Question Stuttering/FPS drops in most games

[hugh910f]

I've had severe, frequent stutters and FPS drops in most games for ages and cannot find a solution. Severe stutters, dropping from 100-140 to 20-40 fps, then coming right back up. I have hardware capable of running these games, intel i7 10700k, rtx 3080, 32gb RAM. I've uninstalled and updated graphics drivers, changed NVIDIA control panel settings dozens of times, tried every windows setting I could find, power management settings, cpu settings, etc., uninstalling windows, updating BIOS, nothing has significantly helped. Temperatures appear pretty reasonable, the only thing that seems out of place to me after tons of troubleshooting is low GPU utilization in some games and massive drops in CPU/GPU utilization that correspond with the stutters I've tried multiple GPUs, different RAM, changed lots of RAM settings, but have not tried a different CPU (or motherboard) yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. EDIT: worth noting that these issues happen in more demanding/poorly optimized games, although my hardware is capable. I'm able to run simpler ones (Valorant, CSGO, etc) without problems.
System Info:

https://imgur.com/a/ndX9ll1

View: https://imgur.com/a/ndX9ll1

Task manager utilization plots:

https://imgur.com/a/q5P6I7T

View: https://imgur.com/a/q5P6I7T

HWMonitor temps:

https://imgur.com/a/s9dn2rA

View: https://imgur.com/a/s9dn2rA

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

What is the make/brand and exact model SKU number of your Power Supply unit/PSU ?

 

[hugh910f]

What is the make/brand and exact model SKU number of your Power Supply unit/PSU ?

So, this is the exact name:
EVGA - BR Series 700W ATX12V /EPS12V 80 Plus Power Supply DC-DC Technology

SKU: 6346160

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

Alright, that's a budget PSU from EVGA. Not the very best, but not THAT bad either (though, others can correct me if I'm wrong). EVGA released the BR series for the budget-conscious users. Actually, NVIDIA recommends a min 750 Watts PSU for the RTX 3080 GPU.

Your PSU should also work, but for a 750 Watt unit it's much better to grab at least some other high quality unit, min GOLD rated and above. I'm not saying the PSU is indeed the culprit here, but can you test your GPU by using some other high-quality PSU ? Maybe borrow one from your friend, or test your GPU on his system ?

BTW, what is the brand and exact model number of your RTX 3080 GPU ? These cards require a single 12-PIN power connector (you can use an adapter), with some models requiring 3 8-PIN PCIe cables. Though, your current PSU is already having 4x 8pin (6+2) cables for the GPU.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

Since you are getting low GPU utilization only in graphic demanding games, I still suspect your PSU to be the cause of poor performance here. Though, if the game is badly optimized, then that's a game's Engine and coding issue, and not your current hardware.

For the RTX 3080 I would personally go for a more powerful and high quality PSU from any reputed brand. Just saying !

 

[hugh910f]

Thank you so much for the response and input. I'll definitely be testing with a friend's PSU in the next week to see if that resolves the issue, and pick a new one from there. I actually was previously using a 3060ti and getting similar issues, but it definitely could just be a bad PSU (individual or too low end of a model) in the first place. My GPU model is FTW3 ultra gaming 10gb GDDR6X.

 

[hugh910f]

Thank you so much for the response and input. I'll definitely be testing with a friend's PSU in the next week to see if that resolves the issue, and pick a new one from there. I actually was previously using a 3060ti and getting similar issues, but it definitely could just be a bad PSU (individual or too low end of a model) in the first place. My GPU model is FTW3 ultra gaming 10gb GDDR6X.

I know it’s been quite a while, but I’ve replaced the PSU and am still getting the same issue of massive FPS drops in sync with drops in GPU/CPU usage. I’ve done hours of troubleshooting, looking into thermal throttling and other issues but I still can’t find the culprit. Any other ideas besides the PSU or thermal issues?

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

but I’ve replaced the PSU and am still getting the same issue of massive FPS drops

Which PSU model/brand did you actually buy and upgrade to ?