• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Is Steam causing stuttering?

Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
I've been on some sort of odyssey in the past week. There were many bumps, double posts, and posting on strange forums, but I might have found something.

I've been having this issue for over a week, and I think I've finally narrowed it down to Steam somehow being the problem.

Every couple seconds, I get a stutter. Framerate will drop from 60 or 300 (uncapped Source games) all the way down to less than 30, just for half a second, but enough for me to notice it and disrupt how smoothly the game plays. I tested it with Assassin's Creed II, Batman Arkham City, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress 2. All of them had stutters/ framerate drops. I've already deleted the Steam folder, completely reinstalled it and reinstalled a couple games, but the problem is clearly persisting. It happens regardless of the video driver being used (currently using the most recent).

I tried Mirror's Edge installed from a disc, no problem. Mass Effect 3 installed through Origin, no problems either. Add Steam shortcuts to those two games, run them through Steam, same problem as the Steam games. I disabled overlay, which is not an acceptable solution, but it doesn't matter because it did nothing to stop the problem in TF2 or HL2. So, all I can see is that Steam is somehow causing the issue. You might want to say it's a GPU bottleneck issue. Except this computer has had no bottlenecking issues at all in the past 6 months. This is only a recent problem, the past two weeks at most, and GPU and CPU temperatures are normal (30-40C idle, 60C under games).

Again: Only in games run through Steam, and I've updated/ rolled back video drivers, makes no difference.

Games not run through Steam, even Origin which has its own resource-sucking properties and its own overlay, are completely fine.
 
Last edited:

baggpipes

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
163 (0.03/day)
System Name R2D2
Processor AMD FX-4100
Motherboard MSI 970 G45
Cooling Stock
Memory Kingston T1 8GB 1600 DDR3 @ 1800mHz
Video Card(s) AMD Sapphire 6850
Storage RAID 0 WD Caviar Blue 1TB total
Display(s) Acer 19" widescreen and Sony 32" Bravia 1080p 60hz
Case NZXT Gamma Series
Power Supply 700w OCZ Mod Stream Pro
Software Windows 7 Professional
Benchmark Scores hit 4.5ghz stock cooler....
Im assuming you arent playing online??? Could your hard drive be fragged??
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
It happens online and offline (and I've always turned off Wireless Zero Config, that's a lag issue, not a framerate issue anyway). I've tried it on two separate Windows partitions. And still the problem persists only on Steam. On two completely different hard drives. Somehow.
 
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
1,298 (0.25/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name PC || Acer Nitro 5
Processor Ryzen 9 5900x || R5 2500U @ 35W
Motherboard MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI || default
Cooling 1x Corsair XR5 360mm Rad||
Memory 2x16GB HyperX 3600 @ 3800 || 2x8GB DDR4 @ 2400MTs
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2080Ti Sea Hawk EK X || RX 560X
Storage Samsung 9801TB x2 + Striped Tiered Storage Space (2x 128Gb SSD + 2x 1TB HDD) || 128GB + 1TB SSD
Display(s) Iiyama PL2770QS + Samsung U28E590, || 15,6" 1080P IPS @ 100Hz Freesync enabled
Case SilverStone Alta G1M ||
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DX
Power Supply Cooler Master V850 SFX || 135Watt 19V OEM adaptor
Mouse ROG Pugio II
Software Win 11 64bit || Win 11 64bit
Have you tried heightening the priority of the game, or lowering the priority or steam in taskmanager?
Its a wild guess, but atleast its something. Also, steam uses flash, its probably not related to your problem at all, but you might want to uninstall flash for a moment to see if it matters.
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
If you have a 60Hz monitor, it sounds like when you run Steam it's causing missed refresh cycles (that would explain the drop to 30).
CPU getting a greater load maybe causing a delay in filling the graphics buffer?
Just some thoughts.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
43,585 (6.74/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory 32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 4090
Storage WD m.2
Display(s) LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s) Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard Tester84
Software Windows 11
If you have a 60Hz monitor, it sounds like when you run Steam it's causing missed refresh cycles (that would explain the drop to 30).
CPU getting a greater load maybe causing a delay in filling the graphics buffer?
Just some thoughts.

Those are some fancy thoughts mister! :D

Really, it sounds logical to me. Not sure what program does it, but there is a way to set the refresh rate to 59Hz and that seems to fix stuttering for many people.
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
Bandicam will let you frame lock at 59.

Fancy thoughts? lol I'm just a northern redneck. Nothing fancy about me. :)
 
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
4,815 (0.78/day)
Location
Wangas, New Zealand
System Name Darth Obsidious
Processor Intel i5 2500K
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212+ in Push Pull
Memory 2X4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) ASUS R9 270x TOP
Storage 128GB Samsung 830 SSD, 1TB WD Black, 2TB WD Green
Display(s) LG IPS234V-PN
Case Corsair Obsidian 650D
Audio Device(s) Infrasonic Quartet
Power Supply Corsair HX650w
Software Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP Home
Benchmark Scores 2cm mark on bench with a razor blade.
Same problem here noticed about th same time as you.

