Has the fTPM Stuttering Issue Been Resolved for Asus Boards?

[LeSandwich]

I have a Ryzen 7 5800x and an Asus B550-F Gaming board, which runs on Version 2806 (the 2nd latest Bios according to the Asus website). I have occasional microstutters in very consistent areas of my games, where it will spike the frametime for a brief second and drop me by 1-2fps, which causes a small hitch for some ungodly reason. I suspect this is something to do with my HDMI cable after troubleshooting tons of things to no avail but I want to ask if the fTPM stutters were resolved


I run on Windows 10, and saw that Version 2803 apparently pushed AGESA 1.2.0.7, which supposedly fixed fTPM stutters for AMD CPUs. I looked up a video of fTPM stuttering and I can't say it looks similar to my case, since I have no audio dropout and my stutters are very quick and very consistent in where they happen; even the more 'random' ones happen in the exact same spots every time.


so is it safe to say that fTPM stuttering was resolved for the most part? especially since I'm running Version 2806, which is 1 version ahead of the Bios that reportedly fixed the issue

 

[Space Lynx]

Linus Torvalds suggests disabling AMD's "stupid" fTPM to solve a persistent stuttering issue

In a characteristically outspoken manner, Torvalds told his colleagues to "disable the stupid fTPM HWRND thing" since the fixes that have been rolled out have largely been...

www.techspot.com

 

[tabascosauz]

I have occasional microstutters in very consistent areas of my games, where it will spike the frametime for a brief second and drop me by 1-2fps, which causes a small hitch for some ungodly reason. I suspect this is something to do with my HDMI cable after troubleshooting tons of things to no avail but I want to ask if the fTPM stutters were resolved

I mean, you just answered your own question - it's clearly not the same problem and your solution lies elsewhere in your system.

Linus Torvalds suggests disabling AMD's "stupid" fTPM to solve a persistent stuttering issue

In a characteristically outspoken manner, Torvalds told his colleagues to "disable the stupid fTPM HWRND thing" since the fixes that have been rolled out have largely been...

www.techspot.com

Article is kinda misleading considering the actual bug report is related to a specific combination of Rembrandt + Linux, and Rembrandt's PSP is a different animal. I have the same GA402RJ G14 and haven't seen any issues on Windows with fTPM enabled. Of course, he's right in that it doesn't make fTPM or subsequent AMD Pluton-integrated security processors any less stupid.

 

[LeSandwich]

I mean, you just answered your own question - it's clearly not the same problem and your solution lies elsewhere in your system.

true, but I also don't know too much about fTPM stutters in general so I wasn't sure if it was 100% not involved in my issue; so you'd agree that my odd microstutters don't seem like the fTPM problem at all?


could only really find one example of someone with fTPM stutters, and they had a large stuttery lag spike w/ glitching audio dropout while it happened, but since that was the only video I could find, I wasn't sure if that was how those stutters usually are or if he had a super extreme case of it

 

[tabascosauz]

true, but I also don't know too much about fTPM stutters in general so I wasn't sure if it was 100% not involved in my issue; so you'd agree that my odd microstutters don't seem like the fTPM problem at all?


could only really find one example of someone with fTPM stutters, and they had a large stuttery lag spike w/ glitching audio dropout while it happened, but since that was the only video I could find, I wasn't sure if that was how those stutters usually are or if he had a super extreme case of it

Brief or regular microstutters might just be due to some background process if you don't run a particularly clean/healthy/decluttered Windows install. If you are referring to the GTA V racing video with the extreme lag, yes, that's what fTPM "stutter" looks like.

Asus should be bringing the 120A BIOS to your Strix-F soon - I would give that a shot when it releases if you are just curious. 1207 and 1208 were generally just bad for performance on all Ryzens. 120A looks cautiously better.

 

[LeSandwich]

Brief or regular microstutters might just be due to some background process if you don't run a particularly clean/healthy/decluttered Windows install. If you are referring to the GTA V racing video with the extreme lag, yes, that's what fTPM "stutter" looks like.

Asus should be bringing the 120A BIOS to your Strix-F soon - I would give that a shot when it releases if you are just curious. 1207 and 1208 were generally just bad for performance on all Ryzens. 120A looks cautiously better.

this video? yeah this is the one I'm referring to



I don't think it's a background process given how oddly specific and consistent my frametime spike/microstutter can be. I've done a lot of tinkering with every NVCP option, framerate caps, playing around with the refresh rate, updated Bios and rolled back, DDU'd my drivers to update, reinstall, and roll them back, enabled and disabled Eco Mode, disabled XMP, tested ram with Memtest, HCI, and Windows tool with 0 errors, ran MalwareBytes and Windows Defender verified game files, reinstalled games, ran them as administrator, and tested every game with each V-Sync option (as well as disabled V-Sync) etc.


