Games Not Smooth and Tiny FPS Drops.

[BeadyRoller]

Hi guys, had this problem for a while now and it's driving me crazy.
I have high FPS in most games but even at high FPS the games don't feel smooth, it's hard to explain really. I may have 120FPS but it feels more like 40-50 sometimes, especially when looking around. It's sort of like screen tearing but not really and I wouldn't really class them as stutters either, it's just not... smooth, feels choppy. I don't know how else to describe it. Sorry I can't be more precise.

I also get small FPS drops in every game. Even if I drop from say 140-130 I'll get a tiny little stutter. It really ruins the immersion for me.

I've recently upgraded my PC to a 5600x and 3070 graphics card and the problems still persists.

Rest of my specs are:

B550 A-Pro Motherboard
16gb 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM
Corsair RM750 Power Supply
1TB 970 EVO M.2 Drive.

I even have a G-SYNC monitor, it's a DELL S2716DG 144hz. I have noticed that if the FPS goes higher than 144hz it goes really choppy which is weird.

Things I have tried:

Updated the BIOS.
Put V-SYNC on in Nvidia CP and off in the actual game.
Downloaded RivaTuner to cap FPS so it never dips below a certain number.
Lowered my monitor refresh rate to 120hz - funnily this seemed to have a positive effect but if it dips below 120 it starts to feel choppy again - this was alongside VSYNC being on in Nvidia CP by the way.
Checked RAM is running on XMP.
Monitored frametime using RivaTuner - the spikes are definitely correlating with choppiness on the screen.
Enabled Resizable Bar
Unplugged USB 3 cable from motherboard (read it worked for someone)
Tried the Blurbuster article of turning Vsync on as well as GSYNC in NVidia and off in game.

So yeah, I'm at a loss and it's really getting me down that I've spent all this money and it's not smooth. Really frustrating.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Appreciate any help, thanks.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Which nvme placement have you used.

I expect there's two.

 

[HD64G]

If the PSU works well (voltages check would be good to be done firstly), then the nVME SSD could be the cause of it most than anything else.

 

[elghinnarisa]

Is Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling in windows on or off?
Mine was on, previously, causing all games to halt every 55ms, like clockwork. Making every game and framerate feel like 20, even if the meters said 120.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Which nvme placement have you used.

I expect there's two.

https://ibb.co/c1Xbnqp

Just took a photo for you. I don't know if that's the right one or not?

If the PSU works well (voltages check would be good to be done firstly), then the nVME SSD could be the cause of it most than anything else.

How do I go about checking voltages?

Is Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling in windows on or off?
Mine was on, previously, causing all games to halt every 55ms, like clockwork. Making every game and framerate feel like 20, even if the meters said 120.

Mine is on, will turn it off and see if that improves anything. Were you getting stutters as well?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

https://ibb.co/c1Xbnqp

Just took a photo for you. I don't know if that's the right one or not?


How do I go about checking voltages?

Mine is on, will turn it off and see if that improves anything. Were you getting stutters as well?

No that looks like it's in the right one, not that then

 

[elghinnarisa]

Mine is on, will turn it off and see if that improves anything. Were you getting stutters as well?

Correct, I had games that ran at 120+ fps, but it felt like it was 20fps. I graphed it out using Nvidia FrameView in my case and found that the frametimes had a consistent spike at X ms whenever I played a game. Although I could not correlate it to any other measurments taken with hwinfo. These uneven frametimes made a high framerate feel like a slideshow.
It solved itself when disabling GPU scheduling in windows.
I do not recall my whole troubleshooting procedure or how I figured out to test that, but I remember that fixed it for me at least. So it doesnt hurt to try. Remember to restart after toggling it off.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Just had a go and unfortunately it's still happening. I really don't know where to go next. Could it be an internet issue maybe?

 

[HD64G]

PSU voltages could be read from HWinfo. Another potential problem could be the monitor's cable being a low quality one with bad signal alongside freesync/g-sync being on/off.

