[SOLVED] System stuttering after upgrading to a 6900 XT ?

[IronsInTheSpire]

Hello,

I've been having some bothersome system stuttering problems moving from my old 1080 to a 6900 XT that the 1080 just didn't have. When I installed this card I did DDU to nuke the old Nvidia stuff, but anyway, here's some details.

Some things that cause my system to stutter:

• Hovering over UI elements in quick succession in Krita
• Moving OBS between monitors with the preview open, and just intermittent chugging when the OBS preview is enabled, even if not streaming or recording
• If a game is open and you try to do anything else on the PC that isn't the game
• Hovering over UI elements in quick succession in a Chromium based web browser (I think this is a known issue?)
• Having a video play in VRChat
• Putting down a single shape in a 1000 by 1000 size canvas in Affinity Photo
• Dragging a shape around in a similarly sized Affinity Designer canvas

Anyway, just a lot of things can cause system stuttering and I've changed web browsers over this, and its just made my day to day computing experience feel like I'm running a potato. To try and clarify what I mean by system stuttering, I'd describe it as... mouse jumpy... chuggy... control... pc... hard.

I thought at least the OBS thing might be a driver issue, because downgrading drivers from the most current 22.11.2 all the way back to 22.10.1 seemed to make OBS behave but given the intermittent nature of that particular stuttering I'm not 100% on that, and I can't run those drivers day to day as VR becomes unstable and crashy on those older versions. That's "lock up the entire machine and force you to have to hard shut down" kind of crashy.

I'd be tempted to say its all driver problem and call it a day except that... if other people were all having these issues with these programs, I feel like this video card would be universally hated, so that has me wondering if its something specific with my system or if there is some wildly arcane way to address the issues. I've thrown some noodles at the troubleshooting wall to see if I can reach a state where I feel like I have a usable PC, but nothing seems to have stuck so far.

Gaming seems to be fine as far as I can tell outside of that thing I mentioned about VRChat.

Help would be appreciated. Don't really want to have to invest in another GPU.

System Specs as reported by HWiNFO64:

CPU:           AMD Ryzen 5 3600X (Matisse, MTS-B0)
               3800 MHz (38.00x100.0) @ 3775 MHz (37.75x100.0)
Motherboard:   MSI X570-A PRO (MS-7C37)
BIOS:          H.I0, 08/10/2022
Chipset:       AMD X570 (Bixby)
Memory:        49152 MBytes @ 1200 MHz, 16-16-16-39
               - 16384 MB PC19200 DDR4 SDRAM - Crucial Technology BLS16G4D240FSB.16FBD
               - 16384 MB PC19200 DDR4 SDRAM - Crucial Technology BLS16G4D240FSB.16FBD
               - 8192 MB PC19200 DDR4 SDRAM - Corsair CMK16GX4M2A2400C16
               - 8192 MB PC19200 DDR4 SDRAM - Corsair CMK16GX4M2A2400C16
Graphics:      MSI RX 6900 XT Gaming X Trio
               AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 16384 MB GDDR6 SDRAM
OS:            Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (x64) Build 19045.2364

Power supply is an EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G+

 

[DavidM012]

you have mixed 2 ram kits - take out the 2 8gb corsairs (do power off and switch off the mains first!) see what happens.


Maybe the problem with mixing two memory kits only really shows up when you use a more demanding gpu than your 1080 or something. Well you are running them at 2400mhz which is the lowest speed for Ryzen, what it defaults to without xmp enabled with faster dimms. So they kinda work together when they aren't working too hard or something.


Crucial Technology BLS16G4D240FSB.16FBD-ddr 4 2400mhz.pc19200. You could stand to use faster 3200mhz dimms with your 3600x Matisse, or 3600mhz dimms if you upgrade to Zen 3 Vermeer/5000 series like a 5700x, if you do plan to something of a 'side grade' rather than a full system upgrade in the near future.

Mixing Dimm kits, pshh sometimes works, lucky if it does, often doesn't .

Oh and put your crucial dimms in slots a2/b2 - at least run them in dual channel mode.

Power supply is way overkill but only hurts your wallet rather than the system you could've got a cheaper 850w but hey I won't complain since at least you know it's enough for any gpu you might want. Tier B on the psu tier list not perfectly tier A but probably fine for most whilst people prefer to recommend a Tier A for a 3080/3090 you've got it now, done is done so it will simply have do if you ever want a 3000 series. Shouldn't be a technical problem probably. Just for your info/next time you could probably have got a tier A 850w for a similar price.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

you have mixed 2 ram kits - take out the 2 8gb corsairs (do power off and switch off the mains first!) see what happens.


