[SOLVED] Microstuttering while gaming on MSI GS65 Stealth 8RF Laptop

[Grimlin Deville]

Hello, I have been having problems with micro stutters on this laptop since I got it a few years back, I just haven’t gotten around to trying to find the root of the problem until recently. I even brought it to a local IT Tech team last week and they told me that I had some corruption issues with my OS drivers, they said the hardware was fine it was just software and I believe he even told me that they detected and removed some malware. I think it’s great that my laptop is now healthy and free of any malicious software, but the stuttering problem still persists.

For example, I’ll be playing BF1 campaign and I’ll have to play at the lowest settings to avoid the stutters I’ll get if I’m playing at higher settings, (it will still stutter but not as bad). And if I want to play on ultra or high settings I’ll have to set my refresh rate to 60Hz in-game. I believe I should be able to play on my native 144Hz resolution at high settings without any problems as it is a pretty high end gaming laptop…

here are the specs:
Intel i7 8750H
Nvidia GTX 1070 max-q design
8GB GDDR5 video memory
16GB DDR4 system memory
512GB SSD

PLEAS HELP, AND THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

 

[Jason H.]

Hello, I have been having problems with micro stutters on this laptop since I got it a few years back, I just haven’t gotten around to trying to find the root of the problem until recently. I even brought it to a local IT Tech team last week and they told me that I had some corruption issues with my OS drivers, they said the hardware was fine it was just software and I believe he even told me that they detected and removed some malware. I think it’s great that my laptop is now healthy and free of any malicious software, but the stuttering problem still persists.

For example, I’ll be playing BF1 campaign and I’ll have to play at the lowest settings to avoid the stutters I’ll get if I’m playing at higher settings, (it will still stutter but not as bad). And if I want to play on ultra or high settings I’ll have to set my refresh rate to 60Hz in-game. I believe I should be able to play on my native 144Hz resolution at high settings without any problems as it is a pretty high end gaming laptop…

here are the specs:
Intel i7 8750H
Nvidia GTX 1070 max-q design
8GB GDDR5 video memory
16GB DDR4 system memory
512GB SSD

PLEAS HELP, AND THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

You either deal with micro stutter without vsync/gsync.

Or use vsync/gsync.

You cant have both at the same time.

The whole reason your getting micro stutter without vsync/gsync is because of how frames are processed and shown to you on the screen. Some frames come in a little earlier than your refresh rate, others come in a little later. This was the whole purpose of vsync. Now we have gsync which still has a slight input lag to it, but not nearly as bad as vsync. You either use either one of these, or you deal with microstutter. There is no "fix". Lowering the graphics only makes the micro stutter less because there is less fluctuation in the frame rate, and the frame rate is probably a bit higher. Higher frames = less micro stutter.

Im sure your not pushing 144fps or higher in most games your playing with a 1070 and a i7 UNLESS your playing older games. In order to fully utilize your monitor, you need better hardware.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

You either deal with micro stutter without vsync/gsync.

Or use vsync/gsync.

You cant have both at the same time.

The whole reason your getting micro stutter without vsync/gsync is because of how frames are processed and shown to you on the screen. Some frames come in a little earlier than your refresh rate, others come in a little later. This was the whole purpose of vsync. Now we have gsync which still has a slight input lag to it, but not nearly as bad as vsync. You either use either one of these, or you deal with microstutter. There is no "fix". Lowering the graphics only makes the micro stutter less because there is less fluctuation in the frame rate, and the frame rate is probably a bit higher. Higher frames = less micro stutter.

Im sure your not pushing 144fps or higher in most games your playing with a 1070 and a i7 UNLESS your playing older games. In order to fully utilize your monitor, you need better hardware.

I have vsync enabled though, without it I get screen tearing

 

[Jason H.]

I have vsync enabled though, without it I get screen tearing

Your saying you still get microstuttering with vsync enabled? Vsync cures micro stutter, and screen tearing.

Just to be clear, your game will ALWAYS look choppy, without vsync, compared to when vsync is enabled. Theres no fix. Vsync/gsync is the fix.

