating.
You should get a score near 478.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/p2d7tu

Your 5950 should score 647 and give you some improvement if cpu power is your issue.

With 16gb of ram, you should be ok if you are only gaming.
But, if you are running other apps like discord chrome or streaming, 16gb may not be enough.
If a needed piece of code is not in ram, windows endures a hard page fault and the process is delayed until the needed page can be swapped in.

Start windows task manager and select the resource monitor.
Look at the memory tab and the hard fault page rate.
If it is anything more than zero, you are short of ram.

What is your ram speed?
Ryzen depends on fast ram for performance. I would hope for 3600 speed.
 
Hello again,

I see... but a slightly dumb question, have you tried my other suggestions, and could you tell us all your specifications, please? It means:

  • Your CPU (You already did it).
  • Your GPU.
  • Your Motherboard.
  • Your RAM sticks' brand and speed.
  • Your drives (You mabye forgot using "CHKDSK" on the other drives?).
  • Your PSU (Your problem could be due to your PSU's quality or power?).
Oh, and, don't forget to give a try to my older suggestions... Actually, you know what? I'm going to list you what are the remaining solutions:

  1. Give us our specifications to make sure there's no bottleneck or performance lack.
  2. Disable screen scaling and Vsync/FreeSync/GSYNC.
  • On NVIDIA Control Panel, you can disable screen scaling by clicking on the "Adjust desktop size and position" tab, and then clicking on "No scaling" in the "Scale" tab on the page.
  • On the Radeon Software Adrenalin, go on Display and disable "GPU Scaling". (⚠️ This can be false since I never used the Radeon Software Adrenalin... ⚠️)
3. Try connecting your screen to your GPU with another cable.

I hope this helps. If you don't know how to see your specifications, you can send us a screenshot of Speccy™, which is an app that allows you to show your components. While, for the PSU, you will have to see it physically. In some words, you will have to check the PSU's name by opening your case. Also, remember to read @geofelt's answer, which could be potentially interesting according to your issue.

@Vikko151
 
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honestly, kinda feels like people are reading more from a script than my post. i explained i have done memtest, multiple different bios' (currently on latest, 64f or somesuch), cpuz/taskmanager to monitor resources (nothing every hits 100%, not the cpu, not the gpu, not the memory, nothing), multiple cables/ports/monitors, and every possible configuration of freesync on/off along with every other setting.

i ommitted the video card because i just swapped out my radeon rx 590 for a 6600 and it made no difference. psu is a seasonic platinum+ 650w. DRAM frequency is 1600mhz, which translates to 3200 as i understand it. feature settings are either default or toggled off. scaling is off. hard faults pop up occasionally, but seem to have no correlation to the CONSTANT stutters in almost all applications.

as to lacking critical resources... NOTHING ever hits 100% usage. gpu occasionally spikes to 100 in games, but never stays there. cpu and ram usually cap out at about half no matter what im doing. loading up witcher 3, age of wonders 4, and grim dawn simultaneously and finally saw my system use more than 9 of the 16gB it has. also, none of my cores ever hit 100%. also also this stutter exists with nothing running except windows and a file folder to scroll in. on three different installs of windows. i even fired up temp OS on a hirensbootcd to eliminate all software, and STILL have the stutter just scrolling folders. two interesting things i have noted; gfx settings have almost no effect on fps rates or the stutters, and running multiple high demand games makes no difference either.

witcher 3 looks and runs great. on ultra settings. even when the fps in that game drop to 80 or so it FEELS smooth. even even when those other games were loaded in the background it ran perfectly. path of exile feels smooth most of the time long as the fps stays over 120. furmark benchmark silly que game ran PERFECTLY. never seen anything on this system so smooth (honestly almost ran it twice just to enjoy lookng at something stutter free). terraria stutters so bad it is unplayable, even capping fps to 60 and setting monitor refresh to 60, it looks like garbage. no combination of settings i have found makes this game smooth on this system, and there is simply no way terraria is using all resources of any flavor. age of wonders 4 reports fps over 80 while looking like about 10 it stutters so bad when panning, looks great if i dont move the camera. it baffles me; witcher 3 runs amazing, starsector (with an install size of about 300mB) doesnt. king's bounty runs great, heroes of might and magic 5 is unplayable (same as 6 and 7 for the matter). octopath traveller 2 runs smooth and is simply beautiful, meanwhile i cant even watch an episode of a cartoon because those stutter so bad.

