Every single game stutters and im getting fed up with PC gaming

[stutterhelp]

Ever since i built a modern PC im consistently disappointed at how every single game stutters randomly and NOTHING i do can fix it

I built a pc with
Ryzen 2600
16gb ram
Some gigabyte motherboard
Gtx 1080
NVME
60hz monitor


After trying EVERYTHING, reinstalling windows, putting games on NVME, XMP on off, countless windows tweaks etc. I figured something must be screwed up. I literally rebuilt the entire PC, Got another Asrock motherboard, got a Ryzen 5600, Got different 16gb ram sticks, different power supply -- THE SAME THING HAPPENS. Tried multiple different 60hz monitors, hdmi cables, same things. I even contacted NVIDIA for warranty to check out my 1080 and replace it, they sent me another thing. Same issue. I tried a gtx 1060, same thing happens.

So what happens exactly?

MY fps will be awesome, solid 60, but every 60seconds or few minutes, the entire screen will just FREEZE/ Hitch/ stutter and it just feels like shit.

If I use MSI afterburner and look at frametime, you can see a totally solid bar, but then randomly it will just have a gigantic spike.
VSync on or off, doesnt matter
Cap 60fps with rivatuner, doesnt matter.

I'm just about ready to abandon PC gaming and just use consoles cause this shit is so annoying and it doesnt happen on consoles.

PLZ HELP. WHAT DO I DO TO FIX THE STUTTERS? Im sick of throwing money at the issue thinking it will change anythign!!!!


Lately:
The division 2
The Forest
Gears 5
Zombie army 4
Serious sam (All)
Elden ring
Back 4 blood
Aliens firteam elite

List goes on and on..every game..

LOOK at the pic, every game is like this!!! fuck pc gaming??
Is it just impossible to get solid consistent 60fps on pc games or what? Too much to ask in 2023??

NOTE: EVEN IF I LOCK GAMES TO 30FPS I STILL GET THE STUPID SPIKES. What is going on??
NOTE: Its not the temps theyre always way below anything bad.



THINGS TRIED:

bios:

-XMP on/off
-amd FTPM on/off
-Adding + voltage bumps to memory
-Above 4g decoding on/off
-Resize bar on/off
-Update bios

Windows:
-Manually install amd chipset/windows default
- HW Schedule HAGS on/off
- Nvidia manually update to latest / windows default driver
- Disable / unplug all usb devices except mouse keyboard
- Device manager disable all unnessesary things
- Nvidia shader cache 'unlimited'

- MSI Afterburner disable power monitoring


Hardware:
- Manually unplug all LED shit
- Manually unplug all extra USB stuff from motherboard, usb 3.0 shti etc
-Unplug everything from
motherboard except bare essentails
- Unplug hard drive, all external hard drives, only use NVME with windows

Even thought at one point the issue was just with the power inside my house, so I hoped that eventually when I moved it would be fixed
Well I moved to a new apartment, same issue ofc.

I even made a youtube channel showcasing the issue in various places, I could post way more vids now, i even have a different CPU than i did back then, same issue:

https://www.youtube.com/@stuttersolver4199

wat else

 

[Chrispy_]

What haven't you changed yet?

Something is causing the spikes.

Internet (have you tried gaming on a different connection, like 5G data hotspot?)
Peripherals - perhaps you have a faulty keyboard, mouse, USB headset or similar,
Power socket - are you using an old surge protector with the red neon light? They can cause instability.
Are you always reinstalling Windows from the same install media, or did you just reinstall multiple times from the same, potentially corrupt source?
Utilities, software etc - have you ruled out all of those by gaming with the bare minimum of installed drivers and no third-party apps or utilities?

It sounds like you're about to give up in exasperation but there is absolutely loads you haven't tried yet.
You'll hear this advice over and over on countless forums when people are troubleshooting: BREADBOARD.

In other words, start from the bare minimum needed to boot a PC - in your case the bare minimum needed to display a game you're testing. Test each time you add something, whether it's software, internal hardware, or external peripherals. If you can't get the breadboard stable, then take your haunted PC to work or a mate's house to rule out all external factors like power, peripherals, and internet connection. If it turns out you have internet, power, or environmental problems, you'll get the same shit-tastic experience with a console. FIND THE PROBLEM, rather than throwing money at new shit.