If your still micro stuttering with vsync enabled, then I would blame the gpu itself. But your tech guy said the hardware is fine.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Your saying you still get microstuttering with vsync enabled? Vsync cures micro stutter, and screen tearing.

Yes, I get stutters even with vsync, but they are pretty random and it doesn’t affect my playing and it may even be unnoticeable to some, but not me. I guess I’m just being picky but if that’s the best the laptop can do than I guess I’m okay with that. I just believe it’s meant to perform better than it actually is because all the reviews I’ve seen about this laptop never mentioned anything about stutters and they tested it out on max settings at 144 fps

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Your saying you still get microstuttering with vsync enabled? Vsync cures micro stutter, and screen tearing.

Just to be clear, your game will ALWAYS look choppy, without vsync, compared to when vsync is enabled. Theres no fix. Vsync/gsync is the fix.

If your still micro stuttering with vsync enabled, then I would blame the gpu itself. But your tech guy said the hardware is fine.

Is there a way I could test if the gpu is the problem? I thought about doing a benchmark test but I am completely new at all this pc gaming, and I’m learning as I go. I should have noted earlier that the cpu heats up to 90c when playing games. I changed the battery power setting for the processor to 98% max and 98% min to drop the temp down to 70c

 

[Jason H.]

Yes, I get stutters even with vsync, but they are pretty random and it doesn’t affect my playing and it may even be unnoticeable to some, but not me. I guess I’m just being picky but if that’s the best the laptop can do than I guess I’m okay with that. I just believe it’s meant to perform better than it actually is because all the reviews I’ve seen about this laptop never mentioned anything about stutters and they tested it out on max settings at 144 fps

What games are you even playing? The hardware is old. The 1070 doing 144fps in current titles, doesnt sound right to me. Unless on low graphics MAYBE. I use a 2060 super overclocked and dont get 144fps + in most games I play on max (rdr2 for example) and I have a r7 3800x cpu.

If your not getting a constant, and I mean ALL the time, stutter on ur screen then that isnt micro stuttering.

Is there any way you can monitor your fps while playing a game? I would suggest downloading Afterburner with RTSS and using RTSS with benchmark mode enabled to monitor these skips and see what the fps is doing. Enabling benchmark mode allows you to enable monitoring for you 1% and 0.1% lows which are considered stutters.

Is there a way I could test if the gpu is the problem? I thought about doing a benchmark test but I am completely new at all this pc gaming, and I’m learning as I go. I should have noted earlier that the cpu heats up to 90c when playing games. I changed the battery power setting for the processor to 98% max and 98% min to drop the temp down to 70c

90c would be the issue. Your cpu is running wayy too hot causing it to throttle. You can also use Afterburner/RTSS to monitor the cpu while gaming. Its all on a overlay on the game.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

What games are you even playing? The hardware is old. The 1070 doing 144fps in current titles, doesnt sound right to me. Unless on low graphics MAYBE. I use a 2060 super overclocked and dont get 144fps + in most games I play on max (rdr2 for example) and I have a r7 3800x cpu.

If your not getting a constant, and I mean ALL the time, stutter on ur screen then that isnt micro stuttering.

Is there any way you can monitor your fps while playing a game? I would suggest downloading Afterburner with RTSS and using RTSS with benchmark mode enabled to monitor these skips and see what the fps is doing. Enabling benchmark mode allows you to enable monitoring for you 1% and 0.1% lows which are considered stutters.



90c would be the issue. Your cpu is running wayy too hot causing it to throttle. You can also use Afterburner/RTSS to monitor the cpu while gaming. Its all on a overlay on the game.

I’m playing BF1 and Mafia definitive edition (remake), I notice the stutter most on mafia, and yeah tbh I’m not sure if stutter would be the right term, but when I’m looking around the scenery i notice little subtle skips, mostly where there’s more activity going on. And that game is locked at 60 fps, for some reason you can’t play that game at a higher Frame rate.

I am running msi and rtt, I have the gpu and cpu clock speed and temps showing and frame time. I’ll see how I can work the built in benchmark test. I did lower the cpu temp with that battery power setting though, but the clock speed is locked at 2108 MHz as opposed to 3914 MHz

 

[Jason H.]

