RX 480 GPU usage spikes and stuttering / micro freezes in some games.

[sean2109]

I own an RX 480 Sapphire 8GB and I experience stuttering similar to micro freezes in most GPU intensive games such as GTA V and Titanfall 2. I checked the graphs on MSI afterburner and noticed huge fluctuations from 100% to 0 in the GPU usage section. I have previously messed around with the settings in AMD's Global Wattman however I completely reset all settings and I am still experiencing these stutters, even with GPU temps ant pretty much constant 80 degrees C. My friend owns the 4GB version of the card and does not experience these issues. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

SPECS:
AMD RX 480 8GB
i5 6600k @3.5ghz
Gigabyte z170x g3
16GB DDR4 3000mhz
Corsair CX750
240GB SSD

 

[Chink411]

While the CPU may be bottlenecking, it might not be because of the clocks you have it set to, but maybe it's not running at those clocks due to throttling, or maybe another program is stealing its time.

Yeah indeed it shouldn't bottleneck,my 4670k standard clock @ 3.4 - 3.9 TurboBoost .. Did around 80% CPU usage while playing GTA V.. Wonder if he disabled DVR in the XBox application (have read that it may cause isseus) ..myself also removed Cortana to cut RAM usage and boot time 😉

 

[sean2109]

While the CPU may be bottlenecking, it might not be because of the clocks you have it set to, but maybe it's not running at those clocks due to throttling, or maybe another program is stealing its time.

Yeah indeed it shouldn't bottleneck,my 4670k standard clock @ 3.4 - 3.9 TurboBoost .. Did around 80% CPU usage while playing GTA V.. Wonder if he disabled DVR in the XBox application (have read that it may cause isseus) ..myself also removed Cortana to cut RAM usage and boot time 😉

Yeah sorry I didn't reply to your earlier message, I have made sure Xbox DVR is turned off and Radeon Relive is not installed. I've eliminated all unnecessary start up processes also. Mine also turbo boosts to 3.9 so I'm really confused by this bottleneck. Do you think I could get away with a minor overclock with the stock cooler or should I just wait until I have a water cooler??

 

[Chink411]

While the CPU may be bottlenecking, it might not be because of the clocks you have it set to, but maybe it's not running at those clocks due to throttling, or maybe another program is stealing its time.

Yeah indeed it shouldn't bottleneck,my 4670k standard clock @ 3.4 - 3.9 TurboBoost .. Did around 80% CPU usage while playing GTA V.. Wonder if he disabled DVR in the XBox application (have read that it may cause isseus) ..myself also removed Cortana to cut RAM usage and boot time 😉

Yeah sorry I didn't reply to your earlier message, I have made sure Xbox DVR is turned off and Radeon Relive is not installed. I've eliminated all unnecessary start up processes also. Mine also turbo boosts to 3.9 so I'm really confused by this bottleneck. Do you think I could get away with a minor overclock with the stock cooler or should I just wait until I have a water cooler??

I would wait for the cooler,get something like a evo212 if your getting an aircooler.

 

[sean2109]

While the CPU may be bottlenecking, it might not be because of the clocks you have it set to, but maybe it's not running at those clocks due to throttling, or maybe another program is stealing its time.

Yeah indeed it shouldn't bottleneck,my 4670k standard clock @ 3.4 - 3.9 TurboBoost .. Did around 80% CPU usage while playing GTA V.. Wonder if he disabled DVR in the XBox application (have read that it may cause isseus) ..myself also removed Cortana to cut RAM usage and boot time 😉

Yeah sorry I didn't reply to your earlier message, I have made sure Xbox DVR is turned off and Radeon Relive is not installed. I've eliminated all unnecessary start up processes also. Mine also turbo boosts to 3.9 so I'm really confused by this bottleneck. Do you think I could get away with a minor overclock with the stock cooler or should I just wait until I have a water cooler??

I would wait for the cooler,get something like a evo212 if your getting an aircooler.

Would you recommend air cooling over water cooling?

 

[Chink411]

While the CPU may be bottlenecking, it might not be because of the clocks you have it set to, but maybe it's not running at those clocks due to throttling, or maybe another program is stealing its time.

Yeah indeed it shouldn't bottleneck,my 4670k standard clock @ 3.4 - 3.9 TurboBoost .. Did around 80% CPU usage while playing GTA V.. Wonder if he disabled DVR in the XBox application (have read that it may cause isseus) ..myself also removed Cortana to cut RAM usage and boot time 😉

Yeah sorry I didn't reply to your earlier message, I have made sure Xbox DVR is turned off and Radeon Relive is not installed. I've eliminated all unnecessary start up processes also. Mine also turbo boosts to 3.9 so I'm really confused by this bottleneck. Do you think I could get away with a minor overclock with the stock cooler or should I just wait until I have a water cooler??

I would wait for the cooler,get something like a evo212 if your getting an aircooler.

Would you recommend air cooling over water cooling?

nope,I would buy a good allinone watercooler but do research if it fits your case.

 

[sean2109]

So I was playing Black Ops 2 Multiplayer earlier today (not a particularly challenging game to run.) However I was experiencing heavy stutter similar to a small freeze. I wasn't recording a log at the time so I quickly took screenshots of MSI Afterburner and put them in a Word document to show you what was going on. Here's the link to the file on my google drive. Please tell me what you think. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_xCbUR3XL-5aE9TMGRaVXprRnc

 

[Chink411]

Try to reinstall AMD drivers but first remove old driver with Display Driver Uninstaller downloadable on guru3d http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
Read and follow the steps explained on the website!
Before installing the driver again go to main hard disk or ssd and delete the AMD map. Also just to be sure everytime u reinstall amd drivers,reinstall MSI afterburner.