 

[stutterhelp]

ok thanks i will start from scratch
can you suggest a very RELIABLE piece of software that if there are no stutters, then if i encounter stutters elsewhere its just the game?
what is the most reliable piece of software to test?
BEcause even in something like Unigen Heaven benchmark, i still see the same stutters..

 

[JustBenching]

ok thanks i will start from scratch
can you suggest a very RELIABLE piece of software that if there are no stutters, then if i encounter stutters elsewhere its just the game?
what is the most reliable piece of software to test?
BEcause even in something like Unigen Heaven benchmark, i still see the same stutters..

Forza horizon 5, cs go, dota 2, cyberpunk fortnite, apex legends, rdr2, sotr, these games are stutter free

 

[Chrispy_]

ok thanks i will start from scratch
can you suggest a very RELIABLE piece of software that if there are no stutters, then if i encounter stutters elsewhere its just the game?
what is the most reliable piece of software to test?
BEcause even in something like Unigen Heaven benchmark, i still see the same stutters..

Unigine Heaven is perfect for benchmarking to test for stutters because it works offline and it's very quick to run. It absolutely shouldn't stutter.

IMO you should clear your CMOS to reset your bios, and do a minimal build with the CPU/RAM/GPU and your boot drive ONLY.
Freshly-downloaded windows onto a USB stick and install that. The only drivers you should update beyond the Windows basic drivers are the motherboard chipset drivers and the Nvidia drivers.

Run heaven, unplug your keyboard, mouse, internet cable - so that literally the only things plugged in are the monitor and the power cable, and the only software you have installed are the two essential drivers and unigine heaven.

If that stutters, you definitely have a hardware issue - either with the components, your display, or your house electrical circuits. We can troubleshoot further from there by just eliminating things one at a time.

If that doesn't stutter, something you are plugging in or installing is causing the stutter. Just add things ONE AT A TIME and retest each time - presumably it's very quick to stutter and you don't have to test for long each time to discover what's causing the problem.

 

[3x0]

Unigine Heaven is perfect for benchmarking to test for stutters because it works offline and it's very quick to run. It absolutely shouldn't stutter.

Heaven stutters at exactly the same points in the run every time. So it's not stutter free but if it stutters at the exact same points every time then it's normal.

 

[Chrispy_]

Heaven stutters at exactly the same points in the run every time. So it's not stutter free but if it stutters at the exact same points every time then it's normal.

No, it doesn't, and it's not supposed to.
If it stutters you have a problem - even if it's a minor problem like your vsync being imperfect and skipping the odd frame (59.94Hz display being driven at 60Hz for example), you still have a problem.

Intel HD graphics from a decade ago can run Heaven without any stutter at all. Sure, the framerate isn't great, but it's completely consistent even with a flawed IGP like the HD4600 on abandoned platforms with outdated drivers. I sell or donate i7 3rd and 4th gen platforms and I use Heaven to test. Even the HD2500 from 2012 is fine.

 

[3x0]

No, it doesn't, and it's not supposed to.

I've had it stutter on two completely different systems, one nV with 6700k and one AMD with 5600x/5800X3D, both completely stable.

One of the most noticeable stutters is around this area (not my video obviously)

RX 6600 XT Unigine Heaven and Passmark Performance Test Benchmark

And here's one with an nV GPU

Unigine Heaven Benchmark Extreme - Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB

 

[SpartanM07]

No, it doesn't, and it's not supposed to.
If it stutters you have a problem - even if it's a minor problem like your vsync being imperfect and skipping the odd frame (59.94Hz display being driven at 60Hz for example), you still have a problem.

Intel HD graphics from a decade ago can run Heaven without any stutter at all. Sure, the framerate isn't great, but it's completely consistent even with a flawed IGP like the HD4600 on abandoned platforms with outdated drivers. I sell or donate i7 3rd and 4th gen platforms and I use Heaven to test. Even the HD2500 from 2012 is fine.

I'm with 3x0 on this one. Been using Unigine Heaven since the Nvidia 200 series and it has always stuttered at certain points. The most consistent for me is when the camera comes over the castle wall at night and points towards the village.

Anyway, stutterhelps, I've watched through your videos. Only thing I can think of is that you're noticing the stutters because you're playing at 60 hz. Looks like the stutters you notice are only one frame. I wonder if you got a higher Hertz monitor with Gsync or Freesync that you wouldn't see those stutters anymore. I game at 60hz and I'm pretty sure I've always got a stutter every once in a while in every game.