Wait wait wait

I’m playing BF1 and Mafia definitive edition (remake), I notice the stutter most on mafia, and yeah tbh I’m not sure if stutter would be the right term, but when I’m looking around the scenery i notice little subtle skips, mostly where there’s more activity going on. And that game is locked at 60 fps, for some reason you can’t play that game at a higher Frame rate.

I am running msi and rtt, I have the gpu and cpu clock speed and temps showing and frame time. I’ll see how I can work the built in benchmark test. I did lower the cpu temp with that battery power setting though, but the clock speed is locked at 2108 MHz as opposed to 3914 MHz

As you stated, the "skips" get less, the lower you make the graphics in a game right?

Are you positive that you are not using the on board gpu that comes with your cpu?

If your forsure using the dedicated 1070, and your getting small skips when looking around and the skips get worse when looking at say, a crowd of people, that would lean towards a cpu issue.

Either the cpu (which its not great to begin with) is just not cut out for the games your playing, or the temps are too high and your getting some throttling. Lowering the power settings of the cpu will lower the performance of it as well. Its locking it at the lower clock speed to save power for the battery.

The laptop was nice, 5 years ago. Today, Bf1... not ideal. You will have some issues with fps no matter what. Since its a laptop, there is not many options are far as cooling goes.

Heres a video running benchmarks on some current games using the 1070 and the i7 8750H. As you can see, your going to have issues. And 144fps on max? ... forget that dream lol. In current titles, you will have to deal with a nice stable 60fps.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beju6jOXUZE

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Wait wait wait


As you stated, the "skips" get less, the lower you make the graphics in a game right?

Are you positive that you are not using the on board gpu that comes with your cpu?

If your forsure using the dedicated 1070, and your getting small skips when looking around and the skips get worse when looking at say, a crowd of people, that would lean towards a cpu issue.

Either the cpu (which its not great to begin with) is just not cut out for the games your playing, or the temps are too high and your getting some throttling. Lowering the power settings of the cpu will lower the performance of it as well. Its locking it at the lower clock speed to save power for the battery.

The laptop was nice, 5 years ago. Today, Bf1... not ideal. You will have some issues with fps no matter what. Since its a laptop, there is not many options are far as cooling goes.

Correct, the skips are less frequent when i lower the graphics, and funny enough, i cant even play bf3, a much older game on 144fps ultra settings (atleast not without skips) I have to play all my games at 60Hz to play at high settings. Except for Mafia 2 (old game). I guess it’s kind of hard for me to compare, or narrow things down when I have very few games.

and yes the gpu usage is higher than the cpu so I’m assuming the games are all using the 1070. I have a feeling it’s been the cpu all along but I’m just very ignorant on computers and clearly not tech savvy enough. Youtube has been my friend during these times lol

 

[Jason H.]

Correct, the skips are less frequent when i lower the graphics, and funny enough, i cant even play bf3, a much older game on 144fps ultra settings (atleast not without skips) I have to play all my games at 60Hz to play at high settings. Except for Mafia 2 (old game). I guess it’s kind of hard for me to compare, or narrow things down when I have very few games.

and yes the gpu usage is higher than the cpu so I’m assuming the games are all using the 1070. I have a feeling it’s been the cpu all along but I’m just very ignorant on computers and clearly not tech savvy enough. Youtube has been my friend during these times lol

The laptop is no longer high end. That seems to be more of the issue than anything being wrong with it in my opinion. I think at this point, if you want to keep it, I would look into upgrading your cooling for the cpu as this is the only thing that will allow it to boost higher. Hitting 70c+ will start throttling clocks and shut down any turbo boost that would occur. Also, to even run the cpu at its peak, power saving must be turned off so it can boost its clocks or it will remain at a low clock, but when u disable power saving, you get 90c temps. Has the laptop been fully cleaned? All fans and inside cleaned of dust? This could be part of it over heating as well.

I would say your only option would be to overclock the cpu as much as possible and see if it helps, but 1, your a beginner, and 2, you cannot overclock if your temps are already too high.

Personally, other than what Ive mentioned, its time for an upgrade.