cpuz benchmark with all other requested info.
https://valid.x86.fr/fzyt38

edit - just an addition to add to the oddities, but maybe something that is a clue... while the actual game of witcher 3 runs great, those loading screen cinematics do not. the reported fps drops to 37 and looks really jerky. i get the same behavior in grim dawn. the game itself runs pretty well, but those pseudo still image cinematics look like absolute trash. and to be clear, 37 fps itself doesnt necessarily look bad, movies are 24fps and those look smooth to me (on other devices anyway). 37 is also just about 1/4 of the 144 my refresh rate is currently set to. it really feels like an issue with frame timing. but i woulda thought the new card would fix that if that was the issue.
 
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It seems you have tried through the years to fix this and it persists.


Bios updates.
New monitor.
New installs of Windows 10 and 11.
Driver updates.
Tips and tricks you said you have tried from reading forums and on line stuff.
New GPU
You've said temps are ok.
Memory test come back ok.
stormy fairweather said:
not the cpu, not the gpu, not the memory, nothing), multiple cables/ports/monitors, and every possible configuration of freesync on/off along with every other setting.
Click to expand...
I think you said you have a new amd ryzen 9 5900x on it's way.

I'm trying to think outside the box because what your saying your issues are is it studders and video is effected.

It might seem like that's just stupid but have you used different mouse and keyboards through this saga. A bad mouse can make a system run so bad you think you have virus.

Do you use discord? Turn off overlay / hardware acceleration.

Turn off Steam's overlay.

If you use chrome again turn off hardware acceleration.

I will assume you have checked the health of the hard drive.
 
i was thinking about the hard drive, but i did load an OS off a usb and got the same behavior so i think that eliminates that. i havent changed keyboards, but i have seen it stutter with it disconnected. ive tried several mice as well, and did adjust the polling rate as it addressed the issue for one guy on one random thread i came across. didnt help, of course.

i have discord open in a tab most times, but i have done all these tests running only the game in question and i get the same behavior. i hate overlay so turning that off with each driver install is step one. hardware acceleration makes no difference on or off.

i found one guy who said he had similar issues with my processor and a comparable nvidia card and the only thing that fixed it for him was the new processor. so im HOPING that is it. but tbh i'm leery of getting my hopes up.

edit - actually. i dont have an option to disable gpu hardware acceleration in windows. think the option was there on a previous install but there is nothing there now. settings -> display -> graphics -> default graphics settings, only options there are for variable refresh rate and optimizations for windowed games. both are off now, but niether made any difference with testing. still, not too sure why the option to disable acceleration isnt there, my searches indicate it should be unless my drivers are old, but i have the latest ones installed.
 
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stormy fairweather said:
honestly, kinda feels like people are reading more from a script than my post. i explained i have done memtest, multiple different bios' (currently on latest, 64f or somesuch), cpuz/taskmanager to monitor resources (nothing every hits 100%, not the cpu, not the gpu, not the memory, nothing), multiple cables/ports/monitors, and every possible configuration of freesync on/off along with every other setting.

i ommitted the video card because i just swapped out my radeon rx 590 for a 6600 and it made no difference. psu is a seasonic platinum+ 650w. DRAM frequency is 1600mhz, which translates to 3200 as i understand it. feature settings are either default or toggled off. scaling is off. hard faults pop up occasionally, but seem to have no correlation to the CONSTANT stutters in almost all applications.

as to lacking critical resources... NOTHING ever hits 100% usage. gpu occasionally spikes to 100 in games, but never stays there. cpu and ram usually cap out at about half no matter what im doing. loading up witcher 3, age of wonders 4, and grim dawn simultaneously and finally saw my system use more than 9 of the 16gB it has. also, none of my cores ever hit 100%. also also this stutter exists with nothing running except windows and a file folder to scroll in. on three different installs of windows. i even fired up temp OS on a hirensbootcd to eliminate all software, and STILL have the stutter just scrolling folders. two interesting things i have noted; gfx settings have almost no effect on fps rates or the stutters, and running multiple high demand games makes no difference either.