 

[Lost_Troll]

Are you running antivirus software? If so, turn it off or uninstall it, and the same thing applies to drive indexing and windows updates. I would also try setting the frame cap to 50 FPS and see what that does.

The other thing I would recommend, is to get a faster monitor then 60Hz and try it. You can get a cheap 144Hz monitor for 100$ now. (My Samsung was 149$ from BestBuy that is listed in my system spec)

 

[P4-630]

can you suggest a very RELIABLE piece of software that if there are no stutters, then if i encounter stutters elsewhere its just the game?
what is the most reliable piece of software to test?

GTA V runs super smooth on latest driver. (at least on my system)
GTA V generally runs smooth nowadays.

 

[phanbuey]

I absolute hate these stutters..

I really noticed my stutters getting much better with the 8700K+ -Ryzen 3000 gen systems -- before that 6700k, ryzen 7 1800x, 7820x all had load in hitching like that to some extent. Before that my favorite bang around games (like far cry 5) were borderline unplayable.

To oversimplify things a bit, the stutter is fundamentally caused by the primary game thread getting blocked for a few miliseconds- this is usually done by:

1. Too much asset loading and not enough bandwidth -- usually just bad coding at the game level and the game's primary thread realizes it needs things at the last milisecond and hitches( far cry 5, hogwarts legacy etc.). Throwing more bandwith and lower latency at the software can help (either through overclocking or software tuning like turning off VBS etc.)

2. Something interrupting the OS -- this is usually peripherals and sometimes (though more rarely) background software -- network and usb devices that have badly coded and sometimes aggressive drivers that throw disruptive IO (like randomly waking up from suspend) at random times etc.

Generally to fix stuttering:
- unplug or disable all unnecessary USB / devices in the device manager, turn off selective suspend for these (especially NICs)
- tune OS by disabling as much background software and services, disabling CFG and VBS security nannies
- tune Ram Timings, Speed, and power settings (gear down, timings, TRFC lowering can help -- in general more ram bandwith and lower latency = exponentially less noticeable stutters and more consistent fps)
- enable software tricks like render ahead one frame and fps cap below monitors refresh rate (for high refresh systems) -- stuff like freesync and vsync can help ALOT at the expense of latency.

 

[DarkDreams]

I've heard Wallpaper engine can sometimes cause these kinds of consistent stutters. If you are using it maybe try turning it off. Otherwise try to keep an eye on background tasks (taskmanager or resmon) while running a benchmark to see if any program activity coincides with the stutters.

 

[Hyderz]

I have a pretty beefy rig and in resident evil 2 certain corridors the frame rate just dips no matter the setting tried it with a 1070ti and 3090

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Only gpu benchmark or testing app worth beans is
Unigine Superposition
Heaven is way to old to go by anymore

Unigine Superposition 1.1 Download

Brand new GPU stress-testing tool from UNIGINE. It also features interactive VR experience with support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

www.techpowerup.com

You could also use blender opendata and have it test cpu or gpu rendering this should be the standard for clocks stability

Blender Open Data — blender.org

 

[brutalame]

- turn g-sync off.
- Kill all useless software in the background.

 

[HD64G]

I've heard Wallpaper engine can sometimes cause these kinds of consistent stutters. If you are using it maybe try turning it off. Otherwise try to keep an eye on background tasks (taskmanager or resmon) while running a benchmark to see if any program activity coincides with the stutters.

I am with that opinion as some other members solved their system's hiccups every minute or so just by stopping the wallpaper from changing. Easy to try and fix if its that's the cause of the problem.

 

[P4-630]

I am with that opinion as some other members sovled their system's hiccups every minute or show just by stopping the wallpaper from changing. Easy to try and fix if its that's the cause of the problem.

