Question PC stability issues in games.

[Threshis]

I build a budget gaming PC about 2.5 months ago. my rig:

CPU: R5 5600x PBO OFF
GRAPHICS CARD: RTX 4060
M.2 SSD: WD Blue SN580

MOBO: Gigabyte A520M K V2 (I know not the best mobo but for the hard budget i was on i thought it would be good)
PSU: Be Quiet! System Power 10 550W Bronze rated.

What ive done:
CPU stress test: Cinebench (no overheating)
GPU stress test: 3D mark, Furmark. (no overheating)
OCC power test: 10 minutes: no errors no overheating no crash.
Updated / downgraded drivers to see if any problems went way.
and lots and lots more.

since i build the pc ive had problems with stutters. i figured the stutters were a problem with the games i played: Elder scrolls online, Sekiro, Elden ring. Eso is notorius for stuttering so i cant test in that game. Sekiro had some "loading stutters" other people have them too when transitioning into a new area. Elden ring was really really bad until i fixed something bugged with the game. but now its getting worse the stutters. in elden ring i drop like 10 fps randomly. in tekken 8 there is something called fight lounge with a lot of people there and every time it loads a set of people it stutters like crazy. in the witcher 3 i keep having stutters when fighting enemies (happened in elden ring too for the first time today) i dont know if im going crazy or if there is actually something wrong. i would love some help. a note about the PSU: it does have a high pitch noise coming from it even when the PC is off. but testing power with OCCT resulted in no errors crashes or volt rails being low or anything. in HWINFO i do have a problem with power reporting deviation which dropped all the way to 80%

 

[Aeacus]

Hmm...

Stutters can be caused by RAM issue.
So, what RAM you have and what's their frequency? Since Ryzen loves high frequency RAM.

Wouldn't hurt to test the RAM with memtest86. 4 full passes (all 15 tests, 4 times over) is acceptable.

Another issue could be high PSU ripple. And that, your low quality PSU, is confirmed to have,
review: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-quiet-system-power-10-750w/12.html

Ripple represent the AC fluctuations (periodic) and noise (random) found in the PSU's DC rails. This phenomenon significantly decreases the capacitors' lifespan because it causes them to run hotter. A 10-degree Celsius increase can cut into a cap's useful life by 50%. Ripple also plays an important role in overall system stability, especially when overclocking is involved.

So, i'd get new PSU regardless.
Good PSUs to go for, are: Seasonic Focus/Vertex/PRIME, Corsair RMx/RMi/HXi/AXi, Super Flower Leadex Gold/Platinum/Titanium.

(All 3x of my PCs are also powered by Seasonic. I have 2x PRIME TX-650 units and 1x Focus PX-550 unit. Full specs with pics in my sig.)

 

[Threshis]

Hmm...

Stutters can be caused by RAM issue.
So, what RAM you have and what's their frequency? Since Ryzen loves high frequency RAM.

Wouldn't hurt to test the RAM with memtest86. 4 full passes (all 15 tests, 4 times over) is acceptable.

Another issue could be high PSU ripple. And that, your low quality PSU, is confirmed to have,
review: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-quiet-system-power-10-750w/12.html



So, i'd get new PSU regardless.
Good PSUs to go for, are: Seasonic Focus/Vertex/PRIME, Corsair RMx/RMi/HXi/AXi, Super Flower Leadex Gold/Platinum/Titanium.

(All 3x of my PCs are also powered by Seasonic. I have 2x PRIME TX-650 units and 1x Focus PX-550 unit. Full specs with pics in my sig.)

when i build my pc i did some research and i got 3600mhz ram with XMP on

i got a 550w power supply. you think the PSU could cause stutters ? all volt rails are stable. drops a little during very heavy load but thats to be expected. the stutters mostly occur aswell during asset loading. or NPC loading etc pretty wierd. but not all games have it.

 

[Aeacus]

when i build my pc i did some research and i got 3600mhz ram with XMP on

Okay, but why you didn't research PSUs? 🤔

i got a 550w power supply.

PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?

you think the PSU could cause stutters ?

Yes, it can, when it produces high ripple. Which your Be Quiet! unit does.

all volt rails are stable. drops a little during very heavy load but thats to be expected.

How much is "little"? Since if it is more than 5% on +12V rail, it is out of ATX PSU spec.

