Question Stuttering and FPS drops for over 2 years now [GeForce GTX1650]

[Geki]

Hey all,

Have had this issue for going on 2 years now and am at my wit's end. I basically don't bother playing games on my computer now because the intermittent stuttering and FPS drops drive me too crazy.

Basically, every game I play undergoes stuttering and FPS drops that last roughly 5-6 seconds. During this time I can't really do anything but pause and wait it out. After the FPS drop has finished, the game is perfectly playable again. It tends to happen more frequently on more graphically demanding games (for instance, on Total Warhammer 3, it can sometimes happen 3 times in the space of a minute).

I've tried every little bit of internet advice I could find -- disable VSync, remove NVidia HD audio driver, change power management settings in the NVidia GeForce panel, reinstall Windows, mess around with the global settings, uninstall GeForce Experience and only use vanilla drivers... nothing works. At all. The only thing that worked briefly was taking it to an IT guy last summer, and all he did was do a fresh install of Windows 10. It eliminated the problem entirely for maybe a month, but then it crept back in.

Below is my system info; if anything else is required (and if anyone can help at all) please let me know. I've got a DXDiag report in text format but don't seem to be able to attach it.


OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DESKTOP-6SRQ9V8
System Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
System Model TUF Gaming FX505DT_FX95DT
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx, 2300 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. FX505DT.316, 28/01/2021
SMBIOS Version 3.2
Embedded Controller Version 16.00
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
BaseBoard Product FX505DT
BaseBoard Version 1.0
Platform Role Mobile
Secure Boot State On
PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.22621.1413"
Username DESKTOP-6SRQ9V8
Time Zone GMT Summer Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 15.8 GB
Available Physical Memory 6.61 GB
Total Virtual Memory 17.8 GB
Available Virtual Memory 6.29 GB
Page File Space 2.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualisation-based security Not enabled
Windows Defender Application Control policy Enforced
Windows Defender Application Control user mode policy Off
Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualisation Enabled in Firmware No
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

[Eximo]

Laptop or perhaps a small form factor PC with a mobile processor? Probably overheating as OEM coolers are rarely up to the task of continuous game play unless they are specifically designed for that.

You seem to have a lot of memory in use, is that typical for you? If so you might be running out of system memory while gaming. Having free space on the drive is important as well.

DXdiag isn't really a good hardware listing.

Device Manager should be more revealing on the drives and things, or if you can link to the exact product you have.

First thing I would recommend is to monitor your temperatures with something like HWInfo64.

 

[Geki]

Laptop or perhaps a small form factor PC with a mobile processor? Probably overheating as OEM coolers are rarely up to the task of continuous game play unless they are specifically designed for that.

You seem to have a lot of memory in use, is that typical for you? If so you might be running out of system memory while gaming. Having free space on the drive is important as well.

DXdiag isn't really a good hardware listing.

Device Manager should be more revealing on the drives and things, or if you can link to the exact product you have.

First thing I would recommend is to monitor your temperatures with something like HWInfo64.

Hi, thank you for the response.

It's a Republic of Gamers FX505DT gaming laptop. The guy last summer replaced the thermal paste and benchmarked it while checking the temperature, and everything seemed in order. However, the fan is crazy loud on it (it has turbo and performance settings, and this seems to be intended).

As far as I know, this is the computer in question: https://www.asus.com/uk/laptops/for-gaming/tuf-gaming/asus-tuf-gaming-fx505dd-dt-du/

As for device manager: what would be the easiest way to show that information? Screenshots? Should every item be expanded so you can see all hardware?

 

[Eximo]

That is close enough, though yours has the Ryzen 7.

If you think the temperatures are good, that is okay. But still something to monitor. Your CPU dropping to 1Ghz suddenly can cause a lot of stuttering.

The remaining questions are how full your drive is and if you are running into memory capacity issues.

Storage being full can lead the system to bog down when it tries to save data in the limited space, while your game is trying to load information from the drives (maps, textures, sound effects). Drive can only do so much at once with limited space. TLC NAND SSDs can write fast only when there is free space on the drive, otherwise they execute TRIM which moves single bit data and consolidates it into 3-bits per cell. Whether the drive has its own memory (DRAM cache) can effect this.

System memory being full can lead the system to use virtual memory, which is kept on your system drive. This is much slower than the RAM, and again, if the drive is full you run into issues. Solution there might be more system memory/larger SSD, or figuring out what is using all your memory if it is maxing out.

With a laptop, another fun one can be the battery status. Many gaming systems struggle to get enough power from the power supply and will fall back on battery power. Which means draining while playing games. When it runs out of juice, it has to reduce power to the CPU/GPU. That system comes with a 150W power brick, so I don't expect that to be much of a problem. However, nothing says your power brick can't overheat and fail to deliver appropriate power, or your battery can overheat and limit charge capacity.