Maybe the problem with mixing two memory kits only really shows up when you use a more demanding gpu than your 1080 or something. Well you are running them at 2400mhz which is the lowest speed for Ryzen, what it defaults to without xmp enabled with faster dimms. So they kinda work together when they aren't working too hard or something.


Crucial Technology BLS16G4D240FSB.16FBD-ddr 4 2400mhz.pc19200. You could stand to use faster 3200mhz dimms with your 3600x Matisse, or 3600mhz dimms if you upgrade to Zen 3 Vermeer/5000 series like a 5700x, if you do plan to something of a 'side grade' rather than a full system upgrade in the near future.

Mixing Dimm kits, pshh sometimes works, lucky if it does, often doesn't .

Oh and put your crucial dimms in slots a2/b2 - at least run them in dual channel mode.

Power supply is way overkill but only hurts your wallet rather than the system you could've got a cheaper 850w but hey I won't complain since at least you know it's enough for any gpu you might want. Tier B on the psu tier list not perfectly tier A but probably fine for most whilst people prefer to recommend a Tier A for a 3080/3090 you've got it now, done is done so it will simply have do if you ever want a 3000 series. Shouldn't be a technical problem probably. Just for your info/next time you could probably have got a tier A 850w for a similar price.

Thanks for the reply. I did try removing one kit, then using the other kit to try and rule out the memory, and my slot placement was based on the diagram on the motherboard, so if those aren't the right slots for dual channel, than I am a little miffed at the mobo silkscreening. @_@

(And yeah, the overkill PSU was purchased in a moment of divine rage when a previous PSU just barely wasn't enough and I decided to do my best to make that a "NEVER AGAIN" problem.)

I'll check the mobo manual against the silk screen and see if they match, and I guess try rearranging either way.

 

[DavidM012]

Well then I guess it may be because your dimms are simply 2400mhz and slow whilst your Matisse 3600x could support 3200mhz dual channel or Zen 3 Vermeer could support 3600mhz dual channel.

You could either simply upgrade your memory or upgrade your memory and CPU. 2400mhz is the slowest memory you can use on Ryzen. Maybe a clean install of Windows & drivers might help rule out any configuration problems.

Also see this article - Ryzen 5000 Ram guide if you want to use 4 dimms you could use a more expensive 4x8gb kit. Sometimes Single Rank is also referred to as Single Row, or Single Sided. There's only chips on one side of the dimm.

• Even on Zen 3, four memory ranks are still the ideal configuration for getting the best overall performance out of your Ryzen 5000 processor, particularly in applications. With today's capacity, this basically translates to having at least 32GB of memory in your system, whether it be two dual-rank or four single-rank memory modules. Most of the time, the first option is always easier on the pocket.

Or a 2x 16gb dual rank kit - G.Skill Ripjaws V or Trident Z, or Trident Z Neo .

You may also need a bios update to run a zen 3 like a 5700x if you go that route - simply employ a faster CPU & Memory combo.

What's your Hard Drive/SSD/Nvme?

I would venture best to upgrade CPU and Memory so you won't have to buy memory twice, first 3200mhz then 3600mhz for the next cpu. Just go Zen 3/3600 memory blam done end of generation and then upgrade your complete system in 5 years.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

Well then I guess it may be because your dimms are simply 2400mhz and slow whilst your Matisse 3600x could support 3200mhz dual channel or Zen 3 Vermeer could support 3600mhz dual channel.

You could either simply upgrade your memory or upgrade your memory and CPU. 2400mhz is the slowest memory you can use on Ryzen. Maybe a clean install of Windows & drivers might help rule out any configuration problems.

Also see this article - Ryzen 5000 Ram guide if you want to use 4 dimms you could use a more expensive 4x8gb kit. Sometimes Single Rank is also referred to as Single Row, or Single Sided. There's only chips on one side of the dimm.

• Even on Zen 3, four memory ranks are still the ideal configuration for getting the best overall performance out of your Ryzen 5000 processor, particularly in applications. With today's capacity, this basically translates to having at least 32GB of memory in your system, whether it be two dual-rank or four single-rank memory modules. Most of the time, the first option is always easier on the pocket.

Or a 2x 16gb dual rank kit - G.Skill Ripjaws V or Trident Z, or Trident Z Neo .

You may also need a bios update to run a zen 3 like a 5700x if you go that route - simply employ a faster CPU & Memory combo.

What's your Hard Drive/SSD/Nvme?

I would venture best to upgrade CPU and Memory so you won't have to buy memory twice, first 3200mhz then 3600mhz for the next cpu. Just go Zen 3/3600 memory blam done end of generation and then upgrade your complete system in 5 years.

I actually did do a cleanroom test using a different drive specifically around the OBS problem, and it's how I ascertained dowgrading the driver seemed to make specifically OBS behave, because windows installed an older driver, and then sure enough, installing a newer one begot OBS going back to acting like a @#%$.