 

[BeadyRoller]

PSU voltages could be read from HWinfo. Another potential problem could be the monitor's cable being a low quality one with bad signal alongside freesync/g-sync being on/off.

Will order a new DP cable just in case it's that. What sort of thing should I be looking out for?

 

[elghinnarisa]

Just had a go and unfortunately it's still happening. I really don't know where to go next. Could it be an internet issue maybe?

You said you noticed that frametimes vary during these spikes, have you tried logging these things and taking a good look at them to see if you can correlate it to something else? Spike in frametime during a spike in CPU usage perhaps?
Are these spikes regular? (ie, every ~X time) or are they completely at random?
Internet should not matter in general, unless all your games are online and they are... weirdly made. Though it would help if you can list what games it happens in, and what games it does not happen in. I just hope one of the games is not warzone, because oh boy that game.

Doesn't hurt taking a peak in eventviewer as well. I recall a few years back I had a bad SATA cable that caused a hard drive to spasticly connect/disconnect and when that happened it caused stuttering.

If you could capture it occurring on video (shadowplay or the like is useful for that) could also be handy, since there are many different types of stutter and it always help to see it with ones own eyes as well.

 

[QuietBob]

No game is completely stutter free, regardless of the hardware. This is especially true of fast paced multiplayer online games. What are your 1% and 0.1% lows during say 10 minutes of typical gameplay?

 

[Franz]

I'm facing this problem too, the games are on 80~160fps but seems like 30fps and curiously some times run very smooth. I realise this in dying light yesterday, when I look to one direction the frames are at 120fps but very choppy an when turn the camera 180º it runs total smooth. I tried to disable vsync and tried fast vsync too but sicerely I cant figure whats really happen, none of those atempts solve 100% and all games react different.

I returned to 472.12 driver, feels better but not solved

If the PSU works well (voltages check would be good to be done firstly), then the nVME SSD could be the cause of it most than anything else.

I'm curious about the nvme question, how it cause stutters?

 

[AlwaysHope]

...

I even have a G-SYNC monitor, it's a DELL S2716DG 144hz. I have noticed that if the FPS goes higher than 144hz it goes really choppy which is weird.

...

Did I just read this correctly? your on a 144hz monitor & your complaining its getting choppy above 144Hz?? I'd have thought pushing the system to go beyond the monitor's specs would cause problems, yes?
This is not like an OC cpu or gpu or ram, whereby one can test such things before running a game or something.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If youre using windows 11. It's been well documented that that OS has been causing performance issues for AMD users

 

[eidairaman1]

What model of vengeance do you have specifically?

 

[Mussels]

Hi guys, had this problem for a while now and it's driving me crazy.
I have high FPS in most games but even at high FPS the games don't feel smooth, it's hard to explain really. I may have 120FPS but it feels more like 40-50 sometimes, especially when looking around. It's sort of like screen tearing but not really and I wouldn't really class them as stutters either, it's just not... smooth, feels choppy. I don't know how else to describe it. Sorry I can't be more precise.

I also get small FPS drops in every game. Even if I drop from say 140-130 I'll get a tiny little stutter. It really ruins the immersion for me.

I've recently upgraded my PC to a 5600x and 3070 graphics card and the problems still persists.

Rest of my specs are:

B550 A-Pro Motherboard
16gb 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM
Corsair RM750 Power Supply
1TB 970 EVO M.2 Drive.

I even have a G-SYNC monitor, it's a DELL S2716DG 144hz. I have noticed that if the FPS goes higher than 144hz it goes really choppy which is weird.

Things I have tried:

Updated the BIOS.
Put V-SYNC on in Nvidia CP and off in the actual game.
Downloaded RivaTuner to cap FPS so it never dips below a certain number.
Lowered my monitor refresh rate to 120hz - funnily this seemed to have a positive effect but if it dips below 120 it starts to feel choppy again - this was alongside VSYNC being on in Nvidia CP by the way.
Checked RAM is running on XMP.
Monitored frametime using RivaTuner - the spikes are definitely correlating with choppiness on the screen.
Enabled Resizable Bar
Unplugged USB 3 cable from motherboard (read it worked for someone)
Tried the Blurbuster article of turning Vsync on as well as GSYNC in NVidia and off in game.

