Occasional Severe Stutter/Lag

EukildGaming

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Jul 5, 2017
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A couple months ago I had an issue start to happen. At the time it happened when I had twitch open while playing a game, and I would get severe stuttering and lag on my system, but video only, audio was fine. This stutter would occur for 20 to 30 seconds and then go back to normal for ten to twenty minutes.

As time went on the problem got worse until the way it is today when I just did a complete reinstall of Windows 10, restarted the computer, opened just a game, and the stuttering occurs. I should add that I never get this issue with websites, video, etc. open, just gaming.

I forget what they were called, but I was using a couple programs to analyze CPU usage during these spikes. When they occurred, individual processes' CPU usage would drop by 10-20%, but the CPU cores would all max out to 100%. I found no application that was causing the resource gluttony.

I'm beginning to think it is a hardware issue and am debating on buying a new processor, but I wanted to ask around first before I invest. If anyone needs any more information I will be happy to provide.
 
Solution
Solved! Turns out the pump on my CPU water cooler was going. Ended up picking up a new one and now not only do I not have the issue any longer, but it's way quieter!
some cpus (4c/4t or dual cores, for sure) will be burdened by simultaneous gaming while streaming....

Drop all streaming, stop all processes not related to WIndows or gaming..; if performance is ok, then, you might be facing processor limitations, but not a malfunction, per se...

Allt his assumes you have no malware, of course....; nothing robs performance as quickly as downloading someone's bitcoin mining application when intending to get a 'game patch'!

It is one of Ryzen's (especially 1600 and up) biggest selling points...
 

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
Yeah this is the problem with 4C/4T CPUs and even 4C/8T parts. They are no longer going to be the bread and butter of gaming. For game streamers like yourself I recommend at least 6C/12T or better unless your doing a drop in solution for your current mobo with a 4C/4T CPU at which point 4C/8T is acceptable but far from ideal. Games all by themselves are becoming more well threaded. Look at BF1, Ghost Recon The Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2, The Witcher 3, The Division...All these games will use 8+ cores by themselves. Add game streaming and you want another 2-4 threads. Point being for a quick fix you could get a i7 assuming your on an i5...if your using an i7 I urge you to check out Ryzen R5 1600 or better CPU (intel i7 7800 or better).
 

EukildGaming

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Jul 5, 2017
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The problem started while streaming, but now occurs while gaming and nothing else major running. Just yesterday I rebooted the computer, opened Discord and my game, and nothing else, and still got the stutter. It happens less often with less processes open, but it still occurs.

And I'm assuming no malware as I just reinstalled Windows and have had virus protection running consistently.
 

EukildGaming

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Jul 5, 2017
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The problem really started up when I started streaming, but it still occurs without now. Ideally, I would like to be streaming primarily PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but with some Overwatch and Final Fantasy XIV thrown in on occasion. My current processor, however, is rather old: an 8-core AMD FX-8150.
 

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
Your CPU is no spring chicken and it's performance at launch was sub-par (single core IPC). However if this started out of the blue, it is likely something fixable. Did you format you primary hdd/ssd and all data drives as well when you reinstalled windows? If it is malware this is the only way to ensure you snuffed it out...unless it is UEFI/bios based in which case you may be screwed depending on your motherboard.
 

EukildGaming

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Jul 5, 2017
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It definitely started out of the blue. Originally it wouldn't do it until a couple hours into a gaming session and I had to be watching twitch. So then I stopped watching twitch while gaming and it began again. So then I shut down Chrome and anything else while gaming and now it's doing it yet again. Even if I just restarted the computer.

I did do a fresh install including wiping everything clean, so I don't believe it's malware related. I can definitely run some scans to double check, but nothing on my current anti-virus brought anything up. Any suggestions to check?
 

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
You've done the big one if you wiped everything. It is possible something in windows/drivers update screwed you but I would think a fresh install would have fixed it...unless you loaded all the latest and greatest patches again. It is tough to say for sure. You will need an upgrade soon regardless, due to your weak CPU, but I would think something you had done would have fixed it for the time being. I guess it is possible something on your motherboard is going but a guess is all I could give you without parts to swap out and check. You could try running memtest to make sure everything is good on that front.
 

EukildGaming

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Jul 5, 2017
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Solved! Turns out the pump on my CPU water cooler was going. Ended up picking up a new one and now not only do I not have the issue any longer, but it's way quieter!
 
Solution

EukildGaming

Prominent
Jul 5, 2017
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That's the thing, I didn't notice any increased temperatures with the programs I was using. We didn't even think the pump until a friend suggested I reapply my thermal paste. After the application the pump was making sputtering noises and not letting the computer start up. I don't know man... It's a weird situation, but like you said, I'm super glad it's solved as well!