Question System Stutters on Mouse Movement

[Whalen207]

Been working on this problem for a few months now.
It's not one of those issues that brings everything to a standstill, but it is preventing me from enjoying a few of my favorite games, and it is most definitely irritating.

In short:
When I move my mouse around, system graphics stutter.

Simple, right? My system can't handle a high poll rate. I have to lower it.
...Not quite. I have a 9900k, and the stuttering is – odd.

It is...
... a full graphics stutter. Both GPUs (both monitors) microstutter.
... game agnostic, but less noticeable in certain games, usually those that get lower FPS normally (Arma 3).
... desktop-affecting as well. Even just dragging windows around can stutter severely.
It is caused by...
... physically moving my mouse. WASD only = just fine. Moving my mouse with a script also = just fine.
It is made worse by...
... open programs, background or otherwise. Even innocuous ones (Samsung Magician) can aggravate it.
It does not seem to be...
... the GPU itself, or my graphics drivers, or graphics settings ...
.... or mouse drivers, or my mouse itself, or my mousepad, or my mouse settings.
... my OS version, BIOS version, OS settings, or BIOS settings.
... the speed of the mouse. Slowly nudging it continuously produces the same effect.
... any particular background program. A myriad of them aggravate it, Task Manager included.
... any singular USB port. All of them have the same issue.

--------------------------------------------------

I originally posted this wall of text on LTT hoping for help.
I did not find a solution to the problem. I reinstalled drivers, I reinstalled windows, I updated (and then rolled back) my BIOS (which, yes, was stupid in hindsight).

So I gave up, and I stopped using a lot of my favorite background applications because they made the stuttering worse.
There were also a few games I simply could not play, and even more I could play but could not stream. Some of them were operable if I used a mouse with a lower polling rate, but that's not a solution I'm satisfied with given my rig's specs.

Speccy: Link ↗
Userbenchmark Results: Link ↗ (tl;dr: normal)
LatencyMon Logs: Link ↗ (Was causing the stuttering in Osu! while monitoring)
Screenshot In Osu!: Link ↗ (that game has a really good stuttering analyzer)
All of the Above in a Drive Folder: Link ↗ (In case pastebin is down)

Most of what I've tested is in that old LTT thread. More recent developments include:

• The BenQ Mouse Polling Rate Checker reveals unstable polling rates on high-Hz mice, especially when more background programs are running.
• Both GPUs stutter together. If I'm stuttering in Osu on my main monitor, the BlurBusters UFO on my secondary monitor (iGPU-powered) will stutter too.

--------------------------------------------------

Things I may try soon:

• finding a high-Hz mouse that can connect to my PS/2 adapter.
• removing my GPU entirely.
• just giving up and buying a mouse with a long cable and a low-ass poll rate.
• start saving up for a new PC and launch this rig into low earth orbit
• do more testing on whether my system is Turbo Boosting properly: my 9900k seems to only "go to 5.0GHz on a single core" in extremely rare circumstances.

Also, if this would be more applicable on a different forum – totally fine moving it / having it moved.
Looking for any help or advice I can get, no matter how small.

 

[cdrkf]

Been working on this problem for a few months now.
It's not one of those issues that brings everything to a standstill, but it is preventing me from enjoying a few of my favorite games, and it is most definitely irritating.

In short:
When I move my mouse around, system graphics stutter.

Simple, right? My system can't handle a high poll rate. I have to lower it.
...Not quite. I have a 9900k, and the stuttering is – odd.

It is...
... a full graphics stutter. Both GPUs (both monitors) microstutter.
... game agnostic, but less noticeable in certain games, usually those that get lower FPS normally (Arma 3).
... desktop-affecting as well. Even just dragging windows around can stutter severely.
It is caused by...
... physically moving my mouse. WASD only = just fine. Moving my mouse with a script also = just fine.
It is made worse by...
... open programs, background or otherwise. Even innocuous ones (Samsung Magician) can aggravate it.
It does not seem to be...
... the GPU itself, or my graphics drivers, or graphics settings ...
.... or mouse drivers, or my mouse itself, or my mousepad, or my mouse settings.
... my OS version, BIOS version, OS settings, or BIOS settings.
... the speed of the mouse. Slowly nudging it continuously produces the same effect.
... any particular background program. A myriad of them aggravate it, Task Manager included.
... any singular USB port. All of them have the same issue.

--------------------------------------------------

I originally posted this wall of text on LTT hoping for help.
I did not find a solution to the problem. I reinstalled drivers, I reinstalled windows, I updated (and then rolled back) my BIOS (which, yes, was stupid in hindsight).

So I gave up, and I stopped using a lot of my favorite background applications because they made the stuttering worse.
There were also a few games I simply could not play, and even more I could play but could not stream. Some of them were operable if I used a mouse with a lower polling rate, but that's not a solution I'm satisfied with given my rig's specs.