I think some steam resource is to blame.
Closing out of steam and launching it again seems to work for me.
I first noticed this when playing Saints Row 3.
It was running fine, closed out, looked through my steam friends profiles, looked through steam store then went back into game and the performance was terrible.

For the issue continues even in DiRT 3 which is a GFWL game until I exit steam and launch it again.

Also this could be a Windows XP thing as I still play games on XP.
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
The refresh rate is 60hz. Tried limiting frames to 59 with Bandicam and console commands in HL2, but didn't seem to be of any help. The framerate doesn't drop to 30, it drops anywhere from 20-40, to be more specific.

The problem doesn't occur in Mirror's Edge or Mass Effect 3 when Steam is running, only when those games are run through Steam. I can have Steam on in the background and it won't impact performance as long as those games aren't using Steam resources.
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
Steam syncing with "the cloud" or something? Not sure. I don't have that issue.
 
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
4,815 (0.78/day)
Location
Wangas, New Zealand
System Name Darth Obsidious
Processor Intel i5 2500K
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212+ in Push Pull
Memory 2X4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) ASUS R9 270x TOP
Storage 128GB Samsung 830 SSD, 1TB WD Black, 2TB WD Green
Display(s) LG IPS234V-PN
Case Corsair Obsidian 650D
Audio Device(s) Infrasonic Quartet
Power Supply Corsair HX650w
Software Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP Home
Benchmark Scores 2cm mark on bench with a razor blade.
How do you launch games which are bought with steam without using steam?
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
I disabled cloud for HL2 and tried it, no difference. This is pretty absurd.

Games->Add a Non-Steam game to my library.

Creating a shortcut to Mirror's Edge or Mass Effect 3 and starting from there causes stuttering. Starting from Origin or the desktop/ start menu, no problems whatsoever. I even played both games out of the corner of my eye while watching the Bandicam overlay and didn't experience a single drop, so I'm not imagining it.
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
He did disable that as he stated in the OP.
 

baggpipes

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
163 (0.03/day)
System Name R2D2
Processor AMD FX-4100
Motherboard MSI 970 G45
Cooling Stock
Memory Kingston T1 8GB 1600 DDR3 @ 1800mHz
Video Card(s) AMD Sapphire 6850
Storage RAID 0 WD Caviar Blue 1TB total
Display(s) Acer 19" widescreen and Sony 32" Bravia 1080p 60hz
Case NZXT Gamma Series
Power Supply 700w OCZ Mod Stream Pro
Software Windows 7 Professional
Benchmark Scores hit 4.5ghz stock cooler....
What are you doing in the game when the frame rate drops?? Im still kinda inclined to say cpu bottleneck when i first read this... I know that not what you wanted to hear...
 

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
17,866 (3.00/day)
Location
Quantum Well UK
System Name Quantumville™
Processor Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz)
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio
Storage Samsung 850 Pro 256GB | WD Black 4TB | WD Blue 6TB
Display(s) ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) | Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible)
Case Cooler Master HAF 922
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe
Power Supply Corsair AX1600i
Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow
Keyboard Yes
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
I've never seen this on my computers, so I can vouch for the Steam client being generally well behaved and doubt that it's the problem here. Heck, it would be pretty damaging to Valve's reputation otherwise, wouldn't it? A few things come to mind that may be causing this:

- Could be your internet security software, as they don't alway play well with Steam or games. Try disabling it. If it doesn't allow being disabled, temporarily uninstall it. Which one are you running, by the way?

- Origin: is the exe running at the same time as Steam? Perhaps there's some kind of software polling that's going on which is causing it? Make sure no part of Origin is running

- You're running XP 32-bit Home. Valve recently announced that they will be dropping support for XP, so perhaps there's some little bug in the client that they can't be bothered to fix? This kind of thing is quite common

- What other software is running at the same time that might cause a frame rate dip like that? It's certainly not a hardware performance bottleneck, but a software glitch of some kind, for sure

- Did your PC get a malware infection that you've since cleared up. If so, there could still be fragments of it still running. Nasty. A format and reinstall of the operating system would be required here
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
This is only a recent problem, the past two weeks at most, and GPU and CPU temperatures are normal (30-40C idle, 60C under games).

60*C is a little toasty for a C2D (you must be using the stock cooler), are you sure it's not starting to trottle and are you sure that it's not getting hotter than that? I'm assuming that your CPU also isn't over-clocked so it is very possible that you're processor is having trouble keeping up or XP isn't scheduling tasks in a way that will give you maximum performance. Also keep in mind that the C2D doesn't have the memory controller on the CPU, that's controlled by the north bridge on the motherboard, so between heavy CPU usage with the CPU accessing memory and driving the video card it is possible that might cause a slowdown, but it's hard to say.

