[SOLVED] PC stutter, but reformatting fixes

Nov 17, 2019
4
0
10
Hi, I'm hoping somebody has some suggestions on how to fix my issue:

So I built a PC with a 970 EVO nvme SSD a while ago, and after a few weeks or so, my PC became stuttery. For example, just making boxes on the desktop feels laggy, and moving windows around has visible stuttering, and if I try to play a game there's constant freezes every second.

I reformatted the SSD and the issue went away, only to return again about a week later. I eventually reinstalled windows once again and was very careful with what I was installing, and the problem happened again.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I took out that nvme SSD and used an older Sandisk 480 PLUS. I had no problems for about 3 months, then I didn't use my PC for about 3 days and when I loaded it up, the issue was back! I noticed it because I went to play a game, and when I loaded discord, the voices were lagging at the same time my pc was stuttering. So it seems like the issue isn't related to the harddrive...

I tried disabling all my drivers one by one to see if I could find an issue, as well as installing all of the drivers again, including removing the graphics driver with DDU and installing again.

I have also ran some virus scans, using the built in windows one and malwarebytes.

I really appreciate any help,

Thanks!
 
Solution
Looking at the manual and spec, what I had in mind will likely be irrelevant, but I'll outline it for completion's sake.

There's a second M.2 slot on the back of the motherboard; have you tried installing the Samsung SSD there to see if the performance is similarly hampered?

With the Sandisk SSD, do you know which SATA port you connected it to? According to the manual if an M.2 SSD is installed (normal port) it disables the SATA3_1. The thought is these share bandwidth, so if anything there is faulty I'd expect both to be similarly affected.

Seems like PSU should be fine.
Nov 17, 2019
4
0
10
Full specs?

Had it been only issues in a game then I would have thought the CPU is hitting thermal limits or something similar. But on desktop... probably something else. That said, do you monitor the temperatures of your components?

Hi, my specs are: 9600K, EVGA RTX 2060, z390 gigabyte mobo, 16gb ram. Yes, I've been using MSI afterburner and my temperatures seem okay, just idling the CPU and GPU are both below 40 degrees.
I just did a full reset through windows once again and it's fine now... But I know it'll come back soon. Maybe it was something to do with the drivers, although I tried disabling and reinstalling most of them :(

Thanks for the reply
 
Do you know which Gigabyte motherboard? There are a few. And for completion, PSU?

With the Sandisk SSD, is that also an NVMe SSD? If so was it installed to the same port?
I'm wondering about the motherboard because it might be handy if it had a different port you could install the NVMe SSD in to see if the issue persists (perhaps a port issue).

While drivers can always be a possibility it sounds unlikely with a reset and using DDU.

Let's see if anyone else has additional thoughts.
 
Nov 17, 2019
4
0
10
Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI is the motherboard, it's a mini itx. The PSU I believe is a Corsair SF600.

As for the SSD, my original 970 EVO was an NVMe SSD, but this one is just a standard SSD that I connected with the SATA cable. I was considering that also which is why I decided to try my windows install on this normal SSD instead. But since the issue seems to be happening again, I may as well put the NVMe back in.

I also forgot to mention something else... Back when I was having the issue with the NVMe SSD installed, I had Samsung Magician, and on a fresh install the speeds were very good, roughly as advertised. But when the stuttering started happening, the 970 EVO speeds drastically reduced, if I recall correctly it was about 3-4 times lower speeds once the stuttering started happening.
 
Looking at the manual and spec, what I had in mind will likely be irrelevant, but I'll outline it for completion's sake.

There's a second M.2 slot on the back of the motherboard; have you tried installing the Samsung SSD there to see if the performance is similarly hampered?

With the Sandisk SSD, do you know which SATA port you connected it to? According to the manual if an M.2 SSD is installed (normal port) it disables the SATA3_1. The thought is these share bandwidth, so if anything there is faulty I'd expect both to be similarly affected.

Seems like PSU should be fine.
 
Solution
Nov 17, 2019
4
0
10
Looking at the manual and spec, what I had in mind will likely be irrelevant, but I'll outline it for completion's sake.

There's a second M.2 slot on the back of the motherboard; have you tried installing the Samsung SSD there to see if the performance is similarly hampered?

With the Sandisk SSD, do you know which SATA port you connected it to? According to the manual if an M.2 SSD is installed (normal port) it disables the SATA3_1. The thought is these share bandwidth, so if anything there is faulty I'd expect both to be similarly affected.

Seems like PSU should be fine.
Judging from the manual it seems like mine is connected to SATA3_3. I haven't tried installing it onto the back M.2 slot, I could give that a try.


Thanks