Question The infamous stutter that has ruined gaming for me.

[sv_jul]

I have been contemplating making this post but I feel as though I have no other option. This is also probably going to be a long-winded post, but I will do my best to summarize my experience with this "stuttering" or "freezing" issue I have seemed to be plagued with since I originally built my PC in October 2017.

I built a PC with the following specs back in October 2017. The ">" denotes a transition of a part change I have made up until the creation of this post. There are a few recent changes mentioned below, those are referring to the last hardware item in the transitions.

• Intel Core i7-7700k > delidded and overclocked
• Asus ROG Strix z270e motherboard
• EVGA 1080 FTW Hybrid > EVGA 1080ti FTW3 > Asus RTX 3080 (recent change) (currently running the RTX 3080 on MSI Afterburner)
• Corsair Vengeance RGB 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 > Kingston Fury Renegade 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 (recent change) (XMP'd to 3600MHz)
• EVGA 550W G3 PSU > Seasonic Focus GX-850
• Number of Samsung Evo SSDs and Seagate 1TB HDD > 2 SK hynix m.2's (1tb and 2tb) and Seagate 1TB HDD (recent change) (all my data is on my m.2s right now, the HDD is empty)
• A mix of Corsair and Noctua fans
• Cryorig H7 > Corsair H100i v2
• Corsair 460x RGB case

Ever since I built this system I seem to have been plagued with a short "freeze" or "stutter" momentarily in many games (not all). It is a very very short freeze of the game for a moment, and then the GPU fans will spin up faster right after it happens. It does not happen in any sort of pattern, sometimes after a few minutes or so it will occur during a rendering of a bunch of animations or graphics on the screen - say, maybe, a large battle in a combat game. It was so bad that it actually made me stop playing any video games at all after months of trying to diagnose the issue after building the system (and up until this year actually) and investing so much money into something just for it to not work well. However, I am giving it one last run to see if I can solve this issue as I have really been wanting to get back into gaming. In terms of troubleshooting, I feel like I have literally tried everything under the sun. From every forum post, to youtube video, to my own ideas - nothing has ever seemed to solve the issue. I will try to detail them, but forgive me as it's been years since I can re-collect all of the troubleshooting I have done. I will also outline some of the recent ones I have tried this year to resurrect a solution. Your recommendations are definitely welcome, however I may respond back with "I've tried that" as there is going to be a lot of troubleshooting I have forgotten about.

• Remove overclock, revert back to system defaults (Was happening before ever overclocking) (my temps have always seemed to be good before and after overclocking, especially after delidding)
• Originally though it was a GPU issue, replaced with 1080ti
• Nvidia drivers updates/rollbacks and clean installs with DDU
• Fresh install of Win10
• G-sync on/off, vertical sync on/off in games
• Other Nvidia control panel option adjustments
• Thought PSU was the issue, replaced with Seasonic PSU
• Ran memtests on Corsair memory, tests always passed
• Lots of general Win10 and other software troubleshooting
• Hardware checks (loose cables, use different cables, reseat CPU, reapply thermal paste, temperature checks, etc.)
• Different source outputs, different cables
• Different GPU management software
• I known I am missing a TON of other things here but like I said this is just some I can think of right now
• Etc. etc. etc.

At this point I have exhausted my options and really looking for your guys feedback on what I am missing, what I should try, or anything else. I would say the only thing I haven't replaced on the PC at this point is the motherboard and CPU, maybe something there? I also just picked up an Intel Core i5-13600k and am looking to purchase a new motherboard.

 

[rgd1101]

unplug the hdd. how full are the ssd?

 

[sv_jul]

unplug the hdd. how full are the ssd?

The m.2s are practically empty 831 GB free on the 1 TB and 1.79 TB free on the 2 TB. The 2 TB is where I store my games. But again the issue persisted before the m.2s and only had SATA SSDs. I believe the HDD was a later addon too after the build was complete, but I can't remember, it's been so many years. I will try to unplug the HDD today and see what happens when gaming. Thanks.

 

[geofelt]

Stuttering is the temporary lack of a needed resource. Usually cpu or gpu, but occasionally ram or a needed thread.
Your 7700k was excellent in it's time and usually overclocked well.
But on occasion, there may be a lack of sufficient single thread capability.
The passmark rating is 9661/2728
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+@+4.20GHz&id=2874
Run the cpu-Z bench test and look at the single thread rating.
You should see about 543:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/k4gzh7
The upcoming 13600K will have 20 threads and a rating of 38442/4187.
The cpu-Z score will be about 827, a considerable boost.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/txgl0w

One other possibility is temporary cpu throttling.
AIO coolers do not last forever. Run Hwmonitor.
Look at the idle cpu temperatures. It should be 10-15c. over ambient temperature if the cooler is functioning and mounted well.
Ambient is the temp inside the case, not room temperature.

Run your load when the stutter happens.
Look at the max cpu core temps.
If you see 100c. in red, that core throttled.

On your 13600K build, buy a DDR4 based motherboard so you can reuse your 3600 speed ram.
Performance is similar to DDR5.
Most any lga1700 motherboard will do, but avoid the most basic chipset versions.