Speccy: Link ↗
Userbenchmark Results: Link ↗ (tl;dr: normal)
LatencyMon Logs: Link ↗ (Was causing the stuttering in Osu! while monitoring)
Screenshot In Osu!: Link ↗ (that game has a really good stuttering analyzer)
All of the Above in a Drive Folder: Link ↗ (In case pastebin is down)

Most of what I've tested is in that old LTT thread. More recent developments include:

• The BenQ Mouse Polling Rate Checker reveals unstable polling rates on high-Hz mice, especially when more background programs are running.
• Both GPUs stutter together. If I'm stuttering in Osu on my main monitor, the BlurBusters UFO on my secondary monitor (iGPU-powered) will stutter too.

--------------------------------------------------

Things I may try soon:

• finding a high-Hz mouse that can connect to my PS/2 adapter.
• removing my GPU entirely.
• just giving up and buying a mouse with a long cable and a low-ass poll rate.
• start saving up for a new PC and launch this rig into low earth orbit
• do more testing on whether my system is Turbo Boosting properly: my 9900k seems to only "go to 5.0GHz on a single core" in extremely rare circumstances.

Also, if this would be more applicable on a different forum – totally fine moving it / having it moved.
Looking for any help or advice I can get, no matter how small.

Ok, first thought- disable the igpu entirely. That is a really strange way to run dual screens, you just need to attach second screen to the 970 and set Windows to extended desktop mode.

Edit: changed GPU

 

[Whalen207]

I remember trying that in the past, but I gave it another shot (and disabled my second monitor entirely as well as the iGPU in the BIOS). This did not fix it, unfortunately. Same problem.

EDIT: Also tried taking out the GTX 970 completely and replacing it with a GTX 670 from ages long past. Same problem, no change.

EDIT2: Can't find any mice of mine that work with my PS/2 adapter. Might head to microcenter and try to pick up a cheap PS/2(-compatible) mouse for testing.

 

[cdrkf]

I remember trying that in the past, but I gave it another shot (and disabled my second monitor entirely as well as the iGPU in the BIOS). This did not fix it, unfortunately. Same problem.

EDIT: Also tried taking out the GTX 970 completely and replacing it with a GTX 670 from ages long past. Same problem, no change.

EDIT2: Can't find any mice of mine that work with my PS/2 adapter. Might head to microcenter and try to pick up a cheap PS/2(-compatible) mouse for testing.

Ah ok fair enough- it's a strange problem... the way it's behaving is reinstatement of a hardware address conflict on early pc's where two devices were trying to use the same address and interfering with each other.... not something that really happens now though that I'm aware of

 

[Ralston18]

Perhaps you can discover the culprit via Task Manager and Resource Monitor.

(Maybe start with Resource Monitor as you mentioned Task Manager aggravates the problem.)

Using one or the other (not both at the same time) open the window and leave it open but dragged to one side of one monitor or all the way to the second monitor.

Just let the system sit "idle" for a while and watch.

Then do some light work and browsing while continuing to watch.

Lastly do some gaming as usual.

Keep an eye on what your system is running and what resources are being used.

If nothing is discovered, then remove/disable all that you can from the Startup tab.

Repeat the above steps but starting launching startup apps one at a time.

The objective being to identify a particular app or process that can be attributed to the stuttering mouse movement.

Or perhaps a combination of apps in some state of conflict.

And do update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

Include PSU.

 

[Whalen207]

Ordered a PS/2 mouse off of Amazon and I'll see if it's somehow the USB controller having trouble with mouse movement.

Full hardware specs are in the old LTT thread. I could repost them here, but it's going to make the OP even more wall-of-text-y.

Here are some details from that old thread that are very relevant, however:

• If program(s) are at fault here, it is a wide combination of them. Resource Monitor is among them, actually. A lot of programs (any that monitor, OBS, Minihost (live audio processing), 4tTray) aggravate it.
• I have gone so far as to reinstall Windows multiple times and slowly set programs back up. I have outright installed Ubuntu on the same PC and -- as far as my extremely limited testing could tell -- the problem was gone.
• It's not necessarily CPU load. If my CPU is under a large and consistent load (ie: video encoding), there's a little bit of stutter, but none more than I expect, and never the BIG hangup-stutters that I get when the actual problem is present

 

[Whalen207]

Hallelujah! Sorry to bump, but, major development.

A cheap PS/2 mouse works perfect, as far as I can tell. Will edit in more as I test. I would prefer a USB mouse (for functionality), so I'm going to keep trying to fix the problem, but this is telling me it might just be the USB controller or some hardware component like that. Is that a reasonable assumption?

EDIT1: ... It might just be the low ~100Hz polling rate, actually, giving me false hope.