so at this point, I'm probably gonna get a DisplayPort 1.4 and swap that in, because my current cable is HDMI 1.2b, and I've heard that AMD FreeSync with 'older' HDMI cables isn't really well supported with Nvidia cards. my old PC didn't have these stutters and I also had an AMD card in that one, so there's ground to this theory that I might as well try

kind of suspecting that FreeSync doesn't work at the moment, and since I have an older HDMI, I can't even force G-Sync on either, so maybe something technical is going on with the HDMI and how much faster my new PC is, which might cause the frametime spikes; or at the very least, swapping to a DP might allow FreeSync to work and stop me from hitching at a 1-2 fps drop. does the theory make sense? probably not, but I also can't really explain my thought process. just worth a shot since I've tried lots of obvious stuff already (I also get screen tearing with FreeSync supposedly enabled in the OSD so I really don't think the feature is working atm)

 

[tabascosauz]

this video? yeah this is the one I'm referring to

I don't think it's a background process given how oddly specific and consistent my frametime spike/microstutter can be. I've done a lot of tinkering with every NVCP option, framerate caps, playing around with the refresh rate, updated Bios and rolled back, DDU'd my drivers to update, reinstall, and roll them back, enabled and disabled Eco Mode, disabled XMP, tested ram with Memtest, HCI, and Windows tool with 0 errors, ran MalwareBytes and Windows Defender verified game files, reinstalled games, ran them as administrator, and tested every game with each V-Sync option (as well as disabled V-Sync) etc.

so at this point, I'm probably gonna get a DisplayPort 1.4 and swap that in, because my current cable is HDMI 1.2b, and I've heard that AMD FreeSync with 'older' HDMI cables isn't really well supported with Nvidia cards. my old PC didn't have these stutters and I also had an AMD card in that one, so there's ground to this theory that I might as well try

kind of suspecting that FreeSync doesn't work at the moment, and since I have an older HDMI, I can't even force G-Sync on either, so maybe something technical is going on with the HDMI and how much faster my new PC is, which might cause the frametime spikes; or at the very least, swapping to a DP might allow FreeSync to work and stop me from hitching at a 1-2 fps drop. does the theory make sense? probably not, but I also can't really explain my thought process. just worth a shot since I've tried lots of obvious stuff already (I also get screen tearing with FreeSync supposedly enabled in the OSD so I really don't think the feature is working atm)

Sounds like the only things left to try would be a new cable, reinstall Windows or just try disabling fTPM to see if anything changes.

When I swapped in 5800X3D I had a single, incessant stutter across all my games without penalizing any benchmark scores or performance. Went away with a clean install.

 

[LeSandwich]

Sounds like the only things left to try would be a new cable, reinstall Windows or just try disabling fTPM to see if anything changes.

When I swapped in 5800X3D I had a single, incessant stutter across all my games without penalizing any benchmark scores or performance. Went away with a clean install.

I guess I'll try disabling fTPM if the cable swap doesn't work; I'd be shocked if fTPM was the source, because it doesn't really sound like an issue that would be related to it. not the same as the stutter in the video, happens in consistent areas of the game, and some games are affected more than others


for example, Destiny 2 has a lot more "stutter spots" than Monster Hunter World, which is honestly one of the more stutter-free/frametime spike-free games I've noticed on this PC. the stutters are weird, it's like they're part of the game, since if I turn around and come back through those spots, it'll stutter again just like it did before. sometimes I need to reload the area for the stutter to happen again, but it will happen in that same spot, if you get what I mean

even people with the same specs as me haven't been able to replicate what I'm seeing. I've seen my friend have some fps drops in one of the testing areas I told him to run around in, but he didn't get any stutters. but yeah, those really are the only options I've got now

 

[SPDIF]

If you update your BIOS with AMD Agesa firmware 1.2.0.A, the problem is away. All my problems disappeared after this update and various testing on select ASUS motherboard's.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I have no obvious reason why I even should enable it on my gaming PC... (all my crucial data lives double backup on NAS).

 

[Shou Miko]

Sounds like the only things left to try would be a new cable, reinstall Windows or just try disabling fTPM to see if anything changes.

When I swapped in 5800X3D I had a single, incessant stutter across all my games without penalizing any benchmark scores or performance. Went away with a clean install.

I didn't notice this when I had my 5800X3D and ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero running 4x8GB 3000MT/s memory

Yes I had fTPM activated because I was running Windows 11 Pro at the time.

 

[SPDIF]

I use also Bitlocker and it was asking many time's the recovery key at Boot time... I was so mad and stuttering in mouse and game's. I almost put everything out the window...
Lucky i had this key saved on a safe place, or i could kiss my data goodbye.

This update fixed all my problems.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-410

Thanks AMD...

 

[Chomiq]

I have a Ryzen 7 5800x and an Asus B550-F Gaming board, which runs on Version 2806 (the 2nd latest Bios according to the Asus website). I have occasional microstutters in very consistent areas of my games, where it will spike the frametime for a brief second and drop me by 1-2fps, which causes a small hitch for some ungodly reason. I suspect this is something to do with my HDMI cable after troubleshooting tons of things to no avail but I want to ask if the fTPM stutters were resolved


I run on Windows 10, and saw that Version 2803 apparently pushed AGESA 1.2.0.7, which supposedly fixed fTPM stutters for AMD CPUs. I looked up a video of fTPM stuttering and I can't say it looks similar to my case, since I have no audio dropout and my stutters are very quick and very consistent in where they happen; even the more 'random' ones happen in the exact same spots every time.


so is it safe to say that fTPM stuttering was resolved for the most part? especially since I'm running Version 2806, which is 1 version ahead of the Bios that reportedly fixed the issue

You're on windows 10, do you even have fTPM enabled?

