Question Persistent GPU underperformance/stuttering after replacing almost the entire PC ?

[jacke9708]

Hey everyone,

I'm completely at my wit's end trying to diagnose a severe and persistent issue with my PC: my GPU (RX 9070) is consistently underperforming, causing significant stuttering in games like Dota 2, Fallout 4, and Trackmania. The most bizarre symptom is that my GPU's power and clock speeds dramatically increase when I pause Dota 2, only to drop back down as soon as I resume gameplay.

PC Specs
CPU: i5-13600k
GPU: ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB
Mobo: ASUS Prime B760-PLUS D4
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 3600MHz
Hdd: Samsung 980 SSD 1TB M.2
PSU: Cooler MasterMWE Gold 750W FM V2

I've been troubleshooting this for weeks and have replaced/tested nearly every major component. Despite all efforts, the problem remains identical. I'm hoping someone here might have a fresh perspective or insights into what could be causing this, especially given what I've already tried.

Here's a detailed list of what I've done:

Replaced PSU: Replaced my original PSU (Corsair CX750 750W 80 Plus Bronze) That had a faulty pcie cable with the Cooler Master MWE Gold 750W.

Replaced Motherboard: Replaced my original motherboard (B660 DS3H DDR4) with a new ASUS Prime B760-PLUS D4.

Updated BIOS: Performed a BIOS update on the new motherboard.

Replaced RAM: Old = 32bg CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 2400MHz32GB, new = Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 3600MHz.

Tested Multiple GPUs: Tested with two different GPUs – my RX 9070 and a borrowed 5070ti I did not remember to check overlay here but i experienced the exact same stutter ingame.

Reinstalled Windows: Performed a fresh installation of Windows 11.

Applied New Thermal Paste: Applied new thermal paste during the motherboard/CPU reinstallation.

I have tried every Windows Power Managment/AMD performance mode.

All settings are off in AMD, like BOOST/Anti-Lag for example.

VRR/Vsync tried both on/off

Enable/Disable ReBar

The crucial observation (and the most baffling part):

My RX 9070's GPU Board Power and GPU CLK consistently drop to very low values (e.g., ~110W / ~1500MHz) during active gameplay in Dota 2 and Fallout 4. However, they then immediately jump back to normal, high levels (e.g., ~210W / ~2400MHz) as soon as I pause the game. This behavior persists identically across all component swaps.

(I linked a video (

https://imgur.com/a/BDe9d2O

View: https://imgur.com/a/BDe9d2O
) with with Dota 2 gameplay looking at AMD overplay and at the 6 second mark i pause the game and you can see the numbers instantly shoot up, this is at the start of a practise match where basicly nothing is happening.)

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Reinstalled Windows: Performed a fresh installation of Windows 11.
Did you install the OS in offline mode after recreating your bootable USB installer for Windows 11? On the matter of reinstalling the OS, did you install all relevant drivers for your platform in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator while in offline mode?

Updated BIOS: Performed a BIOS update on the new motherboard.
For the sake of relevance, please state the BIOS version you're on at this moment of time.

Try and disable the iGPU in BIOS, then get into OS GUI to remove all GPU drivers(intel, Nvidia and AMD) in Safe Mode, then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from AMD's support site in above mentioned elevated command.

 

[jacke9708]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Reinstalled Windows: Performed a fresh installation of Windows 11.
Did you install the OS in offline mode after recreating your bootable USB installer for Windows 11? On the matter of reinstalling the OS, did you install all relevant drivers for your platform in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator while in offline mode?

Updated BIOS: Performed a BIOS update on the new motherboard.
For the sake of relevance, please state the BIOS version you're on at this moment of time.

Try and disable the iGPU in BIOS, then get into OS GUI to remove all GPU drivers(intel, Nvidia and AMD) in Safe Mode, then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from AMD's support site in above mentioned elevated command.

Hello, thank you for the response.