System Power 10, 750W unit reviewed poorly, with very loose rail regulation and very high ripple, even failing one of the ripple tests.
Review: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-quiet-system-power-10-750w/4.html

For comparison, i'm running Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium [SSR-650TD] and you can look from review how my unit fares,
voltage regulation: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seasonic-prime-titanium-650w-psu,4690-4.html
ripple: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seasonic-prime-titanium-650w-psu,4690-9.html

Whereby, my PSU has +12V rail voltage regulation at 0.37%. That's mythical levels of voltage regulation. System Power 10 has it at ~2.2% on +12V rail, worse on minor rails.
I can call my PSU rails stable. You - not so much.

My PSU ripple, at most, on 110% load, is 13.3mV. System Power 10 failed 110% load test, with insane 124.0mV. ATX PSU spec defines no more than 120mV ripple.
Ripple wise, System Power 10, at it's very best, 20% load 36.4mV on +12V rail, doesn't come even close to my unit. Easy 3x times higher ripple compared to the worst of what my unit produces.

And efficiency isn't comparable either. You have 80+ Bronze, i have 80+ Titanium, highest efficiency there is.

Like i said, you have low quality PSU. While i have great quality PSU and it was the best 650W PSU money could buy back in 2016. Even today, Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium, is one of the best (if not the best) PSU out there.

Keep in mind: since PSU powers everything, it is the most important component inside the PC! (Hence why i'm running the best there is.)

 

[Threshis]

Okay, but why you didn't research PSUs? 🤔


PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?


Yes, it can, when it produces high ripple. Which your Be Quiet! unit does.


How much is "little"? Since if it is more than 5% on +12V rail, it is out of ATX PSU spec.

System Power 10, 750W unit reviewed poorly, with very loose rail regulation and very high ripple, even failing one of the ripple tests.
Review: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-quiet-system-power-10-750w/4.html

For comparison, i'm running Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium [SSR-650TD] and you can look from review how my unit fares,
voltage regulation: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seasonic-prime-titanium-650w-psu,4690-4.html
ripple: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seasonic-prime-titanium-650w-psu,4690-9.html

Whereby, my PSU has +12V rail voltage regulation at 0.37%. That's mythical levels of voltage regulation. System Power 10 has it at ~2.2% on +12V rail, worse on minor rails.
I can call my PSU rails stable. You - not so much.

My PSU ripple, at most, on 110% load, is 13.3mV. System Power 10 failed 110% load test, with insane 124.0mV. ATX PSU spec defines no more than 120mV ripple.
Ripple wise, System Power 10, at it's very best, 20% load 36.4mV on +12V rail, doesn't come even close to my unit. Easy 3x times higher ripple compared to the worst of what my unit produces.

And efficiency isn't comparable either. You have 80+ Bronze, i have 80+ Titanium, highest efficiency there is.

Like i said, you have low quality PSU. While i have great quality PSU and it was the best 650W PSU money could buy back in 2016. Even today, Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium, is one of the best (if not the best) PSU out there.

Keep in mind: since PSU powers everything, it is the most important component inside the PC! (Hence why i'm running the best there is.)

volt rails are as far as i know within ATX +- 5% specs
I have a Be Quiet! System Power 10 550W Bronze rated not a 750w here is a picture of volt rails. this is with games running like: elder scrolls online and elden ring and tekken 8 withing this time span. during stress test my 12v rail never drops below 12.024

my volt rails were after 5.5 hours of gaming 12volt: minimum 11.952 MAX: 12.240 avarage 12.126

 

[Aeacus]

I have a Be Quiet! System Power 10 550W Bronze rated not a 750w

Same platform is still in use between all capacity System Power 10 units. Also, you can not measure PSU's ripple with any software. For ripple measurement, you need dedicated PSU testing equipment.


You asked for what could be causing stutters in your system. I gave you two possible culprits. If you are not willing to accept that you have low quality PSU, instead, are trying to justify using it further - then i have nothing else to say to you. I can't help if one doesn't want to be helped.

Btw, did you test your RAM with memtest86? Or did you brush off that as well, like you did with PSU?

 

[stonecarver]

Here's a nice education on what to be aware of with power supplies.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keMS-4SYGNU

Jonny Guru​

Knows his field and very informative.

 

[Threshis]

Same platform is still in use between all capacity System Power 10 units. Also, you can not measure PSU's ripple with any software. For ripple measurement, you need dedicated PSU testing equipment.


You asked for what could be causing stutters in your system. I gave you two possible culprits. If you are not willing to accept that you have low quality PSU, instead, are trying to justify using it further - then i have nothing else to say to you. I can't help if one doesn't want to be helped.

