[SOLVED] PC keeps frame dropping for no reason and getting choppy gameplay in games

Jul 13, 2021
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My PC was running well until I upgraded my ram from 8gb dual channel to 16gb dual channel. Games that were stuttering due to low ram were resolved but now for some reason I am having frame drops. I started monitoring temps and usages when I noticed that frame drops where happening when the gpu usage goes from like 99% to like 92%.
I tried these things :1)First I thought it was ram so I switched back and issue stayed there. So I switched back to 16GB and resettled cmos and updated BIOS(it did nothing)(btw I did a mem diagnostic and got no errors)
: 2)Then I thought it was a driver thing from my GPU so I used DDU for like 2 times and didn't do anything so I reinstalled windows and my games, the frame dropping reduced a bit but it stayed there.

My specs are: I5-9400F
GTX 1660 SUPER
16GB DDR4 (2x8)
1TB HDD
222GB M.2 SSD
450 WATT PSU corsair

I don't think its a hardware issue because a few weeks ago I had a freezing issue and since I had warranty I returned my PC and it was not a hardware issue(now warranty expired so I am trying to resolve the issue myself_)
 
Solution
Prior to upgrading your system ram your games were likely always memory limited...now that bottleneck is gone.

The CPU, which was previously memory starved, is now likely getting all the data it can handle and it can't keep up with the demands of the 1660 super. Try increasing your in game graphic settings to move more of the load to the GPU...if this makes things somewhat better it would indicate you're now CPU bottlenecked.

If increasing in-game quality doesn't improve the frame drops then I would look at your HHD as the culprit...moving to an SSD for a game storage drive will help.
Install both HWMonitor and CPU-Z, and, launch them both...

On CPU-Z, select 'bench', then 'stress CPU'...

On HWMonitor, note clock speeds maintained on all cores (which should now be at 100% usage) and temps for about 8-10 minutes... (Once finished, you can hit 'stop' on CPU-z/bench, which will terminate the ' stress CPU' load.)

(The 9400F should maintain ~3.5-3.6 GHz or so across all cores, but, if on a Z-series mainboard with MCE engaged/power limits, one could see max turbo of 4.1 GHz if no VRM throttling occurs and cooling was adequate (which will likely not occur with a factory cooler, which was known to allow CPU throttling to occur even under routine gaming loads.).
 
Prior to upgrading your system ram your games were likely always memory limited...now that bottleneck is gone.

The CPU, which was previously memory starved, is now likely getting all the data it can handle and it can't keep up with the demands of the 1660 super. Try increasing your in game graphic settings to move more of the load to the GPU...if this makes things somewhat better it would indicate you're now CPU bottlenecked.

If increasing in-game quality doesn't improve the frame drops then I would look at your HHD as the culprit...moving to an SSD for a game storage drive will help.
 
Solution
Jul 13, 2021
6
0
10
Prior to upgrading your system ram your games were likely always memory limited...now that bottleneck is gone.

The CPU, which was previously memory starved, is now likely getting all the data it can handle and it can't keep up with the demands of the 1660 super. Try increasing your in game graphic settings to move more of the load to the GPU...if this makes things somewhat better it would indicate you're now CPU bottlenecked.

If increasing in-game quality doesn't improve the frame drops then I would look at your HHD as the culprit...moving to an SSD for a game storage drive will help.
I play red dead redemption 2 in high settings with resolution scale on so load is already on GPU.
How do I check if my HDD is not damaged?
 
Jul 13, 2021
6
0
10
Install both HWMonitor and CPU-Z, and, launch them both...

On CPU-Z, select 'bench', then 'stress CPU'...

On HWMonitor, note clock speeds maintained on all cores (which should now be at 100% usage) and temps for about 8-10 minutes... (Once finished, you can hit 'stop' on CPU-z/bench, which will terminate the ' stress CPU' load.)

(The 9400F should maintain ~3.5-3.6 GHz or so across all cores, but, if on a Z-series mainboard with MCE engaged/power limits, one could see max turbo of 4.1 GHz if no VRM throttling occurs and cooling was adequate (which will likely not occur with a factory cooler, which was known to allow CPU throttling to occur even under routine gaming loads.).
I had problems with the intel stock cooler so I bought the Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler temps seem fine now. I will run the CPU benchmark tomorrow
 
I play red dead redemption 2 in high settings with resolution scale on so load is already on GPU.
How do I check if my HDD is not damaged?

Resolution scaling is a method of unloading the GPU...you need to run native resolution to fully load the GPU. Also resolution scaling adds input lag so it should be avoided for gaming.

Almost all HHD makers have their own software to test and diagnose drives. To be clear I'm not suggesting your HHD is defective, it may be perfectly fine and still introduce frame drops. I am saying a traditional rotating disk drive, even a 7200 or 10k rpm drive like a Raptor, is much slower than an SSD which can cause delays in getting game data to your GPU.
 
Jul 13, 2021
6
0
10
Install both HWMonitor and CPU-Z, and, launch them both...

On CPU-Z, select 'bench', then 'stress CPU'...

On HWMonitor, note clock speeds maintained on all cores (which should now be at 100% usage) and temps for about 8-10 minutes... (Once finished, you can hit 'stop' on CPU-z/bench, which will terminate the ' stress CPU' load.)

(The 9400F should maintain ~3.5-3.6 GHz or so across all cores, but, if on a Z-series mainboard with MCE engaged/power limits, one could see max turbo of 4.1 GHz if no VRM throttling occurs and cooling was adequate (which will likely not occur with a factory cooler, which was known to allow CPU throttling to occur even under routine gaming loads.).
I stressed the CPU for about 10min temps were barely reaching 60degrees and the cpu was running at 3.89Ghz
 
Jul 13, 2021
6
0
10
Resolution scaling is a method of unloading the GPU...you need to run native resolution to fully load the GPU. Also resolution scaling adds input lag so it should be avoided for gaming.

Almost all HHD makers have their own software to test and diagnose drives. To be clear I'm not suggesting your HHD is defective, it may be perfectly fine and still introduce frame drops. I am saying a traditional rotating disk drive, even a 7200 or 10k rpm drive like a Raptor, is much slower than an SSD which can cause delays in getting game data to your GPU.
I moved one of my games on my M.2 SSD, I moved the game dead by daylight. I played it for a while and noticed a micro stutter at the beginning of the match and then I had another stutter in the middle of the game. Game feels sort of a little bit smoother but issue seems to stay there
 
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