So yeah, I'm at a loss and it's really getting me down that I've spent all this money and it's not smooth. Really frustrating.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Appreciate any help, thanks.

Theres a link in my sig where i found out network activity from my TV caused my games to stutter - sometimes the cause for unique issues is... unique. and weird.

Sometimes the issue is driver settings, sometimes its the display - and rarely, it's an external cause.


Can you try Nvidias Gsync pendulum demo, and test that out and see what ranges it stutters at? If you can make the stutter produce every time (make sure its fullscreen!) then you can begin tweaking monitor settings and PC settings to eliminate it


Main things to try:
Make sure you're actually at the correct resolution and refresh rate at the desktop
Make sure all games and programs are tested in true fullscreen, not windowed or borderless.
Gsync off
Vsync off (tearing is fine during testing)
Quit all programs with overlays. RTSS caused me plenty of issues in the past, being bundled with afterburner.
Check monitor settings - mine has a bunch of settings that make things garbage, like an aim stabiliser that brings in massive smearing, or an overdrive setting that... adds smearing.

 

[purecain]

definitely sounds like a software/configuration issue.

I'd follow Mussels advice above. Good luck with it... I'll keep my eye out for this kind of problem.

Ive read that going into your Bios and selecting Above 4G Decoding can solve this hitching issue.
Although you've probably already done this Having set resizable BAR etc.

It could also be something to do with HPET High Precision Event Timer. You can download WinTimerTester and compare your results.

From Google - Search "Device Manager" on your PC. Scroll down to "System Devices" in the the sub-menu. Scroll to "High Precision Event Timer" and click it. Click "Actions" at the top of the window, and from that pop-up menu click "Disable".

Hope this helps.

 

[R-T-B]

If youre using windows 11. It's been well documented that that OS has been causing performance issues for AMD users

Not since the fixes. I've yet to see anyone complain about it in actual use since they were pushed out.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Not since the fixes. I've yet to see anyone complain about it in actual use since they were pushed out.

Windows 11’s TPM requirement is causing stuttering issues with AMD Ryzen CPUs

Users report that enabling 'fTPM' in their BIOS causes random stutters on their gaming PC.

www.pcgamesn.com

Windows 11 is suffering from AMD performance issues...again

Some Windows 11 devices powered by AMD are seeing performance affected for the second time in three months - this time the TPM module is to blame

www.techadvisor.com

 

[R-T-B]

Windows 11’s TPM requirement is causing stuttering issues with AMD Ryzen CPUs

Users report that enabling 'fTPM' in their BIOS causes random stutters on their gaming PC.

www.pcgamesn.com

Windows 11 is suffering from AMD performance issues...again

Some Windows 11 devices powered by AMD are seeing performance affected for the second time in three months - this time the TPM module is to blame

www.techadvisor.com

I can't say I (or anyone here on this forums W11 theead with Ryzen) have experienced anything like that. Odd. Maybe a bug with older AGESAs or something?

 

[BeadyRoller]

You said you noticed that frametimes vary during these spikes, have you tried logging these things and taking a good look at them to see if you can correlate it to something else? Spike in frametime during a spike in CPU usage perhaps?
Are these spikes regular? (ie, every ~X time) or are they completely at random?
Internet should not matter in general, unless all your games are online and they are... weirdly made. Though it would help if you can list what games it happens in, and what games it does not happen in. I just hope one of the games is not warzone, because oh boy that game.

Doesn't hurt taking a peak in eventviewer as well. I recall a few years back I had a bad SATA cable that caused a hard drive to spasticly connect/disconnect and when that happened it caused stuttering.