Btw, did you test your RAM with memtest86? Or did you brush off that as well, like you did with PSU?

ill try mem test tomorrow. i know my PSU isnt the best quality and im not trying to justify it. i just want to tick off all boxes first before i start replacing my PSU

 

[Threshis]

hello guys, i have made a post before on tom's hardware and my situation has worsened.

My rig:
CPU: R5 5600x PBO ON
GRAPHICS CARD: RTX 4060 ventus black 2x OC
M.2 SSD: WD Blue SN580 500GB
SATA SSD: Samsung 870 EVO 1TB
MOBO: Gigabyte A520M K V2 (XMP, 4g decoding, resizable bar ON)
PSU: Be Quiet! System Power 10 550W Bronze rated.

(I had to change the game names into short versions or it wouldnt let me post this)

I have not given up yet to fix my performance issues and i have learned a lot since. here i will list all the things i have tried
So ive been experiencing stutters / framedrops which have gotten a lot worse lately. in games such as D2 loading into a new area causes big frame drops sometimes but not always. sometimes when assets loading happens such as an enemy spawning it stutters. sometimes my game runs fine for hours and sometimes it runs really bad. (This is an issue with all the games i play). ESO (Not the most stable title but performance has never been this bad) whenever i load in a lot of players the frame time goes crazy and instead of 100fps it goes down to 60 but looks like 10. this issue hasnt happened to be before. normal fps drops when loading in players and assets is usually a few fps and not 40 fps. OW 2 has random stutters and micro freezes. MC stutters every single time a new chunk is rendered (doesnt happen in multiplayer) Elden ring is unplayable but might be the game since if i change to 4k resolution and back to 1920x1080 the big constant stutters are gone. still rendering stutters tho. (some are normal in souls titels.) Witcher 3 runs mostly fine but sometimes world loading stutter in the main city or sometimes a big stutter when certain things happen. something ive noticed aswell sometimes all the games i play FPS drops for a few seconds and then goes back to normal. (big stutters frame drops slow down of the games all at once) my bios update shouldve fixed the TPM bug in AMD processors so idk what would cause that. Im really starting to lose it and i hope you guys can help me. ive probably missed things ive tried in the post but if you have any questions or ideas let me know. Thank you all already.

MONITORING: Ive used resource monitor and HWinfo and MSI afterburner.
looked at individual cores and ive put a graph of everything from MSI afterburner on screen to see if things change. everything looks normal. from volt rails to wattages everything is good. GPU CPU clocks all normal even during stutters or frame drops. GPU CPU watts good during stutters and frame drops.

TESTING:
OCCT: Every test ran individually for 1 hour. Combined test everything on for 1 hour. Not a single error showed up.
Cinebench: No issues. my score is 600 points lower then average, but ive chucked that up to stock cooler on my CPU and my cheaper motherboard. (dont think its too bad i hope)
Furmark: Ran that for a while no problems.
3Dmark: Ran about 20-30 times, no stutters performance of my GPU slightly above average.
AIDA64: Ran with no problem.
MEMTEST86: 4 passes. took 2,5 hours. (Since the performance issues got worse i ran a quick test again no issues were found)
HWINFO: ive been running HWinfo every day for the past 3 months. only issues: Power reporting deviation: dropping to 70% and going up as high as 300% (not during load) (during load its between 95-105% tested this for about 2~ hours)
Crystal disk mark / info: Everything comes out as good for both of my drives.
Windows memory diagnostic: no errors.

