Strange load times and "microstutter/freeze" in games

[mattias1172]

After months of trying to troubleshoot the issue, I have finally reached a point where i just need to get this resolved. To sum up, I have a strange issue both with loading times of some apps and "micro stuttering/freezing" while playing some games.

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[Symptoms]
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Chrome will sometimes take 30 plus seconds to load a web page. But once chrome is started up and it loads that first web page, if i open new tabs or browse to a different url, its fast and responsive like it should be. I have not installed any new extensions since the issue started and it only happens about 50% of the time. I've tried setting it back to default settings, deleting cookies, etc.

Other applications like the task manger will do the same thing. Sometimes it will take 30 seconds to open but once open, anything else i do is fast and responsive. But again, it only happens sometimes, not every time. But its often enough to be a pain.

Lastly, probably the most annoying, when gaming, i will often get a freeze of the game for half a second to sometimes 1-2 seconds. This happens continuously while gaming and will occur sometimes every 30ish seconds to every 60-120 seconds. I've had background programs running like twitch, youtube, itunes etc while gaming and they do NOT freeze or stutter when the game does. I've monitered my temps, the highest i see is around 60-70c while gaming on both the CPU and GPU. Interestingly enough, I've noticed that when these "stutters/freezes" happen, Nvidia's frame rate overlay will show a drop in fps of about 30ish frames when the stutter occurs. Then after the 1-2 seconds, the frame rate will climb back up 30ish fps to normal.

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[PC Specs]
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CPU: Intel i7 7820x (With brand new Corsair 280 AIO and fresh MX-4 thermal compound; part of my troubleshooting i purchased a new cooler to have as stable of temps as possible for CPU)
RAM: 32gb GSKILL Trident Z DDR4.
GPU: EVGA SC2 ICX 1080 Ti
Drives: 1: Samsung 960 Evo m.2 500gb 2: x2 samsung 850 evo 250gb in parallel 3: Crucial MX300 500gb
Mobo: Asus Strix-e x299
PSU: Corsair RM1000 (an older psu, my next hardware troubleshooting is leading me to purchase a new psu and see if the current one is on its last leg)

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[Other]
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I don't get any blue screens or hard freezing. Occasionally, I have had issues with games CTDing, but this is far less often then the stuttering/freezing.

I have all process set to perform maximum performance and my CPU is set to 100% min and max. I do not have any HDDs in this pc, just SSDs so i don't believe storage has anything to do with it.

I've also tried scanning for malware using both Bitdefender Total Security (licensed copy) and Malwarebytes Premium (licensed copy). Both found nothing on the pc with a full scan of EVERY drive.

At this point, other than replacing hardware (which could get expensive...) i'm out of troubleshooting ideas. Any input on troubleshooting ideas and/or fixes is much appreciated.

Thank You,
Mike

 

[Thor Goodwill]

Hey Mike, troubleshooting is always an art form. Id prob start by trying different ram chips and slot, next I would remove the gpu (or swap to a different one) and see how the pc reacts. Sometime peripherals can cause problems, try difference mice or keyboard (even case fans), maybe even unplug all unnecessary devices.....even switching usb ports in case one of those is faulty. Possibly even an ethernet cable, maybe disconnecting from the net and try everything offline. I'd also probably goof around with Bios, starting with defaults.

Lastly, going with a fresh install of windows, I'm not sure how popular this idea is these days....back in the day windows was notorious (ive been lucky with the same windows install for like 5 years myself). I run a similar setup and I don't want to rub it in....its butter smooth.