Windows installation: Everything is abit of a blur but i believe i just used the "reset this pc" option in windows settings. I am pretty sure i was conncected to the internet at all times, i believe i only used run as admin when it was prompted automaticly.

Bios Version: 1820.

I did try removing all previus drivers with DDU in safe mode a while ago but i can disable the IGPU and try it again.

 

[jacke9708]

Hello, thank you for the response.

Windows installation: Everything is abit of a blur but i believe i just used the "reset this pc" option in windows settings. I am pretty sure i was conncected to the internet at all times, i believe i only used run as admin when it was prompted automaticly.

Bios Version: 1820.

I did try removing all previus drivers with DDU in safe mode a while ago but i can disable the IGPU and try it again.

i disabled igpu in asus bios and DDU intel and nvidia, no luck.

 

[kognak]

This is just textbook CPU bottleneck. In paused state CPU workload is much lighter so framerate it can produce is higher. And since framerate is higher, it means GPU has to work more thus higher utilization. It still has to render same scene, per frame workload stays same.
Only "fix" here is to get 9800X3D. Just I don't know why anyone wants over 300 fps avg in Dota 2. You can fix stutters with limiting FPS under what CPU can do. You could try to disable e-cores if there's some scheduling shenanigans involved. I doubt it because framerate you are getting in Dota 2 is not unusual for 13600k.

 

[jacke9708]

This is just textbook CPU bottleneck. In paused state CPU workload is much lighter so framerate it can produce is higher. And since framerate is higher, it means GPU has to work more thus higher utilization. It still has to render same scene, per frame workload stays same.
Only "fix" here is to get 9800X3D. Just I don't know why anyone wants over 300 fps avg in Dota 2. You can fix stutters with limiting FPS under what CPU can do. You could try to disable e-cores if there's some scheduling shenanigans involved. I doubt it because framerate you are getting in Dota 2 is not unusual for 13600k.

Thank you for your response i tried limiting my fps in Dota 2 to 90, it still feels terrible with micro-stutters getting even worse (up to 62%).
I tried disabling e-cores it didnt seem to have an effect.
The FPS number is not really an issue it's the huge amount of stutters making it feel way below the FPS and overall very sluggish experience.

 

[Teknoman2]

I feel that this is a software problem.

 

[jacke9708]

I feel that this is a software problem.

Ok, do you have any suggestions? I have tried DDU in safe mode a bunch of times. Uninstalling AMD/Nvidia/Intel drivers

 

[Teknoman2]

Its either some incompatibility or some windows setting but there are way too many possible causes. Have you tried repairing/reinstalling the games?
I used to have this kind of problem in Black Desert Online with my old RX480 where the game would simply refuse to use the card right and run at under 30fps with both CPU and GPU use at 30%.But in this case it was a game engine problem that was eventually patched.

 

[jacke9708]

Its either some incompatibility or some windows setting but there are way too many possible causes. Have you tried repairing/reinstalling the games?
I used to have this kind of problem in Black Desert Online with my old RX480 where the game would simply refuse to use the card right and run at under 30fps with both CPU and GPU use at 30%.But in this case it was a game engine problem that was eventually patched.

Its either some incompatibility or some windows setting but there are way too many possible causes. Have you tried repairing/reinstalling the games?
I used to have this kind of problem in Black Desert Online with my old RX480 where the game would simply refuse to use the card right and run at under 30fps with both CPU and GPU use at 30%.But in this case it was a game engine problem that was eventually patched.

I tried reinstalling Dota 2 and Trackmania on another m.2 no luck.

 

[VizzieTheViz]

Dota 2 runs on Linux right? Maybe try running the game on Linux to see if it’s a windows or windows driver issue?

 

[jacke9708]

Dota 2 runs on Linux right? Maybe try running the game on Linux to see if it’s a windows or windows driver issue?