Im actually astonished the "tech" you brought it too didnt tell you all this.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

The laptop is no longer high end. That seems to be more of the issue than anything being wrong with it in my opinion. I think at this point, if you want to keep it, I would look into upgrading your cooling for the cpu as this is the only thing that will allow it to boost higher. Hitting 70c+ will start throttling clocks and shut down any turbo boost that would occur. Also, to even run the cpu at its peak, power saving must be turned off so it can boost its clocks or it will remain at a low clock, but when u disable power saving, you get 90c temps. Has the laptop been fully cleaned? All fans and inside cleaned of dust? This could be part of it over heating as well.

I would say your only option would be to overclock the cpu as much as possible and see if it helps, but 1, your a beginner, and 2, you cannot overclock if your temps are already too high.

Personally, other than what Ive mentioned, its time for an upgrade.

Im actually astonished the "tech" you brought it too didnt tell you all this.

As long as there is nothing restricting my laptop and it’s performing exactly how it was meant to, I will gladly play at 60 fps. I just wanted to explore all options to see if I can get rid of the “skips” all together. But if skips are normal even on high end machines, knowing that will atleast put me at ease and I can begin accepting the fact that my laptop is fine. I would just hate to move on to something else if it turns out that my solution was actually something very simple.

Actually, the person in the video undervolted his cpu, should I do that instead of overclocking? I would love to open it up and clean it, but I’ve seen how difficult it is specifically on this model that I might actually mess it up

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Im actually astonished the "tech" you brought it too didnt tell you all this.

I don’t think he even opened up my system because the factory seal is still on my laptop, he put his company sticker over it too

 

[Jason H.]

As long as there is nothing restricting my laptop and it’s performing exactly how it was meant to, I will gladly play at 60 fps. I just wanted to explore all options to see if I can get rid of the “skips” all together. But if skips are normal even on high end machines, knowing that will atleast put me at ease and I can begin accepting the fact that my laptop is fine. I would just hate to move on to something else if it turns out that my solution was actually something very simple.

Actually, the person in the video undervolted his cpu, should I do that instead of overclocking? I would love to open it up and clean it, but I’ve seen how difficult it is specifically on this model that I might actually mess it up

Its always worth cleaning if heat is a issue. Just be very careful. You got this. As far as undervolting, hell try it why not! If it doesnt improve things, just make sure to revert the settings.

As far as the laptop running as it should, sounds to me it is. Also going off of the video I supplied, the FPS seems to be right where I expected it to be. Limiting your games to 60hz will give the cpu a little more wiggle room to render in heavier scenes which helps reduce the "skips".

Try a game like csgo, its free. Just download it n run a couple games, check your fps on it and check for skips. Im sure older titles will run much smoother, and if they in fact do, then you know forsure your laptop is just not up to par to play heavy titles with good performance. BF3 is still pretty cpu intensive, which is why you have issues in it. Any "big world" game, will be heavy on the cpu. Arena shooters will give you better performance, like Doom, COD (older titles), or CSGO.

Keep in mind, laptops are known for hitting 90c. The issue is, is that no cpu performs very well when that hot.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Its always worth cleaning if heat is a issue. Just be very careful. You got this.

As far as the laptop running as it should, sounds to me it is. Also going off of the video I supplied, the FPS seems to be right where I expected it to be. Limiting your games to 60hz will give the cpu a little more wiggle room to render in heavier scenes which helps reduce the "skips".

Try a game like csgo, its free. Just download it n run a couple games, check your fps on it and check for skips. Im sure older titles will run much smoother, and if they in fact do, then you know forsure your laptop is just not up to par to play heavy titles with good performance. BF3 is still pretty cpu intensive, which is why you have issues in it. Any "big world" game, will be heavy on the cpu. Arena shooters will give you better performance, like Doom, COD (older titles), or CSGO.

I really appreciate you helping me with this really, I learned more from talking to you than the IT Tech guy and youtube responses I’ve gotten!

I also thought about factory resetting my laptop as I have only games on here and game launchers. Just to see if it’s maybe a settings issue or drivers, updates. I really wouldn’t mind but I would want to save that as a last resort.

I will try CSGO for sure and then try benchmarking my games. But are skips normal? Like let’s say I see a few skips every now and then but not constant skipping? Not sure if an ultra smooth pc with absolutely no skips exists. Hard to tell when watching videos of ppl playing games..

