Stuttering at High FPS GTX 400 series

[phanbuey]

Hi All,

I am experiencing a constant stutter while at high FPS - in vantage, quake 4 and other games. In vantage when the big spaceship flies by the screen it can be seen as it doesn't move fluidly but does one of these: ------>jerk------>jerk------>jerk------>jerk------>jerk. Ive had this problem before on an AMD chipset, but that was much worse and solved with rolling back drivers.



same can be seen in severe fashion in quake 4, and in other games to a lesser extent
-no hard drive activity
-memory settings 1266 at 7-7-6-21 1T or 1600 9-9-9-24 or 1600 9-8-7-21 do not make a noticeable difference.
-gtx 470 stock/overclock does not make a difference
-shutting down all background processes does not make a difference
-tried 250.xx and 260.xx drivers with clean installs
-pagefile does not make a difference
-virus scanner turned up nothing, plus i dont surf pr0n with this rig anyways.
-changing priority did not make a difference.
-stock, non-oc'ed settings do the same thing :/

If I look really really hard, i can see it in other games (as the stutters are spaced apart evenly) but the lower fps the game is getting, the less severe the stutter. Also DX11 doesnt *seem* to be affected as bad. But that just might be bc dx11 games run at lower fps anyways.

Any ideas or people experiencing the same thing?

[LiNKiN]

How is it when V-sync is enabled?

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by LiNKiN

How is it when V-sync is enabled?

same thing, its actually a bit more noticeable since everything is super silky smooth, so a tiny stutter every .7 seconds sticks out like a sore thumb... even with 8 fps render ahead and triple buffering.

also tried enabling/disabling multi-threaded support. In the panel and in the game.
also reverting everything to default in nvidia control panel does nothing.
tried different PCI-e speeds from 100mhz all the way up to 125mhz. no difference. running at 2.0 16x GPU-Z shows everything to be peachy.

can anyone with the new 260.3 drivers and a gtx 470 verify if they get this in vantage? Just a yes/no so i can see the system specs to see the difference in hardware.

[IceThatJaw]

I stumbled across this post and felt the need to register here since I had the same exact problem with my GTX 470.

And you will never believe what caused it. It was Microsoft's security updates. I did a fresh install and never let it update other than a few individual things but that's it and now my card runs smooth as silk.

Try it and get back to me. I will favorite this page.

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

will try out this 260.3.. Still am using 258.96

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by IceThatJaw

I stumbled across this post and felt the need to register here since I had the same exact problem with my GTX 470.

And you will never believe what caused it. It was Microsoft's security updates. I did a fresh install and never let it update other than a few individual things but that's it and now my card runs smooth as silk.

Try it and get back to me. I will favorite this page.

Wow! Thanks for that! I felt that it was something fishy like that. My next target was going to be my audio drivers, but this is a great lead. I will do a clean install once I get home and check it out.

[qubit]

That little .7 second stutter eh? Drive ya nuts don't it?

Yep, I know exactly what you mean. I had this with Doom 3 way back and never managed to solve it, unfortunately. In the end I didn't like the game much, so it didn't matter too much that I couldn't fix it.

One thing you could try is to install the latest Microsoft DirectX update. It solved a crash glitch with UT3 on XP a while back, so is worth trying.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by qubit

That little .7 second stutter eh? Drive ya nuts don't it?

Yep, I know exactly what you mean. I had this with Doom 3 way back and never managed to solve it, unfortunately. In the end I didn't like the game much, so it didn't matter too much that I couldn't fix it.

One thing you could try is to install the latest Microsoft DirectX update. It solved a crash glitch with UT3 on XP a while back, so is worth trying.

Yep... and while Doom 3 kind of sucks, the quake 4 single player is good. Really good. It's a shame that it stutters like that. It seems all bethesda engine games are completely immune though, as are all GTA IV.

It's only in select games, which makes me think it might be game-specific.

[T3kl0rd]

Oblivion stutters like a mofo for me with my GTX 470. My CPU has issues though, can't wait to upgrade to i7 950. Runs worse without all the UOP patches and ini file edits. Could be a host of reasons you notice micro stutter in your games. Wish all I saw was .7 sec of stutter.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

Oblivion stutters like a mofo for me with my GTX 470. My CPU has issues though, can't wait to upgrade to i7 950. Runs worse without all the UOP patches and ini file edits. Could be a host of reasons you notice micro stutter in your games. Wish all I saw was .7 sec of stutter.

Trust me you wouldn't. It actually looks like a little jump every .7 seconds, which is very noticeable and very annoying. For me, it's annoying enough that I won't play a game that does this. On the other hand a frame rate going between 30-50 fps say, would look crap, but not as annoying, because it doesn't do that little jump, it would just be juddery.

[phanbuey]

OK for quake 4 to fix it I found "com_precisetic 0" havent tried it yet. But will post back to let you know if it works.

[T3kl0rd]

Quake 4 has high FPS on most systems, should be locked @ 60 on yours. Crap like screen tearing and micro stuttering is annoying as heck to me, I can't stand either. Have to play with vsync and FPS locked @ 60 in SLI.

I got rid of the heinous stutter that plagues Oblivion when you are outside. I edited some lines in the Oblivion.ini and the stuttering stopped. Will only work on powerful PCs though. Oblivion truly was designed for future PCs.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

Quake 4 has high FPS on most systems, should be locked @ 60 on yours. Crap like screen tearing and micro stuttering is annoying as heck to me, I can't stand either. Have to play with vsync and FPS locked @ 60 in SLI.

I got rid of the heinous stutter that plagues Oblivion when you are outside. I edited some lines in the Oblivion.ini and the stuttering stopped. Will only work on powerful PCs though. Oblivion truly was designed for future PCs.

thats the thing... it does it WITH v-sync and with framerate cap.

