[SOLVED] Why am I stuttering in every game?

[Waylax]

So recently I have purchased a new PC from Amazon. It has an RTX 2060 Super, 8gb DDR4, a 500gb SSD, and an Intel i5-9400F. My old PC had a GTX 970, 16gb DDR3, 1TB HDD, 1TB SSD, and an i5-4440. The old PC was great, but only around a year ago I started to notice it would stutter in games. Eventually I started to notice it more and more, to the point where it was almost unbearable to play any game that I had. Somewhere around that time is also when I bought the monitor that I have now, and here's where things get strange to me.

When I got this PC and loaded up Minecraft and a few other games, it still stuttered. Yes, a brand new PC had the same problem as my old one. On my old PC i've tried to fix this before, and so many times have I failed. I've tried reinstalling Windows, changing the fps cap / vsync, changing the in-game graphics settings, changing the resolution, testing my RAM with MemTest86, removing the two old sticks of RAM, jnstalling Windows to my other SSD and booting from there, unparking cores (they already were), reinstalling the latest Nvidia drivers, changing cpu core affinity, changing process priority, using HDMI instead of VGA, cleaning the dust out of my PC, changing the page file to the recommended value, and of course I eventually ended up buying this new PC.

So far on here, the stuttering doesn't seem as terrible, but it's still present. On this new PC, i've been trying certain things such as capping fps with RTSS, changing graphics settings in games, trying to use "EmptyStandbyList", updating the Nvidia driver, disabling my internet connection temporarily, and turning vsync on / off. Some games are worse than others, it seems - so right now i've been wondering what would cause all of this? Could it actually be something as simple as a monitor issue, or a connection issue? I'm very confused as to why two entirely different systems would suffer from the same type of stuttering. If anyone wants to help, please chime in because I have no clue what to do at this point.

 

[AmNero]

Note the frametime spikes at the bottom left graph. These are the points in which I stutter.

It might have nothing to do with it but might it be that the new RTX cards have trouble running older outdated games?
Maybe Dying Light is simply not optimized good enough yet (?)

I finished DL in 3 days a few weeks ago with a GTX1060 6GB with also 8GB of ram (highest settings) but I had no problems with it whatsoever.
I suppose you bought it, but I do remember trying to play the cracked game and having to deal with the same problem, my pc was the same as before but the game was unstable as f**k.

I'm not saying it's bullshit, but people saying you need at least 16GB...in my opinion they're lies.
Sure some games really require a lot of ram, but I've never seen a game using more than 3 to 4 GB.

 

[Waylax]

It might have nothing to do with it but might it be that the new RTX cards have trouble running older outdated games?
Maybe Dying Light is simply not optimized good enough yet (?)

I finished DL in 3 days a few weeks ago with a GTX1060 6GB with also 8GB of ram (highest settings) but I had no problems with it whatsoever.
I suppose you bought it, but I do remember trying to play the cracked game and having to deal with the same problem, my pc was the same as before but the game was unstable as f**k.

I'm not saying it's bullshit, but people saying you need at least 16GB...in my opinion they're lies.
Sure some games really require a lot of ram, but I've never seen a game using more than 3 to 4 GB.

I'm not sure at the moment, So far all of my games stutter, but Minecraft stutters worse than GTA IV -- a poorly optimized game. The Forest, GTA IV, GTA V, Dying Light, and Minecraft, Some stuttering is worse depending on what game I play. I purchased all of these games, so it's definitely not a cracked issue or something like that. I've thought about the RAM being a possibility though, and maybe it's an issue with it being single channel 8gb? Either way, this issue was the same on the old PC, which leads me to believe it's not a hardware issue.

 

[AmNero]

I'm not sure at the moment, So far all of my games stutter, but Minecraft stutters worse than GTA IV -- a poorly optimized game. The Forest, GTA IV, GTA V, Dying Light, and Minecraft, Some stuttering is worse depending on what game I play. I purchased all of these games, so it's definitely not a cracked issue or something like that. I've thought about the RAM being a possibility though, and maybe it's an issue with it being single channel 8gb? Either way, this issue was the same on the old PC, which leads me to believe it's not a hardware issue.

What if you put everything on low? I've seen your monitor tabs open but could you play it for a bit longer and lowering some settings and send some more screens, open world games can also sometimes spike a little because some parts of the map have to render more objects.

 

[Waylax]

What if you put everything on low? I've seen your monitor tabs open but could you play it for a bit longer and lowering some settings and send some more screens, open world games can also sometimes spike a little because some parts of the map have to render more objects.