witcher 3 looks and runs great. on ultra settings. even when the fps in that game drop to 80 or so it FEELS smooth. even even when those other games were loaded in the background it ran perfectly. path of exile feels smooth most of the time long as the fps stays over 120. furmark benchmark silly que game ran PERFECTLY. never seen anything on this system so smooth (honestly almost ran it twice just to enjoy lookng at something stutter free). terraria stutters so bad it is unplayable, even capping fps to 60 and setting monitor refresh to 60, it looks like garbage. no combination of settings i have found makes this game smooth on this system, and there is simply no way terraria is using all resources of any flavor. age of wonders 4 reports fps over 80 while looking like about 10 it stutters so bad when panning, looks great if i dont move the camera. it baffles me; witcher 3 runs amazing, starsector (with an install size of about 300mB) doesnt. king's bounty runs great, heroes of might and magic 5 is unplayable (same as 6 and 7 for the matter). octopath traveller 2 runs smooth and is simply beautiful, meanwhile i cant even watch an episode of a cartoon because those stutter so bad.

cpuz benchmark with all other requested info.
https://valid.x86.fr/fzyt38

edit - just an addition to add to the oddities, but maybe something that is a clue... while the actual game of witcher 3 runs great, those loading screen cinematics do not. the reported fps drops to 37 and looks really jerky. i get the same behavior in grim dawn. the game itself runs pretty well, but those pseudo still image cinematics look like absolute trash. and to be clear, 37 fps itself doesnt necessarily look bad, movies are 24fps and those look smooth to me (on other devices anyway). 37 is also just about 1/4 of the 144 my refresh rate is currently set to. it really feels like an issue with frame timing. but i woulda thought the new card would fix that if that was the issue.
Click to expand...
Hey @stormy fairweather,

stormy fairweather said:
honestly, kinda feels like people are reading more from a script than my post. i explained i have done memtest, multiple different bios' (currently on latest, 64f or somesuch), cpuz/taskmanager to monitor resources (nothing every hits 100%, not the cpu, not the gpu, not the memory, nothing), multiple cables/ports/monitors, and every possible configuration of freesync on/off along with every other setting.
Click to expand...

Err...

stormy fairweather said:
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
radeon rx 6600
Click to expand...
stormy fairweather said:
to start, i spent countless hours over the course of YEARS trying to isolate this issue. driver versions out the yazoo. upgraded to win 11, reformatted and went back to win 10. various bios chipsets. every configuration of settings you could think of; freesync, vsync, advanced sync, etc. ran every diagnostic i could; everything from furmark (looks great, but cant be sure there are no stutters cause it doesnt pan), memory diagnostic (says everything is good). read hundreds, if not thousands, of various forum threads trying all sorts of odd 'fixes' here or there that worked for one person or another.
Click to expand...

That's all the informations I got since I posted my last message. So, do not treat me like crap. I am trying to help, so stay respectuous near me.

So, what I told you didn't worked, isn't it? Well, hopefully, I got some few other suggestions. Just don't get angry at me because I am "reading more from a script than your post":

  • Clean boot: Just to check, have you tried doing a clean boot? It means to boot without any third-party service. If you see upgrades, your computer is probably bloated. You'll have to disable, and even if you can, uninstall, all the services you don't want to run in the background.
  • CPU bottleneck: And yea... I am scared this would be our last reason. Your PSU is more than enough, your RAM speed should be correct I guess, but your CPU can bottleneck your GPU (It also means frame drops!). Why? Not only your system doesn't cause any problem, but also because I don't think that any other component can cause this problem, the CPU in the only remaining option. On what I saw on internet, your GPU gets bottlenecked by your Ryzen 5 2600X on games that are GPU and CPU intense at the same time. I'll be interested to know if you saw any change with your new Ryzen 5 5950, which is quite powerful.
That's all I got to say about your problem for now. I hope you'll get your problem fixed soon...

@Vikko151
 
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my initial post included a report from cpuz which did include all specific specs, and perhaps other useful info to those in the know (least this was my thinking), but i appreciate it wasnt in the most convenient format and that people would be hesitant to open a random link.

any frustrations i may exhibit have nothing to do with you personally, i appreciate any attempt to help me sort this out regardless of efficacy, but please understand; this computer represents the single largest purchase in my life of failure, im on fixed income with little else going on, and have been beating my head against this for YEARS. literally the only source of happy in my life has been THIS instead. all i want to do at this point is play video games in peace and hide from the world as it burns. probably pathetic, but i put in my time and am just sick of it all now.