Got my bios and chipset drivers all updated so if I do have to chip up, the board should be ready for it.

So, boot drive answer time.
It's NVME on the 1.3 standard running at PCIe 3.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x4 (That's how Crystal Disk Info lists the transfer mode, anyhow.)

Anyway, if you're right its a lot cheaper than another video card.

 

[DavidM012]

ain't the drive unless it's faulty. Your mobo could support a pci-e 4.0 drive but the difference isn't practically great just having an nvme is faster than an ssd or hdd, pci-e 3.0 is fine.

So obs well nvidia gpus have the hardware nvenc video encoder whilst amd gpus don't have a native hardware video encoder or they do but it's h.264 something or other that needs more cpu so yeah software encoding is cpu/memory reliant on amd I suppose. You're just using a different video encoder. Have to ask an expert on that since I don't use my pc for video streaming or professional videos so I don't know much about it.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

ain't the drive unless it's faulty. Your mobo could support a pci-e 4.0 drive but the difference isn't practically great just having an nvme is faster than an ssd or hdd, pci-e 3.0 is fine.

So obs well nvidia gpus have the hardware nvenc video encoder whilst amd gpus don't have a native hardware video encoder so yeah software encoding is cpu/memory reliant on amd I suppose. You're just using a different video encoder. Have to ask an expert on that since I don't use my pc for video streaming or professional videos so I don't know much about it.

I should have someone able to let me borrow a 3200 memory kit to test the speed theory, so I'll report back how that test goes. Thanks again for your assistance.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

So, got my hands on a new memory kit, tested it, made sure it was running at 3200mhz and....

Nope, didn't fix it. The only other info I can add is that during the stuttering, some CPU cores experience what looks like abnormally high usage to me, but I'm not sure if that really illuminates anything.

CPU at Idle (No Problems)
Stutter during Designer - CPU
Stutter during Krita - CPU
Stutter during OBS - CPU
Stutter during Photo - CPU

 

[alceryes]

Definitely remove the 2x8GB sticks.
Please confirm that you have the 2x16GB sticks in the 2nd and last slot, counting from the CPU outward.
2400MHz is on the slow side but I'm not convinved that's what is causing the stuttering.

Run the Windows memory diagnostic with the 2x16GB installed in the correct slots. Any errors?

You also may have OS issues. Maybe try a reload with just drivers and test for stuttering (before any applications/games).

 

[zx128k]

Do a driver-only install for the GPU as per here. See if it helps. Also these cards love SAM, so make sure its enabled.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

All right, another night, another hours of troubleshooting.

Memory Test: As mentioned, new faster memory had same symptoms as old memory, was placed correctly.
OS Issues Test: Problem persisted on a different windows install on another drive.
Driver only: DDU Nuked, driver only'd, no improvement.
SAM: Smart Access Memory/Resize bar and and the above 4g setting both enabled. No improvement.

NEW DATA

Hardware Acceleration:​

Seems like this stutter happens wherever and whenever something is using hardware acceleration. Having to disable that everywhere I'm allowed, and deal with it when I can't disable it is not a solution that juices my boots (not ideal).

Mo' Monitors, Mo' Problems:​

I run a triple monitor setup, and now having tested with 1, 2, and 3 monitors I can tell you...
1 monitor, the problem is noticeable but minor and each monitor you add makes the problem significantly worse. 2 is fairly bad, and three is AWFUL.

This is some wack nonsense to me so far, and I'm still gladly taking suggestions, but its really lookin' like the ol' 1080 is gonna have to make a comeback.

 

[DavidM012]

Monitors can be the cause of stuttering. Or part of the system of stuttering. Lately I've heard of some more cases of monitors causing stutters and replacing them clearing up the problem which is otherwise baffling to the uninitiated. Here some peeps decided to switch down from 1440p monitor to 1080p monitor after exhausting several lines of enquiry.

Ok so what rez are you running at and what ports are you connecting the monitors to, displayport or hdmi or thunderbolt and what rez/make/model/size are each of the 3 monitors?

Might be something to do with the available bandwidth over Displayport or hdmi because of how much bandwidth each resolution for each monitor is needed vs the limit of their specification.

2 threads of similar questions one is everything works great on this Reddit and some are using usb c to hdmi adapter

whilst this thread on amd sadly chose a 3050 instead after years of striving with amd gpus.

So could be quality of monitors or connection method or a problem with the gpu and that isn't awfly easy to troubleshoot. Who knows what might be different between a 1080 and a 6900xt exactly besides that it is?

The way to tackle something like this in future might be to scope out reviews of configurations with what monitors worked since throwing together random components without knowing their full specifications might be problematical.

