Stuttering and lags in most games

[Mozarello]

Hello, I am experiencing lag and stutter in most of the games I play. The latest games were gta 5, pillars of eternity and divinity original sin. In gta 5 it happens randomly, I normally have a stable 60 fps, but it will drop down to 55-57 and the game will freeze for a second.

In pillars of eternity and divinity original sin, the stutter happens ALWAYS when I am attacking an opponent ( everytime I hit an enemy , the game will freeze for a second ) or when a dialogue starts ( for example the character comments on something he sees). I get the stutter when I enter new locations, but that is because the HDD is loading new stuff. I dont understand why this happens during combat or dialogue.

I have reinstalled windows, disabled AV, disabled various services and processes, installed the latest drivers for my motherboard and gpu. The stuttering happens regardless whether I am playing on high or low settings. I am out of ideas here, my only suspicion is that it is either the HDD or RAM.

My specs :
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43
RAM: Corsair vengeance 4gb (x2)
GPU: Asus gtx 660
CPU: Intel i5 3570
HDD: WD1002FAEX
PSU: Corsair CX500

P.s Sorry for my bad english.

 

[Vynavill]

Looks like an HDD issue to me. If it's badly fragmented, it's practically normal to have such issues with any resource loaded, be it a 3D model or an audio track.

Did you try defragmenting it?

 

[Mozarello]

Tried, didnt help.

 

[Vynavill]

Are the RAM modules set up for dual channel operation? It shouldn't be causing such harsh stutterings if they weren't, but it's worth a try anyway.

 

[Mozarello]

Checked the RAM, they are set for dual channel. Even tried memtest, 0 errors.

 

[Mozarello]

Can an ssd solve this issue?

 

[Vynavill]

Technically, if I'm right and it is indeed the HDD, yes, but for gaming you're usually looking at above 256GB capacities. Prices have dropped down a lot, but they're still too expensive for that usage IMO. If I'm wrong, however, you would literally spend 80$+ for a nice piece of hardware which won't fix a damn thing (lol)

A thing I just remembered. Check out your BIOS settings for the RAM modules; my Corsair Vengeance LPs were set for a default speed of 1333Mhz and a default latency of 11, while rated for 1600Mhz CL9 operation. Make sure that the XMP option is enabled and check that they're actually running at the rated speeds. Again, they shouldn't be the cause, but they're worth checking.

 

[Mozarello]

Thanks for the reply. I have checked the RAM several and it is running 1600mhz.
I am short on money, so I want to know for sure if it is the HDD that is causing it. I have no ideas how can i confirm this however.

 

[Vynavill]

Certain tools can test the HDD for SMART data (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Tools), if it has the means to collect such data. They don't always say much, but they should pinpoint if the issue is on the HDD. An example of such softwares:
http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

I'm speaking mostly out of theory tho. That was something I used a couple years ago tho, not sure how reliable of a test method it can be nowadays.
If I were you, I'd try running the Windows chkdsk utility too.