 

[Jason H.]

I really appreciate you helping me with this really, I learned more from talking to you than the IT Tech guy and youtube responses I’ve gotten!

I also thought about factory resetting my laptop as I have only games on here and game launchers. Just to see if it’s maybe a settings issue or drivers, updates. I really wouldn’t mind but I would want to save that as a last resort.

I will try CSGO for sure and then try benchmarking my games. But are skips normal? Like let’s say I see a few skips every now and then but not constant skipping? Not sure if an ultra smooth pc with absolutely no skips exists. Hard to tell when watching videos of ppl playing games..

No pc is perfect lol. Code gets lost in the sauce sometimes and skips or fps drops or anything of the sort can happen from time to time.

Moreso less in higher end pcs, but it still happens. Im almost positive your laptop is running normally, your just trying to play heavy games, on a outdated system and from what you have described, sounds exactly like what a underperforming CPU would do to a game, especially at 90c.

No problem man, glad to help! You can choose to mark the thread as solved by choosing a best answer for others searching for this same issue, or leave it open for others to put their input Although, if you choose to mark the thread as solved, others can still comment to put their input

Good luck!

 

[Grimlin Deville]

No pc is perfect lol. Code gets lost in the sauce sometimes and skips or fps drops or anything of the sort can happen from time to time.

Moreso less in higher end pcs, but it still happens. Im almost positive your laptop is running normally, your just trying to play heavy games, on a outdated system and from what you have described, sounds exactly like what a underperforming CPU would do to a game, especially at 90c.

No problem man, glad to help! You can choose to mark the thread as solved by choosing a best answer for others searching for this same issue, or leave it open for others to put their input Although, if you choose to mark the thread as solved, others can still comment to put their input

Good luck!

Definitely, I want to leave it open atleast until I test benchmarks and such and then if I find my answer after that I will post it as solved for sure.
I just noticed that when i resized my window I got these black flickering borders as I moved the resize icon around. Is that an issue?? Lol

 

[Jason H.]

I just noticed that when i resized my window I got these black flickering borders as I moved the resize icon around. Is that an issue?? Lol

no lol.

Keep in mind, if the skips are not game breaking, you can keep playing the games. I know how it is to obsess over performance. For me personally, its never enough, I always want more lol. But I used to play games on a gtx 750 1gb of memory lol. Games ran like dog water lol. I still had a blast and to be honest I made an entire thread about how I missed that bad pc lol. There was always something to fix on it. Became kind of a new hobby and it brought me into learning all the stuff I know about computers today

Now I have a pc that RARELY ever has an issue (that I even built myself), Im bored lol. So I try to help people on here fix their issues from time to time

 

[Grimlin Deville]

no lol.

Keep in mind, if the skips are not game breaking, you can keep playing the games. I know how it is to obsess over performance. For me personally, its never enough, I always want more lol. But I used to play games on a gtx 750 1gb of memory lol. Games ran like dog water lol. I still had a blast and to be honest I made an entire thread about how I missed that bad pc lol. There was always something to fix on it. Became kind of a new hobby and it brought me into learning all the stuff I know about computers today

Now I have a pc that RARELY ever has an issue (that I even built myself), Im bored lol. So I try to help people on here fix their issues from time to time

You are doing gods work my friend lol
I would definitely say I became obsessed but not rlly for performance, but more because whenever I find a problem with anything I get determined to fix it. And this little problem has been driving me crazy lol, if I could even call it a problem, we’ll find out soon hopefully.
I think it’s cool you learned everything because of your old rig, and it seems you’ve been in the pc community for a lot of years. I really want to learn more, atleast enough to maintain things in running order for present and future computers.

I tried CSGO btw, i left the game on default settings and I noticed the frame rate was all over the place, it was somewhat smooth, but not perfect. I used rtt to lock it at 60fps and it played a lot better. I didn’t see a setting to turn on vsync in the game tho

 

[Jason H.]

