MICROSTUTTERING in almost every game. HDD issue???

[jonomaia]

hello folks. recently i'm struggling to find what is the cause of the microstuttering that is happening in ALMOST every game that i play.
first, my system:

- fx8370e Overclocked to 4350MHz (203x21.5) (1.36v in bios with low llc)
- gtx970 galax oc
- coolermaster gx650 PSU
- 970a udp3 v2 MOBO
- 16gb ram 1600 corsair vengeance. (2x8) (running ant 812MHz because of bclk overclock)
- 5x 120mm fans
- HDD seagate GREEN 5900rpm 1.5tb (possible cause?)
Win10 64bit

the problem is:

- I get considerably high Fps in the games that i play but ocasionaly i'm hit with microstuttering. in some games are more frequent than others (forza horizon 3 and pubg are the ones that i have the most. both OPEN WORLDs)

what i have already tried to do to fix:

- reset BIOS
- reconnected and swapped all cables and sata ports
- reset/remove overclock from cpu and gpu
- underclocked and overclocked GPU.
- tried RAM in single and dual channel, both sticks alone, higher timmings, xmp on and off. No good
- reinstall games
- reconnected the cables and gpu. no good
- check no to "fullscreen optimizations"
- energy options and set cpu to always 100%
- chkdsk
- memtest
- HPET on and off
- uninstalling msi afterburner and VFX audio enhancer.
- fiddling with windows crap (superfetch, telemetry etc)
- disabling cache shader
- FRESH WINDOWS install.

NOTHING ABOVE WORKED.
so... i've tried some tests and monitoring them i was able to extract some clues:
1- in games like assetto corsa and Project cars, both running with higher settings, the cpu stays running full, the gpu usage stays 99% locked and I have no stutter AT ALL, while disk usage stays ~0% basically always.
2- in games like Forza and PUBG, every stutter occurs in higher HDD usage times or the stutter itself is followed by a peak in usage (or even a small little peak)
3- rocket league showed me that, every time the stutter occurs, there is a drop in GPU usage in junction of a HDD Peak.
4- disabling the paging file reduced the PUBG stuttering big time!

should this be caused by the Hard drive then ?? (it already have ~6, 7 years too)

 

[EarthDog]

Oye... a 5400RPM hard drive? That could be it from what you described. Grab an ssd if possible and test.

 

[caddi daddi]

use msi afterburner, on screen display to check your vram usage, if it exceeds 3 gigs turn a few bits of eye candy down in the game settings.

 

[EarthDog]

Good call CD. I would do that first before spending money. Depending on his resolution and settings, he could be going past that 3.5 GB of 'fast' GDDR on that card and venturing into that slower 500MB.

 

[caddi daddi]

yea, in gtav, with the eye candy up I have run into it with a 970, rare for most people, but it does happen.

 

[Kenrou]

Doesn't GTA have a bar that shows how much VRAM you're using in each preset, goes up and down according to the settings you pick ? or am i confusing with another game ?

 

[ratbuddy]

Aside from the disk and vram causes, it could also be that CPU. It wasn't fast when new, and didn't get any better with age. Consider upgrading to a Ryzen or Intel 8-series chip.

 

[wingman99]

Games don't actively run from HD, they run from RAM. Even SSD is to slow for games, that is why game programmers load game data into memory a head of time when data is needed. When folks don't have enough system memory the HD will swap files and you will see stalls. Consistent even stuttering is usually something not correct with the system setup. I would check the drivers for Video, then try a clean install of windows.

 

[trents]

hello folks. recently i'm struggling to find what is the cause of the microstuttering that is happening in ALMOST every game that i play.
first, my system:

- fx8370e Overclocked to 4350MHz (203x21.5) (1.36v in bios with low llc)
- gtx970 galax oc
- coolermaster gx650 PSU
- 970a udp3 v2 MOBO
- 16gb ram 1600 corsair vengeance. (2x8) (running ant 812MHz because of bclk overclock)
- 5x 120mm fans
- HDD seagate GREEN 5900rpm 1.5tb (possible cause?)
Win10 64bit

the problem is:

- I get considerably high Fps in the games that i play but ocasionaly i'm hit with microstuttering. in some games are more frequent than others (forza horizon 3 and pubg are the ones that i have the most. both OPEN WORLDs)

what i have already tried to do to fix:

- reset BIOS
- reconnected and swapped all cables and sata ports
- reset/remove overclock from cpu and gpu
- underclocked and overclocked GPU.
- tried RAM in single and dual channel, both sticks alone, higher timmings, xmp on and off. No good
- reinstall games
- reconnected the cables and gpu. no good
- check no to "fullscreen optimizations"
- energy options and set cpu to always 100%
- chkdsk
- memtest
- HPET on and off
- uninstalling msi afterburner and VFX audio enhancer.
- fiddling with windows crap (superfetch, telemetry etc)
- disabling cache shader
- FRESH WINDOWS install.