I've tried lowering all of my games graphics to the minimum, including the resolution. If I recall, it made little to no difference. I also limited my framerate with RivaTuner and it didn't help either.
I'll send some more screens soon.

 

[AmNero]

I've tried lowering all of my games graphics to the minimum, including the resolution. If I recall, it made little to no difference. I also limited my framerate with RivaTuner and it didn't help either.
I'll send some more screens soon.

That would be nice, I know that in Dying Light there should be an option, something like "render distance", I don't remember the name, but what it does is it should not render objects that are very far away but only the objects that are close to you, in that way you put less stress on your GPU.

You said that you had the same problem with your old PC right?

Are there any PC parts that you're still using from your old PC?

This would be a wild guess, but what if you'd fire up your PC at a house of a friend? It's very unlikely that it has anything to do with your internet connection since Minecraft and Dying Light are also playable offline.
But you never know unless you try, it's a long shot but it could be worth it.

Do you maybe have a vertically mounted GPU and are you using a PCI-E extension cable? I've heard that low quality extenders might lead to a lower fps and or stuttering.

 

[Waylax]

That would be nice, I know that in Dying Light there should be an option, something like "render distance", I don't remember the name, but what it does is it should not render objects that are very far away but only the objects that are close to you, in that way you put less stress on your GPU.

You said that you had the same problem with your old PC right?

Are there any PC parts that you're still using from your old PC?

This would be a wild guess, but what if you'd fire up your PC at a house of a friend? It's very unlikely that it has anything to do with your internet connection since Minecraft and Dying Light are also playable offline.
But you never know unless you try, it's a long shot but it could be worth it.

Do you maybe have a vertically mounted GPU and are you using a PCI-E extension cable? I've heard that low quality extenders might lead to a lower fps and or stuttering.

I don't have any friends, but if I did I would have tried that. The only part from my old PC that I installed into this one is a 1TB SSD. I already tried playing games on and off of that drive, so it's not that. I unplugged the SSD completely at one point to go even further with my testing, but it still stuttered. The render distance in Dying Light is all the way down for me but I still encounter stuttering, too. For some reason, Minecraft is the absolute worst with the stutters. Dying Light runs kind of decent, as does GTA V. I'm just confused as to how a game that can be run on a low end PC is a bigger issue for me than the newer games i've tried. My GPU is fine, by the way.

 

[AmNero]

I don't have any friends, but if I did I would have tried that. The only part from my old PC that I installed into this one is a 1TB SSD. I already tried playing games on and off of that drive, so it's not that. I unplugged the SSD completely at one point to go even further with my testing, but it still stuttered. The render distance in Dying Light is all the way down for me but I still encounter stuttering, too. For some reason, Minecraft is the absolute worst with the stutters. Dying Light runs kind of decent, as does GTA V. I'm just confused as to how a game that can be run on a low end PC is a bigger issue for me than the newer games i've tried. My GPU is fine, by the way.

I've been laying Minecraft on low end PCs for a long time and what I've noticed is that when you think you have a good PC, you think you'll be able to play the game on the highest settings which will cause lag.
For that specific game I could recommend you using Optifine which will definitely improve the overall performance and will give you a ton of other graphic settings.

This might sound like a silly question, but do you have the graphics drivers installed?
You can try to use DDU to make a clean install for you graphics driver.

Are there any other games that should run like a charm but are not?

 

[Waylax]

I've been laying Minecraft on low end PCs for a long time and what I've noticed is that when you think you have a good PC, you think you'll be able to play the game on the highest settings which will cause lag.
For that specific game I could recommend you using Optifine which will definitely improve the overall performance and will give you a ton of other graphic settings.

This might sound like a silly question, but do you have the graphics drivers installed?
You can try to use DDU to make a clean install for you graphics driver.

Are there any other games that should run like a charm but are not?

All of my games stutter. I've played Minecraft at the lowest graphical settings and resolution but it still stuttered. My graphics driver is updated to the newest version, and I already performed a clean install.

 

[Phaaze88]

Could you do a run of this? https://www.userbenchmark.com/
Post a link of your results.

 

[Waylax]

Could you do a run of this? https://www.userbenchmark.com/
Post a link of your results.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/19216363

 

[Phaaze88]

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/19216363

The reason for your stuttering is either:
-one of your sticks has gone bad
-one of the ram slots is defective

Your results show that you only have one stick installed, and that it's only running at 2666(XMP wasn't enabled).

 

[Waylax]

The reason for your stuttering is either:
-one of your sticks has gone bad
-one of the ram slots is defective

Your results show that you only have one stick installed, and that it's only running at 2666(XMP wasn't enabled).

I know it says that XMP wasn't enabled, but it is in my BIOS. I checked.