Hey, thanks for your reply.
I just tried running Dota 2 on "AnduinOS" and i think i noticed some stutters (might just be my mind though), but it definatly ran WAY better pretty much above 200fps at all times except big teamfights.
Thank you for the suggestion i am not really in a position to switch OS at the moment but is there anything you suggest i do?

 

[VizzieTheViz]

Hey, thanks for your reply.
I just tried running Dota 2 on "AnduinOS" and i think i noticed some stutters (might just be my mind though), but it definatly ran WAY better pretty much above 200fps at all times except big teamfights.
Thank you for the suggestion i am not really in a position to switch OS at the moment but is there anything you suggest i do?

Sorry I don’t have any advice beyond what’s already been said. If you’ve updated your bios, done a clean windows install and installed all the latest drivers there’s really not that much left. Could be the windows driver is just not very good (yet) for this particular game.

I don’t think it’s a hardware issue though if it runs way better on Linux.

 

[jacke9708]

Sorry I don’t have any advice beyond what’s already been said. If you’ve updated your bios, done a clean windows install and installed all the latest drivers there’s really not that much left. Could be the windows driver is just not very good (yet) for this particular game.

I don’t think it’s a hardware issue though if it runs way better on Linux.

yeah, i did the "reset this pc" if i remember correctly i suppose the only next step is to do a complete clean install from usb, if that is any different i dont know.

 

[jacke9708]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Reinstalled Windows: Performed a fresh installation of Windows 11.
Did you install the OS in offline mode after recreating your bootable USB installer for Windows 11? On the matter of reinstalling the OS, did you install all relevant drivers for your platform in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator while in offline mode?

Updated BIOS: Performed a BIOS update on the new motherboard.
For the sake of relevance, please state the BIOS version you're on at this moment of time.

Try and disable the iGPU in BIOS, then get into OS GUI to remove all GPU drivers(intel, Nvidia and AMD) in Safe Mode, then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from AMD's support site in above mentioned elevated command.

Just did a fresh install from a USB today, i had nothing on the PC except steam, Dota 2, Trackmania. Dota 2 ran slightly better but was still using around 100w GPU board power while playing in 4k, and Trackmania still stuttered in some maps.
My previous PSU that had a damaged PCIe cable im worried it may have damaged my cpu because i have tried swapping out everything else in the PC.

 

[Teknoman2]

Numbers don't always show the full picture when it comes to hardware. Working at 100% and giving 250fps when the game is paused does not put the same load as doing the same thing while the game is active. So the thing about the cable may be the issue. Not damage to the card but bad power delivery... or maybe the PSU can't push enough power to the system. Try undervolting the card by about 80mV and lower the power slider by 5-10%

 

[jacke9708]

Numbers don't always show the full picture when it comes to hardware. Working at 100% and giving 250fps when the game is paused does not put the same load as doing the same thing while the game is active. So the thing about the cable may be the issue. Not damage to the card but bad power delivery... or maybe the PSU can't push enough power to the system. Try undervolting the card by about 80mV and lower the power slider by 5-10%

Thanks you for the response, undervolting didnt seem to make the FPS go down really but it is still does not play good, micro-stutter is at about 15% constantly and it does not feel smooth.

I am not using the PSU (Corsair CX750 750W) that had the faulty cable now, as soon as i noticed it i got a replacement (Cooler MasterMWE Gold 750W FM V2), im just worried if it did some permenant damage to the cpu.
Ill link a picture showing how the cable looked when i found it.

 

[Teknoman2]

Do you have any other card to try and see if the problem persists? You could at least get a better idea if the problem is caused by the 9070 or something else

 

[jacke9708]

Do you have any other card to try and see if the problem persists? You could at least get a better idea if the problem is caused by the 9070 or something else

As i mentioned in the original text, i got to borrow a 5070ti for a very short time, i was kinda stupid and didnt get any logs but i tried both Trackmania and Dota 2 and they both stuttered.

 

[Teknoman2]

The only other thing i can think of is the intel 13th gen breakdown, though i haven't heard of it affecting mid range models