I also use Wallpaper Engine, just "Pause" it before playing a game, no issues.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Heaven has stuttered for me 100% every time heading into the dark area where the casks are. For a decade. I stopped using it and switched to Valley which has never stuttered and has long draw distances with more terrain and effects. However:

Hi,
Only gpu benchmark or testing app worth beans is
Unigine Superposition
Heaven is way to old to go by anymore

Unigine Superposition 1.1 Download

Brand new GPU stress-testing tool from UNIGINE. It also features interactive VR experience with support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

www.techpowerup.com

You could also use blender opendata and have it test cpu or gpu rendering this should be the standard for clocks stability

Blender Open Data — blender.org

Yes, I've seen zero stutters in Superposition and it's DX12 whereas Valley is DX11 if that matters to anyone. I finally bought the damn thing recently so I can loop it for GPU stability testing. It loads a modern GPU more heavily than Valley (higher power use) and with my current 5600+6800XT setup in a 1080p window, Valley was getting CPU-bound at max settings. Not Superposition.

 

[droid-I]

Tried 3DMark? In case it stutters there also, something maybe to go on for solving the stutter issue.

 

[dgianstefani]

Could be bad PSU.

Check your RAM tune too. https://github.com/integralfx/MemTestHelper/blob/oc-guide/DDR4 OC Guide.md

Some games don't like Ryzen in general, or any other latency sensitive game, unless you have 3DVCache version or very good RAM setup.

Use NVCP to limit your frame rate to 3 below max refresh rate, then set latency mode to ultra.

If you have reflex options in game, turn them on+boost.

Regular stutters can be caused by periodic system activity, uninstall software you don't need, and check device manager for things you can disable that are redundant. E.g. onboard sound if you use a sound card.

Disabling virtualization based security is also a good option if you game.

Stuff like 3rd party programs for FPS monitoring can cause performance issues, use the built in NVIDIA driver one, disable shadowplay if you don't use it, and consider using NVCleaninstall to disable telemetry and bloat etc. https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-nvcleanstall/

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 This is also good software for general performance and security.

https://geekuninstaller.com/download As is this for debloating.

https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts using this to block ads/malware connections at root level is also a good idea.

Plus, I'd suggest getting a better monitor and filling out your system specs.

 

[Chrispy_]

I've just watched a full run of heaven and it didn't drop a single frame. I use it because it's so sensitive to background bullshit and poor shader complilation.

For everyone here with stutters, you have a problem. If it stutters in the same place every time, you may have poorly-compiled shaders, a bottleneck in your system. The fact that people can run it without stutters means that the benchmark isn't causing the stutters. A common rig I'm refurbishing right now is haswell i7 + RX570 8GB. That stutters slightly for the first few seconds, probably because the CPU is too weak to load all the scene data and feed the GPU at the same time. When the test loops around back to the first scene, it's completely stutter free.

There's always a reason for the stutter, you just need to spend some time working out what the cause is. Unless literally nobody is saying that it doesn't stutter, you'll usually find that there's survivorship bias - in that only those people who have experienced stutter reply, or even read threads about stutter.

Use superposition or valley if you want, it doesn't really matter as long as it's offline and you can run the test with everything except the monitor and power cable unplugged. That's the primary requirement for testing for stutter when breadboarding a PC.

Here's a 3070/5800X3D without stutters, and a shitty old intel laptop's IGP suffocating on the sofa with low battery. Still no dropped frames or obvious stuttering, because I've learnt what things I used in the past caused any kind of stuttering, and banned them from any PC I own. You've just gotta find the culprit and perma-ban it from your life going forwards.

 

[3x0]

For everyone here with stutters, you have a problem.

I don't but thank you for trying to help. I don't consider a repeatable stutter in a 14 year old benchmark to be a problem on an otherwise normal running system.

BTW, make sure you run the test in FullHD 1080p and with tessellation enabled.

 

[Chrispy_]

I don't but thank you for trying to help. I don't consider a repeatable stutter in a 14 year old benchmark to be a problem on an otherwise normal running system.

It proves your system can't successfully run a 14-year-old benchmark without hitching. It's only a minor problem, but the fact that decade-old junk can do better means that something, somewhere on your system is interrupting your render. Does it bother you? Clearly not - but you cannot possibly deny it's there.

 

[Space Lynx]

Have you tried a clean install of the OS?

Also, some games just have lag spikes, its just part of it.

Try a game like Hard Reset Redux, it never lags or spikes, smoothest game I ever played in my life.

Do you have freesync turned on in nvidia drivers? should be a gsync compatible option somewhere. Try that. I didn't read all of the posts, only some... so eh sorry if this already has been mentioned.

Sorry you are having a hard time.