You might suppose there are industry standards which is great and so would be knowing what they are in english. I'm a little behind the times on that since I still have a dvi monitor so haven't really looked into all these brand new complicated specifications and troubleshooting them though I am becoming aware that it's something to contend with but only in my dreams have I thought of owning 3 or 4 touch screen monitors that are great for gaming controls and things especially since it's ultra hi end tech that is mostly sci fi to the average person.

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

Monitors can be the cause of stuttering. Or part of the system of stuttering. Lately I've heard of some more cases of monitors causing stutters and replacing them clearing up the problem which is otherwise baffling to the uninitiated. Here some peeps decided to switch down from 1440p monitor to 1080p monitor after exhausting several lines of enquiry.

Ok so what rez are you running at and what ports are you connecting the monitors to, displayport or hdmi or thunderbolt and what rez/make/model/size are each of the 3 monitors?

Might be something to do with the available bandwidth over Displayport or hdmi because of how much bandwidth each resolution for each monitor is needed vs the limit of their specification.

2 threads of similar questions one is everything works great on this Reddit and some are using usb c to hdmi adapter

whilst this thread on amd sadly chose a 3050 instead after years of striving with amd gpus.

So could be quality of monitors or connection method or a problem with the gpu and that isn't awfly easy to troubleshoot. Who knows what might be different between a 1080 and a 6900xt exactly besides that it is?

The way to tackle something like this in future might be to scope out reviews of configurations with what monitors worked since throwing together random components without knowing their full specifications might be problematical.

You might suppose there are industry standards which is great and so would be knowing what they are in english. I'm a little behind the times on that since I still have a dvi monitor so haven't really looked into all these brand new complicated specifications and troubleshooting them though I am becoming aware that it's something to contend with but only in my dreams have I thought of owning 3 or 4 touch screen monitors that are great for gaming controls and things especially since it's ultra hi end tech that is mostly sci fi to the average person.

Welcome back to the party, D-man!

Monitor time:
I'm running three of these HP V24i FHD 9RV15AA#ABA bois at 1080p 60hz
https://amazon.com/HP-V24i-23-8-inch-Diagonal-Computer/dp/B08G5R5LM3

1 is connected with pure HDMI
The other two run their HDMI cables into little Displayport adapters.

Display adapters of any kind always risk trouble, honestly, but I'm just working with the outputs and inputs I have at my disposal. My VR headset just won't work with an adapter at all, period.

If this card is not going to work in my setup, I'm not TOO hosed. I got it at enough of a price cut that I can get my money back for it in resale.

Touch screens are too fingerprinty for my blood, so these non-touch monitors suit me fine.

 

[DavidM012]

Well here's a review of your monitor(s) and it says they don't support amd freesync, an AMD technology designed to eliminate stuttering and/or tearing in games and videos by locking a display's refresh rate to the frame rate of the graphics card.

nvidia has gsync: G-Sync is a proprietary adaptive sync technology developed by Nvidia aimed primarily at eliminating screen tearing and the need for software alternatives such as Vsync

well I have to tried to penetrate some of the technobabble vis hdmi/display port bandwidth but I'm still going boggle eyed just looking at it but I think that it might be an affordabubbility issue like 1 freesync monitor might be betterer than 3 non-freesync monitors.

 

[alceryes]

Run HWiNFO64 (sensors only, logging on) in the background while you experience this stuttering.
Record at least 30 mins (the more data, the better) of bad performance - make separate notes/timestamps of when the stuttering occurrs and/or when it gets really bad so you can compare to the statistics timestamps.
Go through the log file to see if anything is amiss (GPU/CPU downclocks, etc.), alternately, upload the log file somewhere we can grab it and take a look.

 

[zx128k]

Try disabling hardware acceleration this way. Try disabling Multiplane overlay (MPO).

 

[bertii42]

I also had the same problem in the morning I downloaded the update and it jammed but the problem fortunately solved itself I turned it off for about 2 hours and it's fine now

 

[IronsInTheSpire]

Try disabling hardware acceleration this way. Try disabling Multiplane overlay (MPO).

WE HAVE A WINNER!

MPO. Disabled MPO and IT'S ALL FIXED as far as I can tell. This problem caused me great suffering and anxiety, so to everyone who stopped in to help, thanks for the assist.

I messed up my mobo a little somehow during troubleshooting, but its nothing I can't compute around and is fine. When shutting down/restarting the PC will shut the OS down but the hardware won't shut off, and sometimes the BIOS says its damaged. I reflashed it once after that, but it still sometimes says it and I can just turn the machine off and back on and the bios will act like its fine. I have a spare mobo I can swap to if this one bites it (which I'm only not doing due to the spare having one less m.2 slot), so I'll keep my data backed up and run this &^%(#$ into the ground.