 

[LeSandwich]

You're on windows 10, do you even have fTPM enabled?

isn't it disabled by default? I probably do have it enabled, can't say I've actively checked it but after picking the parts, the PC was assembled by folks at PCCaseGear, they might've enabled it for the so called "security benefits"


however, I have done a CMOS reset since then so really I'm not sure.


edit: it is enabled I believe, I typed the tpm.msc in Win+R and it says the TPM is ready for use + I am capable of updating to Win11, I can see it ready in the Updates. so that should mean it is enabled? unless they are different things and I'm misunderstanding?

 

[SPDIF]

After bios reset it is enabled by default! Also saying in Windows it is ready for use.

You can also see it in MSinfo, it will say PCR7 Configuration state; Binding Possible.

 

[LeSandwich]

After bios reset it is enabled by default! Also saying in Windows it is ready for use.

right, it was probably always enabled then. I checked in Windows Security, says Version 3.84.0.5 and that TPM module is found (manufacturer is listed as AMD)


are fTPM and TPM 2.0 different? I imagine if it's saying TPM is active, fTPM would also be enabled. especially if I've never tinkered with the setting in Bios before

 

[SPDIF]

Yep your TMP is active now and the numbers are just saying that you have the latest version 2.0 on your motherboard installed.

A normal TPM is an extra chip hardware installed on the motherboard. With all the newest CPU from Intel and AMD this chip is build into the CPU, hence the name fTPM. You do not need to buy extra hardware now.

It is not really hardware but a software TPM build into the CPU.

 

[LeSandwich]

If you update your BIOS with AMD Agesa firmware 1.2.0.A, the problem is away. All my problems disappeared after this update and various testing on select ASUS motherboard's.

Version 2806 on my motherboard doesn't have an AGESA version listed at first glance, so I'm gonna go off the assumption that I have AGESA Version 1207, which came with Bios Version 2803 and "fixed AMD fTPM stutter" as mentioned in the post


basically I'm 1 AGESA version "behind" because I haven't kept the update to Bios Version 3002, which added AGESA 1208

 

[SPDIF]

The newest version installed on my ASUS motherboard is now Agesa 1.2.0.A. It was out some weeks ago. But my problems disappeared after version 1.2.0.8. The new A version contains mitigations again for the fTPM that could be hacked.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-200

https://www.amd.com/en/resources/product-security/bulletin/amd-sb-7002.html

 

[LeSandwich]

The newest version installed on my ASUS motherboard is now Agesa 1.2.0.A. It was out some weeks ago. But my problems disappeared after version 1.2.0.8. The new A version contains mitigations again for the fTPM that could be hacked.

I just did a brief look into it because I don't see any AGESA 1.2.0.A on the website, but apparently people say it's good since it fixes both fTPM and an apparent EDC bug with the CPUs


a specific reply said newer AGESA versions were good because they didn't have fTPM bug, but had EDC bug. and older versions were also good because they didn't have EDC bug, but instead they had fTPM stutters. so apparently 1.2.0.A is the best of both worlds


I don't seem to have this EDC bug, so...I assume it's alright to stay where I am atm, on AGESA 1207

 

[SPDIF]

See the second AMD line i posted above. The test was done on Threadripper CPU, but all other CPU's are also affected.

 

[LeSandwich]

See the second AMD line i posted above.

hm, interesting. I've checked all the posted links...aside from the tightened security, I guess if it isn't broke, I won't fix just yet.

dunno if fTPM is even the cause of my specific weird stutter, especially since it doesn't drop the OS response time and cause audio dropout like the usual fTPM stuttering I've seen/heard. nothing seems stuttery or off in general use outside of gaming either, and games are usual fine aside from area-specific microstutter


I'll keep checking my motherboard's Bios list anyway, doesn't seem like B550-F has the 120A update rolled out

 

[Chomiq]

hm, interesting. I've checked all the posted links...aside from the tightened security, I guess if it isn't broke, I won't fix just yet.

dunno if fTPM is even the cause of my specific weird stutter, especially since it doesn't drop the OS response time and cause audio dropout like the usual fTPM stuttering I've seen/heard. nothing seems stuttery or off in general use outside of gaming either, and games are usual fine aside from area-specific microstutter


I'll keep checking my motherboard's Bios list anyway, doesn't seem like B550-F has the 120A update rolled out

Disable fTPM, if stuttering is still there it's not fTPM's fault.

 

[LeSandwich]

Disable fTPM, if stuttering is still there it's not fTPM's fault.

if I disabled fTPM and it did nothing to help, is there any risk of fTPM introducing stutters if I reenable it afterwards. currently it does not cause these fabled stutters, and I don't want it to mess itself up in case turning it off and turning it back on could trigger it

 

[SPDIF]

If everything is good now, i would not touch it. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.