 

[GarrettL]

Stuttering is the temporary lack of a needed resource. Usually cpu or gpu, but occasionally ram or a needed thread.
Your 7700k was excellent in it's time and usually overclocked well.
But on occasion, there may be a lack of sufficient single thread capability.
The passmark rating is 9661/2728
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+@+4.20GHz&id=2874
Run the cpu-Z bench test and look at the single thread rating.
You should see about 543:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/k4gzh7
The upcoming 13600K will have 20 threads and a rating of 38442/4187.
The cpu-Z score will be about 827, a considerable boost.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/txgl0w

One other possibility is temporary cpu throttling.
AIO coolers do not last forever. Run Hwmonitor.
Look at the idle cpu temperatures. It should be 10-15c. over ambient temperature if the cooler is functioning and mounted well.
Ambient is the temp inside the case, not room temperature.

Run your load when the stutter happens.
Look at the max cpu core temps.
If you see 100c. in red, that core throttled.

On your 13600K build, buy a DDR4 based motherboard so you can reuse your 3600 speed ram.
Performance is similar to DDR5.
Most any lga1700 motherboard will do, but avoid the most basic chipset versions.

^This.

The 7700k is aging and it's the FPS lows bthat ecome more noticable over time.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRmbK1qiRSc

 

[sv_jul]

Stuttering is the temporary lack of a needed resource. Usually cpu or gpu, but occasionally ram or a needed thread.
Your 7700k was excellent in it's time and usually overclocked well.
But on occasion, there may be a lack of sufficient single thread capability.
The passmark rating is 9661/2728
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+@+4.20GHz&id=2874
Run the cpu-Z bench test and look at the single thread rating.
You should see about 543:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/k4gzh7
The upcoming 13600K will have 20 threads and a rating of 38442/4187.
The cpu-Z score will be about 827, a considerable boost.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/txgl0w

One other possibility is temporary cpu throttling.
AIO coolers do not last forever. Run Hwmonitor.
Look at the idle cpu temperatures. It should be 10-15c. over ambient temperature if the cooler is functioning and mounted well.
Ambient is the temp inside the case, not room temperature.

Run your load when the stutter happens.
Look at the max cpu core temps.
If you see 100c. in red, that core throttled.

On your 13600K build, buy a DDR4 based motherboard so you can reuse your 3600 speed ram.
Performance is similar to DDR5.
Most any lga1700 motherboard will do, but avoid the most basic chipset versions.

Thanks for your feedback. I ran CPU-Z benchmark and scored a 555.4/492 on the single thread run. As far as idle temps go, I usually hover around 34-35c while overclocked at 4.9 GHz. I am not sure how to determine ambient temps. I don't see it throttling during gaming, I'm using MSI Afterburner and HWMonitor to monitor. It usually hovers around 55-60c depending on the game. Even when not overclocked, when I first built the system I was still facing issues on all the original hardware before transitions. My only guess is maybe it's the mobo or CPU as those are the only things I haven't replaced, not sure. I can see about recording a video of the graphs and game tomorrow if that helps any?

 

[geofelt]

It all looks good.
I think your 7700K is just getting a bit tired and shoulld be replaced for top performance.

 

[Kona45primo]

If you want to go the cheap route you could hunt for a nice used AMD AM4 board, just add a 5800x3d and that thing will be flying. Or maybe just a 5600x/5700x.

 

[GarrettL]

Tough time for a new build considering the pricing and the socket changes.

You already have a new psu, memory and gpu. All you need is a new motherboard and cpu to start gaming with buttery smootheness. What resolution is your monitor?

Would you be able to get a new motherboard and cpu? Nice features on the newer boards and the M2 SDD form factor is great and fast.

 

[alceryes]

Stuttering is the temporary lack of a needed resource. Usually cpu or gpu, but occasionally ram or a needed thread.
Your 7700k was excellent in it's time and usually overclocked well.
But on occasion, there may be a lack of sufficient single thread capability.
The passmark rating is 9661/2728
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+@+4.20GHz&id=2874
Run the cpu-Z bench test and look at the single thread rating.
You should see about 543:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/k4gzh7
The upcoming 13600K will have 20 threads and a rating of 38442/4187.
The cpu-Z score will be about 827, a considerable boost.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/txgl0w

One other possibility is temporary cpu throttling.
AIO coolers do not last forever. Run Hwmonitor.
Look at the idle cpu temperatures. It should be 10-15c. over ambient temperature if the cooler is functioning and mounted well.
Ambient is the temp inside the case, not room temperature.

Run your load when the stutter happens.
Look at the max cpu core temps.
If you see 100c. in red, that core throttled.

On your 13600K build, buy a DDR4 based motherboard so you can reuse your 3600 speed ram.
Performance is similar to DDR5.
Most any lga1700 motherboard will do, but avoid the most basic chipset versions.

To add to this.
Stuttering can happen when the CPU or GPU downclocks/throttles due to power/temp/voltage constraints. It can also happen with online games.

Run HWiNFO64 in the background (sensors only, logging on) during these stuttering times. Take notes of when the stuttering is the worst (minutes from when you started logging) so you can then go through the logs and see if anything is happening with the individual components. You can also upload the log file somewhere we can grab it to take a look.