NOTHING ABOVE WORKED.
so... i've tried some tests and monitoring them i was able to extract some clues:
1- in games like assetto corsa and Project cars, both running with higher settings, the cpu stays running full, the gpu usage stays 99% locked and I have no stutter AT ALL, while disk usage stays ~0% basically always.
2- in games like Forza and PUBG, every stutter occurs in higher HDD usage times or the stutter itself is followed by a peak in usage (or even a small little peak)
3- rocket league showed me that, every time the stutter occurs, there is a drop in GPU usage in junction of a HDD Peak.
4- disabling the paging file reduced the PUBG stuttering big time!

should this be caused by the Hard drive then ?? (it already have ~6, 7 years too)

 

[EarthDog]

Exactly... some lf those large world games load frequently from the hdd as well as they can use a lot of ram. Id check vram use first, its free, then id look at the replacing the 5400rpm hdd....

 

[jonomaia]

Hello again! Thanks for all the help!

About the MSI afterburner and Vram tests, i've done them too. and the results: all the times that stutter happens, there's no variation in Vram or clock, mem clock etc.
The only game that Vram is a minor issue is Forza Horizon 3 in some areas, but, what is notable is fps droping, and no stutter necessarelly.
Another factor is that they are a little bit random. like the quoted Rocket League, when the match starts (textures are loading etc) is the moment that it stutters. then, when you go back to menu (the menu background textures load) it stutters again. when chosing cars (loading car textures) again...
Rocket league was the major example of how, every time it was stuttering, the issue was translated to a HDD usage peak + GPU usage drop.

so, i'm willing to try a new hard drive, that is a cheaper possible solution here in brazil (where crappy SSDs are terribly expensive).
what do you guys think of the Seagate SATA 3,5´ BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM? (64MB Cache SATA 6Gb/s)

 

[wingman99]

What is the system memory usage while playing?

 

[jonomaia]

never even hits 10gb of the 16 available. usually stays around 7, 8gb

 

[trents]

You don't by any chance have AI Suite or the Corsair hydro system fan control software installed do you? Seems like I recall one of these, can't remember which, has been the culprit in micro stutter issues.

As far as a new hard drive, get a 7200 rpm one with the largest cache buffer you can find.


One thing you don't provide information on and that is how you are cooling the CPU and what your thermals are like under load. You're not getting thermal throttling are you? Have you checked core/package temps?

Looks like a pretty good motherboard with 8+2 power phase rating and nice sinks so I wouldn't expect the board to be an issue at your level of overclock.

 

[jonomaia]

no, I didn't even knew what is was hahahah
The Temps in CPU (when overclocked) stays 68 and below in the heaviest games. 70 is the margin of this fx8370e
But when just turbo clocked (default settings tested), the temps barelly gets to 60

 

[trents]

If you run the CPU at stock do you still get micro stuttering? You are very close to Tjmax (temperature at which throttling occurs). So close in fact that if the temp sensors are not precise or the software interpreting the temp signal data you could be experiencing thermal throttling.

But you didn't answer one of my questions. What make and model of cooler are you using to cool the CPU?

 

[jonomaia]

i've tested default (turbo clock), underclocked (3.6Mhz) and overclocked, with same results
the cooler is a Corsair H45 in push-pull config

stuttering occurs even in games that cpu usage is lower than 70, 60%

 

[trents]

Have you tried a fresh from scratch reinstall of Windows?

 

[jonomaia]

yes.
everything below and other things:
- reset BIOS
- reconnected and swapped all cables and sata ports
- reset/remove overclock from cpu and gpu
- underclocked and overclocked GPU.
- tried RAM in single and dual channel, both sticks alone, higher timmings, xmp on and off. No good
- reinstall games
- reconnected the cables and gpu. no good
- check no to "fullscreen optimizations"
- energy options and set cpu to always 100%
- chkdsk
- memtest
- HPET on and off
- uninstalling msi afterburner and VFX audio enhancer.
- fiddling with windows crap (superfetch, telemetry etc)
- disabling cache shader
- FRESH WINDOWS install.

 

[trents]

I certainly would recommend getting a more effective CPU cooler. Even at the very modest overclock you are running you are on the cusp of Tjmax. What make and model of case do you have? Is there room for a larger cooler, either high end air or a 120x2 water unit? I'm not saying high temps are causing throttling but with a better cooler you could likely get a higher overclock.

Are you using Corsair Link by any chance to control the CPU cooler fan/pump speed?