Stuttering Issue In games!!

[gamertech13]

Can someone identify whats causing me very frequent frame stutters/ hiccups in almost every game?
PC Specs:
CPU- AMD Phenom II X4 940
GPU- Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti
RAM-5 GB DDR2
STORAGE (not that it matters) 1 tb hdd

P.S. Ive tried using Nvidia Inspector to cap my fps but it has to be atleast 30 fps for a non stutter experience .

 

[Zerk2012]

You just have old hardware that is no longer good for todays modern games.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

What games are you playing and at what settings and resolution? You cant reasonably expect to play modern AAA games with that hardware and not expect frequent stutters.

If it is a hardware issue, then I would start by looking at the CPU/GPU temps under load.

 

[gamertech13]

Im not playing any AAA titles. The games I play are from the xbox 360/ps3 era. In theory, I should have more than enough power to smoothly run the games and the newest games I play are up to 2013.

It may be that 550ti is bottlenecking my phenom, or vice versa. Either way im planning to upgrade the gpu, ram, and psu, however I dont want to go spend money on upgrades until I know what exactly it is I need to upgrade.

 

[gamertech13]

Also I have a few options for a new gpu. I just wanna know which of these will have the least amount of bottleneck with my phenom.

Desired gpu range:
Gtx 1060 3gb
Gtx 970
Gtx 780

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Those are all in the same range of performance. The 970 is a little bit faster than the 780 and it is about the same as the 1060 3gb. If it were me, and one of those was a good bit cheaper, I would take the cheaper of the three options. You should be able to get a used 970 for a decent price. The 780 may give you issues with you PSU because it will use a good amount of power.

 

[gamertech13]

@feelinfroggy777
I am also upgrading the power supply, most likely a 600w. However at my budget: $300 theres not much room for a psu, ram, and a gtx 970. However ,right now there are 1060's on newegg for as low as $204.99 which is a huge bargain. Most of the 970's I found were in the 300 to 400 range and the used ones that were cheap didnt have any reviews so I couldnt tell whether it was a reliable seller. And its pretty much the same story with the 780. Obviously the 1060 is a no brainer but im not sure if my phenom ii x4 940 will bottleneck it. Im only looking to play 60+ fps at 1080p as that's my monitor's highest resolution.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

You are going to bottleneck any of those GPUs with the x4 940.

If it were me, I would buy a 1050ti for around $150. It makes the most sense with that CPU. Then I would save up a little bit more and get into a new platform.

RAM prices are killing you right now or you would be able to get it all for $300. Here is a good build that is $100 over your budget, but it would get you 60fps at medium settings.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nj4sRG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nj4sRG/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($82.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B250M PRO-VDH Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Phoenix Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $396.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-14 12:16 EST-0500

Your best option though may be the new 8100. The H and B mobos are supposed to be released next month and they will be a good bit cheaper than the Z370 boards. If it were me, I would buy a 1050ti now, game on it and save some money and in January I would get a 8100 with a B360 board. The 8100 will be much better than the G4560 above, it is just $40 more and the motherboards cost more. But it will be a good CPU for a long time.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MYcbNN
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MYcbNN/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($127.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Phoenix Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $487.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-14 12:20 EST-0500

 

[gamertech13]

@feelinfroggy777, thanks but as far as ram Ive got 8gb of ddr3 in storage as well as an ssd and 3 hard drives, 2 of which are occupied by my current PC. So in that respect, ram and storage arent an issue at all. Another thing Is that After digging around some more, I found an hp pro 8300 sff with an i5-3470 on newegg for $90. It also has ddr3 so I decided to try pairing it with a zotac gtx 1050ti low profile. And to my surprise, I found out that a youtuber had done the exact same thing with the exact same model. I debated on getting a full size case but after finding out that the design of the motherboard is backwards(I/O and PCI-E slots are on the right side) as is common in hp systems, it wont fit in a normal case. However, that will make it a beastly sleeper PC. Even with the mere 240w psu that it comes with Theres still just enough power for the low profile card. I can add in my 8gb ram and try to increase the storage with my ssd and 1tb hdd. I appreciate all the help man but I think im set at this point. If anyone else can learn anything from this, then that would be PHENOMenal(pun intended). 1080p 60fps here I come!!!!