[yogurt_21]

will have to chekc my drivers when I get home, I did notice a slight stutter in vantage on that test but didn't dwell too much on it because it also happened on my gtx295 and 9600gt. I just figured it was poorly optimized lol.

[T3kl0rd]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

thats the thing... it does it WITH v-sync and with framerate cap.

If your GPU is pumping out more than 60 FPS per second with v-sync off then the fault is not with your GPU. Something else is diverting resources from your system. Look at Task Manager to see what is using resources while you game.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

If your GPU is pumping out more than 60 FPS per second with v-sync off then the fault is not with your GPU. Something else is diverting resources from your system. Look at Task Manager to see what is using resources while you game.

The GPU isn't putting out more than 60fps. It's a glitch in the game engine causing those jumps. If you have Fraps running, you'll see that it's stuck at a steady 60fps.

I reckon it's to do with the tickrate of the game engine not properly configured to the video refresh rate. They have to be matched exactly for smooth animation. Turning vsync on would normally do this, but perhaps not on a faulty game engine?

[T3kl0rd]

Originally Posted by qubit

The GPU isn't putting out more than 60fps. It's a glitch in the game engine causing those jumps. If you have Fraps running, you'll see that it's stuck at a steady 60fps.

I reckon it's to do with the tickrate of the game engine not properly configured to the video refresh rate. They have to be matched exactly for smooth animation. Turning vsync on would normally do this, but perhaps not on a faulty game engine?

You mean, the GPU isn't putting out more than 60 FPS in v-sync. With it off, it should be pumping out at least twice that amount on the OPs rig.

My nVidia drivers put my desktop res refresh rate @ 59Hz. I put it at 1680x1050 and my games @ 1920x1200. Your games set @ your desktop res?

[qubit]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

You mean, the GPU isn't putting out more than 60 FPS in v-sync. With it off, it should be pumping out at least twice that amount on the OPs rig.

My nVidia drivers put my desktop res refresh rate @ 59Hz. I put it at 1680x1050 and my games @ 1920x1200. Your games set @ your desktop res?

That's right, with vsync on the GPU should be locked. I've seen only a few instances where it refuses to lock at all regardless of the game or driver setting, but that's a driver bug in old drivers and isn't what's happening here.

In this case, the engine tickrate is something like 61fps or 60.7fps and the screen refresh 60Hz, so you get the jumps. When I had this problem in Doom 3, I tried changing loads of things, including the whole PC and swapping nvidia cards for ati cards and nothing changed it. Definitely a game engine bug.

That 59Hz thing is yet another bug (on Windows 7 I think, but don't quote me). The monitor is actually being driven at 60Hz - just check the signal stats on the monitor's OSD.

The game res v desktop res is irrelevant to this issue.

[T3kl0rd]

Originally Posted by qubit

That's right, with vsync on the GPU should be locked. I've seen only a few instances where it refuses to lock at all regardless of the game or driver setting, but that's a driver bug in old drivers and isn't what's happening here.

Games that don't lock the v-sync to the monitors refresh rate can be adjusted with D3DOverrider in many instances.

[phanbuey]

ok so i learned more... its not the v-sync.. quibit was right. The tickrate is f-ed up in doom 3 engine games. The only way to fix it is either with:

set com_precisetic 0 (windows XP only)

OR com_fixedtic 1. this works for windows 7 but makes the game run at 2x realtime speed, which although extremely entertaining, kills the game completely.

im going to try to cap the frames at 60 in conjunction with fixedtic 1. It will make the game run smooth, but if the frames ever drop below 60, i am guessing that the game will go into slow motion. This is the same issue with oblivion games. You have to peg the tickrate of the engine to the FPS for buttery smoothness without vsync, but gpu dips slow down time in the game. lol. now i know why PC gaming is getting its ass beat by consoles.

[luckyjj10]

I just got a 460gtx and am experiencing exactly this sort of thing in many different games, i'm really hoping for a big driver fix or something..

(fyi I had NO problems with my old 8800)

[qubit]

Originally Posted by luckyjj10

I just got a 460gtx and am experiencing exactly this sort of thing in many different games, i'm really hoping for a big driver fix or something..

(fyi I had NO problems with my old 8800)

Does sound like drivers/patches could be at fault here.

And welcome to TPU! Why not fill in your system specs? It tends to help when discussing your rig and it's the sort of thing us techies like to know.

[luckyjj10]

Filled in some stuff, Yeah my cpu might be a -slight- bottleneck, but it is obviously more than just a bottleneck.

Crysis for example exhibits this behavior (easily seen when strafing), the game has much better reported FPS than the 8800 at much higher settings, but when it "microstutters" you can see the gpu usage spiking wildly. (this happens with any in game settings)

The 8800, which although couldn't handle settings/aa etc as high, gave a "smoother" feeling experience.

The only thing I can say I discovered, is that by a combination of forcing crysis to 32bit and dx9, the stuttering is extremely lessened.

[JrRacinFan]

Just started noticing this with F1 2010. No other games do it for me.

[IceThatJaw]

Wait, so did you try not installing the updates TS?

Because that was the only thing that fixed the micro sutters. Now I can play Dead Rising 2, Mafia 2, RE5, and Just Cause 2 either completely maxed out (except physx on Mafia) and it's smooth as silk.

I skimmed through all the other posts and read Doom 3 and Quake 4. You bastards need to move on. Those games do not stand the test of time imo. haha

But my specs are: i7 930 at stock 2.8Ghz, 10gb 1600hz RAM at stock speed, GTX 470 OC'd to 800/1600/1900 at 1.050v.