Question Weird stuttering/FPS issue

[Vali Pali]

My specs are:

Asus CH7 Hero mobo
GTX 1080 ti (it has happened on multiple drivers, now running the latest game ready)
R9 3900x
2x8 GB GSkill RAM @ 3200 MHZ
750 W Seasonic focus plus PSU
144 Hz AoC Freesync monitor

Now my stuttering/FPS drop issue is as follows: I load up a game, and every 10 seconds or so, I would get a micro stutter + a small fps drop (~5 fps). As I keep playing, the stutters still occur every 10 sec., but the fps drops from 130-140 to below 100, and are accompanied by sound distortion.

It all culminates with a massive fps drop (drops to ~5 fps for 2 seconds), and the sound gets distorted like I'm about to get a BSOD. However, and here comes the weird part, after this, the stutters and fps drops completely go away, and everything is smooth. I can play any game I want, smooth as silk. This lasts until I reboot my PC.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

For a troubleshooting start, download latency monitor, and run the app in the background until this stuttering and sound distortion happen. Then check the app for any drivers that it may list as a problem. https://www.resplendence.com/main

 

[Vali Pali]

For a troubleshooting start, download latency monitor, and run the app in the background until this stuttering and sound distortion happen. Then check the app for any drivers that it may list as a problem. https://www.resplendence.com/main

Hello, thanks for replying.

I ran Latency Monitor while playing FH4, and after the big fps drop and sound distortion it says:

Highest measure interrupt to process latency (μs ) : 532966.70

Highest reported ISR routine execution time (μs) : 263516.020 (HDAudBus.sys - High definition audio bus driver Microsoft Corporation)

Highest reported DPS routine execution time (μs ) : 76874.150 (ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation)

Reported total hard pagefault count: 28045

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Hello, thanks for replying.

I ran Latency Monitor while playing FH4, and after the big fps drop and sound distortion it says:

Highest measure interrupt to process latency (μs ) : 532966.70

Highest reported ISR routine execution time (μs) : 263516.020 (HDAudBus.sys - High definition audio bus driver Microsoft Corporation)

Highest reported DPS routine execution time (μs ) : 76874.150 (ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation)

Reported total hard pagefault count: 28045

Wow that is off the charts. So it looks like you have some driver problems. So first off do you use an anti virus program other than Microsoft? Can you go in to windows powershell(admin) and type sfc/ scannow(space between/ scannow) and tell me what it says, either found problems and fixed them, or found no problems, or found problems and can't fix them. Do you use wifi while playing your games? What sound does your pc use? What motherboard do you have and what bios# are you running? (if you open bios page it will be in upper left hand corner usually)

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Sorry I see you have the mobo listed, just need to know what bios it is using.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

I have a couple more questions, did you build this pc yourself? If so did you download the chipset, lan, sata and sound drivers from the support site? And are they the most recent ones? Just going through troubleshooting list.

 

[Vali Pali]

sfc /scannow tells me:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

I am using wired internet connection. For sound I use the monitor's built-in speakers (connecting through a DP cable). I'm curently using the lates BIOS from Asus (v. 2901), however, this issue was present while using other Bios versions.

I did built this PC myself in August 2018, but the problems started to appear after I switched graphics cards, and went from AMD to nVidia. I did use DDU in safe mode to uninstall the AMD drivers before installing the nVidia card. As for chipset drivers, I last updated them this year, in July/August.

Lan, sata and sound drivers - this is a tricky one, since I only remember installing a Lan driver from intel's website. And the sound driver is installed togheter with nVidia graphics driver.

 

[Vali Pali]

I have a couple more questions, did you build this pc yourself? If so did you download the chipset, lan, sata and sound drivers from the support site? And are they the most recent ones? Just going through troubleshooting list.

So I checked the driver versions:

Lan - Intel 12.18.9.1 (13th June 2019)

Sound - nVidia High Definition Audio 1.3.38.21
- High Definition Audio Device 10.0.18362.356

Sata - Microsoft 10.0.18362.1

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

sfc /scannow tells me:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

I am using wired internet connection. For sound I use the monitor's built-in speakers (connecting through a DP cable). I'm curently using the lates BIOS from Asus (v. 2901), however, this issue was present while using other Bios versions.

I did built this PC myself in August 2018, but the problems started to appear after I switched graphics cards, and went from AMD to nVidia. I did use DDU in safe mode to uninstall the AMD drivers before installing the nVidia card. As for chipset drivers, I last updated them this year, in July/August.

Lan, sata and sound drivers - this is a tricky one, since I only remember installing a Lan driver from intel's website. And the sound driver is installed togheter with nVidia graphics driver.

Ok so go to Asus support site, https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-CROSSHAIR-VII-HERO/HelpDesk_Download/ and install their lan, and audio drivers. See if this corrects the problem.

 

[Vali Pali]

Ok so go to Asus support site, https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-CROSSHAIR-VII-HERO/HelpDesk_Download/ and install their lan, and audio drivers. See if this corrects the problem.

Problem is still there. I also updated to the latest chipset driver, I used DDU in safe mode to do a clean graphics driver install (latest nVidia driver), tried the latest lan driver from intel's website, tried disabling nVidia HD audio. Still same result.

However, now the culprits seem to be dxgkrnl.sys (Direct X graphics kernel), nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version 441.41) and ntoskrnl.exe (NT kernel system).

I still think the problem disappearing after ~25 minutes of stuttering gameplay (with a massive fps drop and sound distortion) is a clue of some sorts, I just don't know what.

Searching the internet for similar issues, I found many people with the same problems. However, they were using Windows 1903, and they claim that this was fixed by a Windows KB update from July (I'm running Windows 1909 and I have the KB update in question).

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

So in bios do you use the power saving options? And in windows what power level do you use? I.e blanced mode, high power mode. Do you overclock anything, cpu, gpu?

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Also in run box type dxdiag when it finishes click on the tabs and see if it finds any problems listed in the info boxes on each page.

 

[Vali Pali]

So in bios do you use the power saving options? And in windows what power level do you use? I.e blanced mode, high power mode. Do you overclock anything, cpu, gpu?

Not using any power saving options. I had Ryzen balanced/Ryzen Performance, now I'm using a custom power plan - same problems all the time. CPU is not oc'ed. GPU overclocked and default out-of-the-box give same results.

DxDiag says no problems.