Question Sudden frame issues in Windows and multiple games

[KamSage]

Hi all,

I've had a new PC build for 3-ish months. Overall, it's been running 4k great for its specs. However, out of nowhere, I've had to try and fix a (i think) framerate issue for the last few days and I'm still having some consistent problems.

My frame issues appeared out of nowhere as far as I can tell, I hadn't downloaded any software, updated Windows or GPU drivers before it happened. For a week now, I had been prepping for Hitman 3's release next week, and have been dipping into the settings on Hitman 2 to get a good idea of the FPS for its sequel. I had been playing the game and adjusting visuals for a few days to see what I liked. When I ran the game's built in benchmark a few days ago, after I had been doing so for several days before the issue surfaced, I noticed the frames were stuttering badly. The benchmark's internal FPS counter was varying wildly, in the range of 5 - 20 frames difference every few frames when it never swung this much before.
Stuttering was consistently happening, and there were frame skips occurring and this isn't a very fast paced game at all and I was noticed it sort of skipped forward, slightly, almost like lag in an online game.
I thought I'd try to actually play the game and see if the Benchmark was just not working. When I booted in, the opening credits, logo and other video files being played but not shown (could hear the music). Once it reached the 'Press Start' screen, I moved my mouse and the game crashed. I could reproduce this several times.

The issues didn't stop there. Other effects included slower load in of applications like File Explorer or Google Chrome, there was noticeable load in of each section of the programme (side bar, individual folders/files, UI, all having delayed load ins of a few seconds) and opening files was delayed.

My initial thought was something had been corrupted or the SSD was not in a good state. I did the following without success:

• Deleted over 200GB of data from my boot drive.
• Verified Hitman 2's files, then reinstalled Hitman 2 to my boot drive.
• Ran SFC (which did find an corrupted file but made no difference to my issue).
• (I think I) Ran DSIM properly.
• Disabled Intel Turbo Boost and disabled Dynamic Tick.
• Stopped CPU and XMP overclocking in Bios, underclocked my GPU (then returned all of these to their previous state).
• Tried to run Windows Repair, it didn't want to repair and still doesn't after trying to fix it (ironic).

By this point I went with uninstalling my GPU drivers using the programme Display Driver Uninstaller and downloading the latest from AMD's website. I uninstalled in Safe Mode and installed my regular boot.
After this I found my ISSUE RESOLVED... HOWEVER it wasn't.

Whilst things had smoothed out in application transitions, the delay is still there. Hitman 2 no longer crashes and I can get into game, but the benchmark still shows a wildly ranging FPS and in-game play is significantly worse than it was before this issue appeared (I've been doing lots of testing prior to the issue so it is very noticeable).
Fast paced games show the problem even more. Before this I had a smooth 60fps on GhostRunner, but now I get stuttering when enemies are on screen and sometimes miss whole frames when I never did before this issue.
Other visual problems like delayed minimising of programmes, tabbing out of games to desktop freezes on a black screen for up to 30 seconds.

I've been keeping an eye on my thermals and usage through Afterburner, and nothing seems out of the ordinary, apart from maybe the GPU usage isn't always at near 100%, varies to 99% to around 80%.

I have since done the following without success:

• Freed up several hundred GB from my other drives.
• Ran SFC in Safe Mode and before Windows 10 starts.
• Lowered Hitman 2's graphical settings (better FPS, but the stuttering issue was still present, so not GPU problem maybe? Higher setting worked fine prior).
• Removed programmes that could affect graphics (MSI Afterburner, Riva Tuner, MSI Dragon Centre).
• Edited my GPU's Graphic and Display settings, and Windows display settings.

Now I'm on the edge of reinstalling Windows, just backing up my files whilst I type this, but it's really an inconvenient process that could lose my data (I'm writing this whilst it backs up my data as I feel it's inevitably going to be a reinstall...)

The fact it's even causing delays on non-gaming programmes, it makes me think that whatever problem is, it's a much more core problem.
I have a gut feeling the issue is related to problems with how Windows handles the GPU, something to do with Windows OS files or a hardware fault, though I can't imagine what or where to start dealing with any of those.

Any help, advice, or generally a direction to go in would be great. Thanks for reading.

MY SYSTEM
OS: Windows 10 Home
Motherboard: MSI Z490 TOMAHAWK
PSU: Corsair TX650M
CPU: Intel i5-10600K 4.1GHz
RAM: 2x 8GB Corsair 3000MHz
GPU: Gigabyte RX 5700 XT GAMING OC
Drives: WD 1TB SSD (Boot drive), 1TB & 2TB WD HDDs
Monitor: TV 4K Sony Bravia 49XD8088

 

[angryturtle1337]

Could be a gpu going bad, but the slow downs outside of games makes me doubt that. You could try removing the gpu and using the integrated graphics your cpu has and see if it makes your experience in windows better, then move on to games, obviously you won't get the same performance but try to determine if it's performing as it should.

If it doesn't then try the following:

Try running a stress test like prime95 or OCCT on your cpu and see if you get any errors.

Download memtest86+ (auto installer) and boot from it, just shutdown and turn your pc on again, spam F12 (or whatever your boot override key is) until you see a menu with all your drives on it, select your usb and it should start up the ram test. Leave it for around 4 to 8 passes which usually takes around 10 to 15 hours, if you see any errors even just one that means your ram is faulty so at that point try one stick at a time and different slots on your motherboard to determine which ram is bad or if it's your motherboard. Oh and don't turn your monitor off if you plan to leave the test overnight, it won't show image again.


I'm not an expert by any means but this is what I would do.



Best of lucks on finding what's causing the issue

 

[KamSage]

Small update:
I found I actually had not properly uninstalled the apps previously mentioned (Afterburner, Riva Tuner) but after doing so and upon a restart I saw immediate improvements in both the loading of programs like Windows Explorer navigation as well as the frame consistency in Hitman 2 and Ghostrunner.

It's very similar to how it was prior to this issue, which is great, though I now get occasional dips and frame skips instead of it being fairly constant, which may be within expected performance, but I'd like to try and get back to where I was before all of this.
I've also noticed that my Windows laptop is much cleaner, handles multiple windows and loads snappier when handling Windows Explorer boxes and other programs despite its lower spec. Especially noticeable when I Alt+Tab/Windows key between multiple windows. Definitely think some Windows reinstall might be my next task.

Best of lucks on finding what's causing the issue

Testing through the internal graphics is a good shout which I should try at some point today. Any difference between them would definitely point towards GPU problems, which I really hope isn't the case.

My only problem with the stress test is that the PC is in the same room I sleep, so leaving it running with the monitor on would not be enjoyable. Though I guess I could just hook it up in some other room for that test. Will give the other things a test before this, probably.

 

[KamSage]

Last Update (probably)
Looks like the last of my problems was Windows related. I refreshed my Windows using a local version and the last of my problems seem to be gone.
Alt+Tabbing is no longer a mess, the occasional frame skips have gone in GhostRunner (Hitman 2 still downloading but wasn't v noticeable in that game), and Windows Explorer loads things amazingly smooth now. Feels like a fresh build again.

I can only guess that some combination of at least 3 bugs crawled out and messed me up somewhere:

• GPU drivers not working properly
• Afterburner/Riva Tuner affecting performance.
• Windows OS files not working as expected.

Hopefully my head bashing may help someone else if they stumble onto this thread.

Cheers all