Stutters in almost every game I play

[Mezorno]

As of recently, I've noticed huge stutters in games. I will be at 80-90 FPS, and then drop down to 20-25 for no apparent reason. (I will note that while it says 20-35 fps, it feels as if I'm playing at 1-2 fps). I notice that while in game, task manager displays that my ram usage is at about 94% most of the time (8gb of ram). I get the lag to stop once I close every application I have open except for the game, which makes me believe that the ram is the issue, however the time it started happening seemed to be very out of the ordinary, I haven't touched the computer at all, or downloaded any malware, would the ram be the only thing affecting this?

i3 6100
Gtx 1050 ti
8gb Ram

 

[krzyimprt]

As of recently, I've noticed huge stutters in games. I will be at 80-90 FPS, and then drop down to 20-25 for no apparent reason. (I will note that while it says 20-35 fps, it feels as if I'm playing at 1-2 fps). I notice that while in game, task manager displays that my ram usage is at about 94% most of the time (8gb of ram). I get the lag to stop once I close every application I have open except for the game, which makes me believe that the ram is the issue, however the time it started happening seemed to be very out of the ordinary, I haven't touched the computer at all, or downloaded any malware, would the ram be the only thing affecting this?

i3 6100
Gtx 1050 ti
8gb Ram

Depending on the games you play 8GB can be used up pretty quickly. I have a 16GB kit and I can easily hit close to 8GB used when playing GTA. Reboot your PC and check RAM usage at idle. Memory leaks happen too, another good reason 16GB is becoming the norm.

 

[photonboy]

After a cold start (not just reboot) I'd expect maybe 3GB or so to be used.

It's most likely some program is using up too much memory. A known culprit is web browsers so don't run those while gaming. If it's something else try looking at Task Manager to see what's eating up memory.

(some Windows tasks will not appear.)

I don't think this could be related to the recent Meltdown/Spectre issue (Intel patch causing weird memory leak?) but I'm not 100% sure it isn't either. I'll say like 1 in 1000 chance of that.

At one point I had Microsoft Search/Indexing eating up CPU and Memory.

Again though, to start with:

1) Shutdown completely (not hibernate, standby or restart)
2) start up
3) wait for system to stabilize (CPU at maybe 10% or less and system memory in TM at 3GB or so?)

4) run game in WINDOWED mode so you can observe Task Manager
5) if same issue happens leave game running and look at TM to figure out what's eating up the memory (and possibly some CPU cycles)

 

[Mezorno]

As of recently, I've noticed huge stutters in games. I will be at 80-90 FPS, and then drop down to 20-25 for no apparent reason. (I will note that while it says 20-35 fps, it feels as if I'm playing at 1-2 fps). I notice that while in game, task manager displays that my ram usage is at about 94% most of the time (8gb of ram). I get the lag to stop once I close every application I have open except for the game, which makes me believe that the ram is the issue, however the time it started happening seemed to be very out of the ordinary, I haven't touched the computer at all, or downloaded any malware, would the ram be the only thing affecting this?

i3 6100
Gtx 1050 ti
8gb Ram

Depending on the games you play 8GB can be used up pretty quickly. I have a 16GB kit and I can easily hit close to 8GB used when playing GTA. Reboot your PC and check RAM usage at idle. Memory leaks happen too, another good reason 16GB is becoming the norm.

I didn't even think about memory leaks. I had 4GB in non-paged pool.

 

[photonboy]

I didn't quite understand your comment but it's likely not worth discussing as it's not my area. I guess you meant any type of CPU "memory leak" would be to the HDD/SSD regardless and not the DDR4.

It may be worth looking into an identical kit/stick to go for 16GB but I'd still want to know what's eating up the 8GB.

 

[Mezorno]

I didn't quite understand your comment but it's likely not worth discussing as it's not my area. I guess you meant any type of CPU "memory leak" would be to the HDD/SSD regardless and not the DDR4.

It may be worth looking into an identical kit/stick to go for 16GB but I'd still want to know what's eating up the 8GB.

As I stated before (or had tried to get across), I didn't know what memory leaks were. A quick Google search revealed that the non-paged pool is where leaked memory is stored (at least to my understanding), and it was filled to about 4.2gb (when I reset the computer it was only at about 450mb).

 

[photonboy]

Memory:
Memory "leaks" are generally a program that continues to eat up more and more system memory (DDR4 in this case) due to a coding error or just bad programming... for example, maybe you have Google Chrome open and a page keeps cycling in videos and ads or whatever but NOT DELETING content so the memory usage goes UP and UP and UP until you run out.

(not saying that happens in Chrome though I have seen 5GB+ many times with only ten tabs open... in TASK MANAGER Chrome is split up so you either add it up or observe the current memory usage then observe how much it DROPS by simply closing Chrome).

But let's just go back to my comments above on clean start of W10.

When memory usage is running out what's using the memory? Can you find out?

Task Manager-> Performance-> Memory (to observe total of 8GB used)

Task Manager-> Processes (click "Memory" so it shows MOST to LEAST in order so it's easier to see)

Let's say you're at about 7.5GB (Windows tries to keep some memory available even when you've technically run out for a game so 95% usage is essentially running out if the game is stuttering due to that).

I recommend WINDOWED MODE as alt-tabbing out of a game may have unpredictable CPU and Memory effects but if it's too much hassle alt-tab out.

Let's say again you're at 7.5GB total used.

Now let's say the game is using 3GB itself. Do you see any other programs showing a LOT of memory usage?

If the answer is NO then my guess is it's a Windows issue like Search/Indexer which isn't being reported in Task Manager (non-OS programs should show up AFAIK).

If you DO see what's using a lot of memory than GOOGLE the name. Maybe "programname high memory usage".

OTHER:
If stumped, you may wish to attempt an "In-Place W10 Upgrade":

1. create W10 on USB stick
(insert 8GB+ USB stick, download and run MS media creation tool, choose "other PC"...)

2. run "setup.exe" from the stick and follow instructions

(it "upgrades" from W10 to W10 by essentially replacing large parts of the core code so it MAY fix some issues)

I've done it several times and it's very safe, though if possible I'd still create a backup IMAGE of C-drive (Acronis True Image or similar)