in regards to clean boots; "i even fired up temp OS on a hirensbootcd to eliminate all software, and STILL have the stutter just scrolling folders". and was on a usb so probably eliminates the sdd too. got the same behavior in safe mode.

the ryzen 9 5900 is kinda my last hope. but im leery of getting them up because it doesnt LOOK like anything is bottlenecking, cpu usage is almost never over half (including specific cores), and im not just seeing this during high stress (gpu OR cpu) tasks, but literally while the computer is as idle as it can be with nothing but windows (with ZERO third party apps or other bloatware) and just scrolling up and down in a file folder.

i have a sneaking suspicion im gonna be replacing the motherboard next, and STILL have the issue, with the only move from there being to call an exorcist because at that point i will have replaced everything except the psu (which seems to provide clean power as far as i can tell). this whole issue doesnt make sense. everything i know about pcs says i shouldnt be having this, and that sentiment is shared by the few people i've gone into it in depth with.

edit - not sure if this is an issue, or if i am misunderstanding something, but i noticed my gfx card NEVER draws more than 100w (
https://imgur.com/QDuRxIr
View: https://i.imgur.com/QDuRxIr.png
). when i took that screenshot i had several games loaded to try and stress it, it went to 100w when i fired up the first one, and didnt increase passed that even after firing up 2 more.
 
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here is a pic of a stability power test in occt. and the gfx card seems capped at 100w across the board. it is a 350w card, so i am pretty confused by this. i know that i havent configured anything to throttle voltages (as i said above, pretty much everything everywhere is default). am i misunderstanding this? or is this an issue? and if it is an issue, would be related to the stutters i have when the system is NOT under load?

https://imgur.com/avZ3mPk
View: https://i.imgur.com/avZ3mPk.png
 
Could this be Smart Access Memory (SAM) related again? I wasn't aware of it until recently. See thread below.

Post 13

Question - ryzen 5 5600, 6800xt micro stuttering in all games, fix?

Hi, this is not the first time i have posted here about this issue, that has been with me since windows 10 back when i got my desktop almost 2 years ago. the issue is hard to describe actually, but essentially every game i play suffers from some form of microstuttering, sometimes its more...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
 
adrenaline software says that option is not available, but it also says it is using 256mB of ram. running a test right now that needs 20m, then i will reboot and see what bios settings related to it i have.

edit - my processor cant do SAM. the new one i have arriving in a few days does. i will try with and without to see if either is smooth.

edit 2 - ye, bios options for that are auto and disabled.
 
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update - cleared CMOS, though i noticed bios version was still 64f which was the latest i installed which confuses me. also fully reinstalled windows from a fresh format.

same behavior.
 
update. new processor and ram arrived. swapped out the ram. still stutters. swapped out the processor. STILL STUTTERS.

the ONLY components i have not replaced at this point are the SSD, PSU, and motherboard. and i booted off a usb and still got the stutters so i assume that eliminates the SSD.

problem is... now im broke. and in debt to boot. and being on fixed income, gonna be slow to square up before i can buy the NEXT piece that wont fix this. this is a nightmare. i hate this so much.
 
stonecarver said:
It seems you have tried through the years to fix this and it persists.


Bios updates.
New monitor.
New installs of Windows 10 and 11.
Driver updates.
Tips and tricks you said you have tried from reading forums and on line stuff.
New GPU
You've said temps are ok.
Memory test come back ok.
Click to expand...
I'm still trying to think out side of the box.
I will add this but being as you have did clean installs of Windows I doubt this could be the issue. I have in the past realized Epic games launcher and GOG launcher both running at the same time will screw up the mouse and studders. My fix was to turn them off to not boot with windows. Like I said I don't think it's your issue but wanted to throw that out there.

Are there and factors where the computer sits that environment can effect computer.

Microwave.

Florescent lights.

AC on the same circuit.

Fridge on the same circuit.

Lava lamp. IDK

You have said you have changed the mouse to different models over the years but not the keyboard. At this point I would try anything. You could while windows is running un plug keyboard and see if mouse still studders.

And have you ever removed the PC case out of the equation. Like building parts out of case on table.

If I missed it have you tested with a loaner power supply. And no not saying to spend money on one just if you have access to a loaner.

Also one dumb thing I even over look is your mouse pad. Old dirty or warn down pads seem to be overlooked as an issue but some times it's an eye opener with a new one.
 
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