 

[sean2109]

Another thing to note is that a lot of the time when i'm playing games there is a quiet but high pitch buzzing noise that comes from an area just underneath the graphics card on the motherboard. The noise sometimes changes pitch depending on whats on screen. Is my motherboard faulty or is this normal?

 

[Chink411]

Another thing to note is that a lot of the time when i'm playing games there is a quiet but high pitch buzzing noise that comes from an area just underneath the graphics card on the motherboard. The noise sometimes changes pitch depending on whats on screen. Is my motherboard faulty or is this normal?

Thats Coilwhine,I see alot have it,if u want to rma it they will send a new but it might still exist..it can also be part related by example another GPU or PSU might! effect it. (technical this has something to do with electricity)

Coilwhine is a thing u shouldn't be to worry about normaly but if u push your system to stress it then I would rma it for a new one for it might be a weak capacitor aswell..

If your sound has distortion then thats bcz of the drivers/settings..

 

[sean2109]

Another thing to note is that a lot of the time when i'm playing games there is a quiet but high pitch buzzing noise that comes from an area just underneath the graphics card on the motherboard. The noise sometimes changes pitch depending on whats on screen. Is my motherboard faulty or is this normal?

Thats Coilwhine,I see alot have it,if u want to rma it they will send a new but it might still exist..it can also be part related by example another GPU or PSU might! effect it. (technical this has something to do with electricity)

Coilwhine is a thing u shouldn't be to worry about normaly but if u push your system to stress it then I would rma it for a new one for it might be a weak capacitor aswell..

If your sound has distortion then thats bcz of the drivers/settings..

Yeah I've read about this "coil whine." As long as it isn't damaging my system then it doesn't really bother me.

 

[Jaszlund]

I own an RX 480 Sapphire 8GB and I experience stuttering similar to micro freezes in most GPU intensive games such as GTA V and Titanfall 2. I checked the graphs on MSI afterburner and noticed huge fluctuations from 100% to 0 in the GPU usage section. I have previously messed around with the settings in AMD's Global Wattman however I completely reset all settings and I am still experiencing these stutters, even with GPU temps ant pretty much constant 80 degrees C. My friend owns the 4GB version of the card and does not experience these issues. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

SPECS:
AMD RX 480 8GB
i5 6600k @3.5ghz
Gigabyte z170x g3
16GB DDR4 3000mhz
Corsair CX750
240GB SSD

Have you fixed it?

 

[zanderman2012]

there's a few things you can try...

if you have wattman activated, ie, you've accepted the terms of amd the first time you used it, it will create stutter even when not overclocked, it seems to dynamically adjust clocks on the fly as well as voltage. it makes using another overclocking app unreliable because wattman cant be turned off.

the only way to get rid of it is uninstalling the drivers withh ddu uninstaller and reinstalling them.
Disable ulps by searching the registry for 'enableulps' set both to 0, then change enableulpsNA to 0 (right below the second enableulps you find),
then after you restart your computer, go into your control panel, disable AMD freesync,
download and open msi afterburner, and check the enable overclocking box and in the settings enable overclocking and in the drop box choose without powerplay.
and of course, make sure windows is onthe high performance profile.

I've tested this twice and every time the wattman app is activated stuttering occurs even without using it. if you need to overclock use msi afterburner because it disables powerplay it'll give smoother gameplay.

I have a dell inspiron 5576 gaming laptop
amd a10 9630p
rx 460 4gb gddr5 oc'd by +100 core, +180 mem so far

tested on nier automata which is stuttery at the best of times and i can get very smooth gameplay

 

[zanderman2012]

there's a few things you can try...

if you have wattman activated, ie, you've accepted the terms of amd the first time you used it, it will create stutter even when not overclocked, it seems to dynamically adjust clocks on the fly as well as voltage. it makes using another overclocking app unreliable because wattman cant be turned off.

the only way to get rid of it is uninstalling the drivers withh ddu uninstaller and reinstalling them.
Disable ulps by searching the registry for 'enableulps' set both to 0, then change enableulpsNA to 0 (right below the second enableulps you find),
then after you restart your computer, go into your control panel, disable AMD freesync,
download and open msi afterburner, and check the enable overclocking box and in the settings enable overclocking and in the drop box choose without powerplay.
and of course, make sure windows is onthe high performance profile.

I've tested this twice and every time the wattman app is activated stuttering occurs even without using it. if you need to overclock use msi afterburner because it disables powerplay it'll give smoother gameplay.

I have a dell inspiron 5576 gaming laptop
amd a10 9630p
rx 460 4gb gddr5 oc'd by +100 core, +180 mem so far

tested on nier automata which is stuttery at the best of times and i can get very smooth gameplay

EDIT:I forgot, when your installing the amd drivers, uncheck , 'OEM application profiles' this will stop wattman from being installed

 

[colonnaclaudio2000]

Same problem here. When i play, for 10-15 minute is almost a smooth gameplay, but in a certein poin the game starts to freeze(video and audio). The graphic card usage turn to 0% when freeze. The games are on a ssd. Here my conf:
CPU:I5-4460
GPU:R9-380 4GB
PSU:XFX 550W
MB:ASROCK h97 pro4