Question Mini-freezes and stuttering - - - is this a CPU issue, If not, what is it and what exactly is causing it ?

[nocturniauzuki]

Hello.

I've got an old and probably quite crappy (especially nowadays) "gaming" laptop (specs below) that has a wide variety of issues. Some of them are probably not fixable and I will eventually buy a new computer. However, prior to that I'd really like to nail down the exact cause of one issue in particular and solve (or at least mitigate) it if I can: stuttering in games.

By "stuttering" I don't mean a choppy frame rate. It's the regular split-second freezing on frames. It's been suggested before that it is a CPU issue, so I'm posting this here.

You can see the issue in the following (raw, sorry!) video clip. Don’t mind the noticeably poor frame rate — that’s just because of the video recording software. My normal frame rate isn’t amazing, but it’s smooth enough. The issue at hand can be seen periodically as I’m running around. The most noticeable is as I approach the caravan. It also happens in quick succession several times after that; that biome is particularly bad for it. The game freezes on a frame and then the processing catches up, I guess, and it keeps going.

https://streamable.com/ofa1e3

This happens in virtually every game. I know some games can just be badly coded that way, but while that may make it significantly worse, there’s clearly something at play on my computer’s end, too.

What causes games to freeze on frames like that?

Your assistance is appreciated!

Specs

OS: Windows 10 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.60 GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060
RAM: 16gb (DDR4)
HDD: 1TB (87.8gb free)
SSD: 250GB (28.5gb free)

The game is running on Steam, which installs things on my HDD. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

Updated the link, since it expired.

 

[geofelt]

My stock answer:

I see many complaints about gaming laptops not performing well.
Usually gaming while plugged in.
One common cause is thermal throttling.
Laptop coolers must, of necessity be small and light.
The coolers are also relatively underpowered.
If you run an app such as HWMonitor or HWinfo, you will get the current, minimum, and maximum cpu temperatures. Set to see each individual core.
For intel processors, if you see a max of 100c. in red, it means you have throttled.
I think the number for ryzen is more like 85c-90c.
The cpu will lower it's multiplier and power draw to protect itself until the situation reverses.
At a lower multiplier, your cpu usage may well be at 100%
What can you do?
First, see that your cooler airways are clear and that the cooler fan is spinning.
Use a windows balanced power profile, not the performance profile.
Set a minimum cpu performance to something like 20%

It is counter-intuitive, but, try changing the windows balanced power profile advanced functions to a max of 90% instead of the default of 100%
You may not notice the reduced cpu performance.