You are doing gods work my friend lol
I would definitely say I became obsessed but not rlly for performance, but more because whenever I find a problem with anything I get determined to fix it. And this little problem has been driving me crazy lol, if I could even call it a problem, we’ll find out soon hopefully.
I think it’s cool you learned everything because of your old rig, and it seems you’ve been in the pc community for a lot of years. I really want to learn more, atleast enough to maintain things in running order for present and future computers.

I tried CSGO btw, i left the game on default settings and I noticed the frame rate was all over the place, it was somewhat smooth, but not perfect. I used rtt to lock it at 60fps and it played a lot better. I didn’t see a setting to turn on vsync in the game tho

default settings is probably too high. use competative settings and try again and let me know the fps then.

just google comp settings for csgo.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

default settings is probably too high. use competative settings and try again and let me know the fps then.

just google comp settings for csgo.

I used Comp settings and it’s decent, I still see some noticeable stutters tho, and for some reason the Frame rate is still very inconsistent, it’s showing that it goes up to 240fps and then dropping as low as 125 before going back up. All in a matter of seconds and pretty consistently. A lot of times when I would apply different video settings the game would crash

I’m also noticing some very tiny screen tearing

 

[Jason H.]

I used Comp settings and it’s decent, I still see some noticeable stutters tho, and for some reason the Frame rate is still very inconsistent, it’s showing that it goes up to 240fps and then dropping as low as 125 before going back up. All in a matter of seconds and pretty consistently. A lot of times when I would apply different video settings the game would crash

I’m also noticing some very tiny screen tearing

Just limit the fps to stop getting so many "skips".

The gpu handles the high end of the fps, the cpu the low end. Its a cpu bottleneck.

This means the gpu is capable of running the game at a higher fps, but the cpu cannot deliver as many frames as the gpu can produce.

Limiting the fps to the low end it drops too (125 fps) should noticebly reduce skipping as the fps wont be dropping as drastically.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Just limit the fps to stop getting so many "skips".

The gpu handles the high end of the fps, the cpu the low end. Its a cpu bottleneck.

This means the gpu is capable of running the game at a higher fps, but the cpu cannot deliver as many frames as the gpu can produce.

Limiting the fps to the low end it drops too (125 fps) should noticebly reduce skipping as the fps wont be dropping as drastically.

Good idea, so limiting it to a lower fps is the solution for cpu bottleneck? thanks again btw, so far I’ve undervolted my cpu, and in games like mafia remake I’ve even had to lower the turbo ratios of all 6 cores to get my temps down. I’m working up the courage to open up my laptop and clean any dust I have on the fans, and even reapply thermal paste. I just HAD to get an msi laptop, which requires me to fully disconnect and flip the motherboard around to get to the cpu/gpu .-.

 

[Jason H.]

Good idea, so limiting it to a lower fps is the solution for cpu bottleneck? thanks again btw, so far I’ve undervolted my cpu, and in games like mafia remake I’ve even had to lower the turbo ratios of all 6 cores to get my temps down. I’m working up the courage to open up my laptop and clean any dust I have on the fans, and even reapply thermal paste. I just HAD to get an msi laptop, which requires me to fully disconnect and flip the motherboard around to get to the cpu/gpu .-.

Its not particularly a "solution" but more so just a work around to help you notice the bottleneck, less.

Now that you have had a few days to try it out, has it helped?

Also trust me, once you do it once, its like riding a bike. Just be careful, follow a tutorial on taking it apart and make sure you pay attention to certain ribbon cable connections and take extra care of those. You got it.

 

[Grimlin Deville]

Its not particularly a "solution" but more so just a work around to help you notice the bottleneck, less.

Now that you have had a few days to try it out, has it helped?

Also trust me, once you do it once, its like riding a bike. Just be careful, follow a tutorial on taking it apart and make sure you pay attention to certain ribbon cable connections and take extra care of those. You got it.

It’s been running really smooth, been playing every game at the lowest settings, consistent 60fps, just that the newer games still manage to bring my cpu temp up to 90 even with the throttlestop settings I’m using. I notice that some games my cpu utilization is almost the same as my gpu and it sometimes surpasses it too. I guess once I fix my temperature issue I will be able to bump up my settings a bit and increase my gpu utilization. The way I play games now it says the gpu is being power and load limited.

thanks for your words of encouragement, thats all the reassurance I need!