 

[Phaaze88]

For some reason, it's still not running at the rated speed, and your other stick flew the coop.
Time to do some ram tests.
Take one stick, boot the PC, and check task manager to confirm whether Windows sees the stick. Do this with all 4 slots.
Then do the same with the other.

 

[Waylax]

For some reason, it's still not running at the rated speed, and your other stick flew the coop.
Time to do some ram tests.
Take one stick, boot the PC, and check task manager to confirm whether Windows sees the stick. Do this with all 4 slots.
Then do the same with the other.

What do you mean by "other stick"? I only have one 8gb Stick.

 

[Phaaze88]

My mistake, I had mixed up your old and new setups.

EDIT: But it would be best to have 2 sticks.
The cpu and ram work in tandem, and only running in single does affect the cpu's performance.

As for why the ram isn't running, I'm not sure. But what's the make and model of the motherboard?

 

[Waylax]

My mistake, I had mixed up your old and new setups.

EDIT: But it would be best to have 2 sticks.
The cpu and ram work in tandem, and only running in single does affect the cpu's performance.

As for why the ram isn't running, I'm not sure. But what's the make and model of the motherboard?

The mobo is an Asus PRIME B360M-A

 

[Phaaze88]

Is the stick in the gray or black slot? It should go in the gray slot on the right.

 

[Waylax]

Is the stick in the gray or black slot? It should go in the gray slot on the right.

 

[FurryVengence]

Also ensure that you try playing games with as little background applications as possible. Things like Chrome, are REAL RAM hogs, with only 8GB It maybe an issue as well. Do you what speed your ram is at?

 

[Phaaze88]

I would think it shouldn't matter which slot the ram is in...

Download and run cpu-z. Link: https://www.cpuid.com/
Click on the SPD tab. At the bottom is the Timings Table with 4 different memory profiles. DOCP 3000 is one of them, right?
It may simply be that you need to enter the frequency, timings, and voltage manually, if the DOCP profile isn't working properly.

 

[Waylax]

I would think it shouldn't matter which slot the ram is in...

Download and run cpu-z. Link: https://www.cpuid.com/
Click on the SPD tab. At the bottom is the Timings Table with 4 different memory profiles. DOCP 3000 is one of them, right?
It may simply be that you need to enter the frequency, timings, and voltage manually, if the DOCP profile isn't working properly.

I don't see anything that says DOCP....

 

[Phaaze88]

I don't see anything that says DOCP....

DOCP is XMP. It's what the feature is called on Asus boards(they had to be different for whatever reason).

Since selecting the DOCP 3000 profile isn't working, you'll just have to try entering the settings you see under XMP-2998 manually.
Command rate is blank, but just leave it at auto.

 

[Waylax]

DOCP is XMP. It's what the feature is called on Asus boards(they had to be different for whatever reason).

Since selecting the DOCP 3000 profile isn't working, you'll just have to try entering the settings you see under XMP-2998 manually.
Command rate is blank, but just leave it at auto.

I don't understand....I can't edit the settings under XMP with CPU-Z, it won't let me.
Is there another way of doing it? Also, why would I set it to the same thing?

 

[Phaaze88]

OMG...
This is all over the place. Asus should fire whoever wrote up the manual and memory QVL, because this is just confusing.
Their qualified vendor list has kits from 2133 through 3600 that Asus tested and certified to work. But alllll the way at the bottom:
"DDR4 2666MHz and higher memory modules will run at max. 2666MHz on Intel® 8th Generation 6-core or higher processors."

That doesn't make any sense because there's a common set of timings that any kit can run at 2666. It's pointless for them to test anything rated above 2666.
So, by that nonsense, the 8350k should be able to run OC'd memory...


TL;DR: OP, your memory is locked to 2666. To fix the stuttering, you need a 2nd stick so the mobo can run in dual channel mode.

 

[Waylax]

OMG...
This is all over the place. Asus should fire whoever wrote up the manual and memory QVL, because this is just confusing.
Their qualified vendor list has kits from 2133 through 3600 that Asus tested and certified to work. But alllll the way at the bottom:
"DDR4 2666MHz and higher memory modules will run at max. 2666MHz on Intel® 8th Generation 6-core or higher processors."

That doesn't make any sense because there's a common set of timings that any kit can run at 2666. It's pointless for them to test anything rated above 2666.
So, by that nonsense, the 8350k should be able to run OC'd memory...


TL;DR: OP, your memory is locked to 2666. To fix the stuttering, you need a 2nd stick so the mobo can run in dual channel mode.

Are there any other possible solutions in the meantime until i'm able to purchase a stick of the RAM needed?