If you could capture it occurring on video (shadowplay or the like is useful for that) could also be handy, since there are many different types of stutter and it always help to see it with ones own eyes as well.

The spikes are at random, sometimes they can be 5 minutes in between each one, sometimes a minute etc. I should add these hitches aren't huge stutters but just enough to be very noticeable. It's got to the point where I'm looking out for the little stutters rather than enjoying the game. Will check Event Viewer and also get an example recording for you when I get a chance.

The games I play are DayZ, PubG, Warzone, Tarkov and Halo. Happens in every single one of them. Haven't installed any other games yet to test.

No game is completely stutter free, regardless of the hardware. This is especially true of fast paced multiplayer online games. What are your 1% and 0.1% lows during say 10 minutes of typical gameplay?

I appreciate that and if it was just happening in a few games I'd just put it down to the games but is every single one which makes me believe there's something happening somewhere in the background.

Did I just read this correctly? your on a 144hz monitor & your complaining its getting choppy above 144Hz?? I'd have thought pushing the system to go beyond the monitor's specs would cause problems, yes?
This is not like an OC cpu or gpu or ram, whereby one can test such things before running a game or something.

I obviously don't understand how these things work that's all. I'm not complaining, I just didn't realise things got choppy above 144fps.

If youre using windows 11. It's been well documented that that OS has been causing performance issues for AMD users

Using Windows 10.

What model of vengeance do you have specifically?

I THINK it's these "Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB" but I'll double check that when I get a chance.

Theres a link in my sig where i found out network activity from my TV caused my games to stutter - sometimes the cause for unique issues is... unique. and weird.

Sometimes the issue is driver settings, sometimes its the display - and rarely, it's an external cause.


Can you try Nvidias Gsync pendulum demo, and test that out and see what ranges it stutters at? If you can make the stutter produce every time (make sure its fullscreen!) then you can begin tweaking monitor settings and PC settings to eliminate it


Main things to try:
Make sure you're actually at the correct resolution and refresh rate at the desktop
Make sure all games and programs are tested in true fullscreen, not windowed or borderless.
Gsync off
Vsync off (tearing is fine during testing)
Quit all programs with overlays. RTSS caused me plenty of issues in the past, being bundled with afterburner.
Check monitor settings - mine has a bunch of settings that make things garbage, like an aim stabiliser that brings in massive smearing, or an overdrive setting that... adds smearing.

I came across that when I did a Google search on the matter. Must have been your post! What did you do to check? Did you just have to unplug your smart TV every time you used the PC or something? I've checked Device Manager and there doesn't seem to be any devices connected that shouldn't be from what I can see.

Will give the pendulum thing a go, cheers.

definitely sounds like a software/configuration issue.

I'd follow Mussels advice above. Good luck with it... I'll keep my eye out for this kind of problem.

Ive read that going into your Bios and selecting Above 4G Decoding can solve this hitching issue.
Although you've probably already done this Having set resizable BAR etc.

It could also be something to do with HPET High Precision Event Timer. You can download WinTimerTester and compare your results.

From Google - Search "Device Manager" on your PC. Scroll down to "System Devices" in the the sub-menu. Scroll to "High Precision Event Timer" and click it. Click "Actions" at the top of the window, and from that pop-up menu click "Disable".

Hope this helps.

Yeah, when I enabled BAR in the BIOS it automatically enabled 4G as well and didn't fix the issue.

Had a go at trying to disable HPET, couldn't find the option in my BIOS though, presumed that meant it was disabled as standard. Did disable from Device Manager. Also tried a command I saw on YT but didn't work for me, presume because it's already disabled.

 

[Franz]

So I made some changes here and it seems to work well. I disable gsync, updated manualy monitor driver with aoc file from their site and disable GPU scheduling. Tried it on WWZ, FC new dawn and SOTR and it seems much better!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

That 16gb ram you have. Is it two modules or just one?

 

[BeadyRoller]

That 16gb ram you have. Is it two modules or just one?

Two modules.