TEMPERATURE:
GPU: 30c in idle - 60c-72c while gaming. HOTSPOT: 83c-85c~ doesnt happen often that it goes to high.
CPU: between 30c-40c in idle - 60c-85c during gaming
VRM: 70c MAX during long intensive CPU useage. 38c-60c during normal use.
POSSIBLE FIXES I TRIED:
Disabling: HPET
Manually increasing virtual memory (windows didnt increase the size even tho it was running at 99% and crashing witcher 3) (after increase no crashes)
Disabling: game bar
Disabled and enabled: game mode
Disabled and enabled: Optimazations for windowed games
Disabled: Dynamic lighting
Fiddled: Every setting in Nvidia control panel.
Reinstalled with DDU in safe mode: Different version of nvidia drivers. most commenly i tried: 537.58
Reinstalled: AM4 chipset driver.
Updated: to windows 11 24H2 (build: 26100.2033) i did have blue screen since updating with the associating errors: vlmgr 162 and kernel-power 41 (apperently BSOD can be caused with WD M.2 drives. mine was one of them updated the firmware havent had a BSOD yet)
Enabled and disabled: XMP
Enabled and disabled: PBO
Enabled: 4g decoding and rebar
Updated: from windows 10 to 11
Reinstalled: windows 11 from USB (SFC /scannow) keeps finding errors now no matter how many times i use it. even used windows update repair reinstall.
Updated: BIOS from FA to FC (newer ones are still in BETA)
Reinstalled: GPU took it out and put it back in.
Checked: all connectors and cables withing PC.
Reinstalled games: Moved them to my Samsung EVO 870 1TB
Changed: to wired internet.
Reinstalled: Chipset. audio. ethernet. drivers from motherboard manufecturer .
Unplugged: my mouse to see if games ran better. (havent tested keyboard yet since i cant afford a new one RN)
Changed: my monitors refreshrate from 100hz to 60hz no difference.
Capping: Capped my fps to -120 -100 -60 -30 (Frame drops and stutters happen at all caps)
Changed: power strip twice and plugged pc directly into outlet.
Reinstalled: all drivers atleast once.

NOTE: if i try more fixes i will add them to this list!

 

[Lutfij]

Please stick to one thread

 

[Aeacus]

MEMTEST86: 4 passes. took 2,5 hours.

That, i actually doesn't believe.

1x 8GB testing for 1 pass takes ~1h.
2x 8GB testing for 1 pass takes ~2.5h.

There is no way, you can do 4 passes within 2.5h. Well, only doable when you'd have 4GB of RAM but that i find hard to believe.

So, how much RAM you actually have and what you really did? 🤔

Im really starting to lose it and i hope you guys can help me.

2 months later, and you still cling to your low quality Be Quiet! PSU. Why?

 

[Threshis]

That, i actually doesn't believe.

1x 8GB testing for 1 pass takes ~1h.
2x 8GB testing for 1 pass takes ~2.5h.

There is no way, you can do 4 passes within 2.5h. Well, only doable when you'd have 4GB of RAM but that i find hard to believe.

So, how much RAM you actually have and what you really did? 🤔


2 months later, and you still cling to your low quality Be Quiet! PSU. Why?

thats what i found wierd too. that my memtest went so quick. i thought it mightve been old info. i tested 16GB for sure. i googled aswell it takes 2x 8gb takes 2.5 hours but i thought maybe what they ment is 1 test. hmnm maybe something to look into. for the PSU im thinking about replacing it once finances allow me to. is there a way the mem test was bugged and if so what settings or things do i have to change to get a full memtest86

 

[Aeacus]

is there a way the mem test was bugged and if so what settings or things do i have to change to get a full memtest86

By default, the initial test is the reduced (fast) test, rather than the full test.

You need to change the test from "Test Selection" menu, before selecting "Start Test".

Also, did you follow the guide on how to set it up?
Link: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_creating-window.html

 

[Threshis]

By default, the initial test is the reduced (fast) test, rather than the full test.

You need to change the test from "Test Selection" menu, before selecting "Start Test".

Also, did you follow the guide on how to set it up?
Link: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_creating-window.html

yes i followed the guide on how to set it up. ill come back to you with results once ive ran it properly i guess

 

[Threshis]

yes i followed the guide on how to set it up. ill come back to you with results once ive ran it properly i guess

just looked at all the tests and it passed 13 tests 4 times when i did it. idk why it was so fast. i even tried again once more a few days ago and it was that fast again. (when i tried i reinstalled memtest86 on my USB)

 

[Aeacus]

it passed 13 tests

In full suite, there are 15 tests.
Full list here: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_individual-test-descr.html

Pass result should show you which of the tests it passed. And when looking the link i shared, you can figure out which of the two tests are missing.

In this screenshot, Test 14 (DMA test) is missing (don't know why), but you need to select all tests for full run (you can see dot in front of the selected test when it is applied);

Direct link if image doesn't load: https://static.filehorse.com/screenshots/system-tuning/memtest86-screenshot-02.png

 

[Threshis]

In full suite, there are 15 tests.
Full list here: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_individual-test-descr.html

Pass result should show you which of the tests it passed. And when looking the link i shared, you can figure out which of the two tests are missing.

In this screenshot, Test 14 (DMA test) is missing (don't know why), but you need to select all tests for full run (you can see dot in front of the selected test when it is applied);

Direct link if image doesn't load: https://static.filehorse.com/screenshots/system-tuning/memtest86-screenshot-02.png

ill try that when i have time thank you. ill enable the 14th test