Are you monitoring your CPU, memory, vram, and temperatures while you play these games?

Also 32-bit Windows limits applications to 2Gb of memory for applications due to the limitations of 32-bit, so applications might not even be able to use all 4Gb, even if it isn't all being used. Not to mention that XP doesn't have a very good multi-core scheduler in comparison to Windows Vista and 7.

Have you considered upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit, because I suspect that might fix a lot of issues, considering not much supports XP anymore (including Microsoft themselves.)
 

baggpipes

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
163 (0.03/day)
System Name R2D2
Processor AMD FX-4100
Motherboard MSI 970 G45
Cooling Stock
Memory Kingston T1 8GB 1600 DDR3 @ 1800mHz
Video Card(s) AMD Sapphire 6850
Storage RAID 0 WD Caviar Blue 1TB total
Display(s) Acer 19" widescreen and Sony 32" Bravia 1080p 60hz
Case NZXT Gamma Series
Power Supply 700w OCZ Mod Stream Pro
Software Windows 7 Professional
Benchmark Scores hit 4.5ghz stock cooler....
Also 32-bit Windows limits applications to 2Gb of memory for applications due to the limitations of 32-bit, so applications might not even be able to use all 4Gb, even if it isn't all being used. Not to mention that XP doesn't have a very good multi-core scheduler in comparison to Windows Vista and 7.

Thought this was closer to 3.2 GB.... Very good point here...
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
Thought this was closer to 3.2 GB.... Very good point here...

That's total memory available under 32-bit because video cards and other memory mapped I/O devices will use memory space for the device's own memory such as video cards and hardware raid with cache memory. Memory is split into two peices, that which belongs to the OS and that which belongs to applications and under 32-bit these separations makes some blocks of memory unusable. I highly recommend running 64-bit on any machine with more than 2Gb of memory assuming the CPU supports it, but most do nowadays.
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
60*C is a little toasty for a C2D (you must be using the stock cooler), are you sure it's not starting to trottle and are you sure that it's not getting hotter than that? I'm assuming that your CPU also isn't over-clocked so it is very possible that you're processor is having trouble keeping up or XP isn't scheduling tasks in a way that will give you maximum performance. Also keep in mind that the C2D doesn't have the memory controller on the CPU, that's controlled by the north bridge on the motherboard, so between heavy CPU usage with the CPU accessing memory and driving the video card it is possible that might cause a slowdown, but it's hard to say.

Are you monitoring your CPU, memory, vram, and temperatures while you play these games?

Also 32-bit Windows limits applications to 2Gb of memory for applications due to the limitations of 32-bit, so applications might not even be able to use all 4Gb, even if it isn't all being used. Not to mention that XP doesn't have a very good multi-core scheduler in comparison to Windows Vista and 7.

Have you considered upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit, because I suspect that might fix a lot of issues, considering not much supports XP anymore (including Microsoft themselves.)

I have a Zalman fan, not stock. I haven't checked the CPU cores under load, that's only the GPU temperature. I'm not worried about it overheating.

Valve is dropping support for XP SP2, not SP3. It would noticeably hinder them to drop XP support entirely, so I doubt they would do that.

It's not a virus, I just installed this partition 2 days ago. The only security right now is Malwarebytes and whatever security Windows has, so it could be that.
Origin is never running in the background when playing Steam games. It runs in the background during Mass Effect 3 because it has to, but not when I'm in TF2 or anything.

I've definitely considered Windows 7, and I would prefer to get that done before upgrading anything else. But I don't know how to get it for a good price. Even though I'm a college student, those deals have probably expired if my school had them to begin with, but I'd still feel ridiculous paying $200 for retail Windows 7.
 
Joined
Dec 7, 2005
Messages
972 (0.15/day)
System Name GRAYSCALE\Butterfly
Processor Intel Core i7 8700k @ 5.2Ghz\Intel 4690k
Motherboard ASUS Maximus X Hero \Asus Z97 Maximus Hero VI
Cooling Custom Water\Stock
Memory 2x8GB G.Skill RGB DDR4-3200 \2x8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) NVidia Titan Xp w/ EK Block \ MSI Reference GTX 780
Storage 512GB Samsung 960 PRO (M.2)\128GB OCZ Vertex 4 + 500GB WD Black
Display(s) Asus PG278Q ROG Swift\Acer x213h 21.3'' 1920x1080 LCD
Case Thermaltake P3 Core\NZXT S340
Audio Device(s) Integrated w/ AKG K702 65th Anny's\Integrated
Power Supply Corsair HXi 1000 \Corsair HX850
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum\2014 Razer Naga
Keyboard Ducky One TKL RGB
Software Windows 10 Pro (x64)\Windows 10 Pro (x64)
Try to find someone thats getting rid of just keys, I bought a legit ultimate key on here for 80$. Been using it since 7 came out :)
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
I've definitely considered Windows 7, and I would prefer to get that done before upgrading anything else. But I don't know how to get it for a good price. Even though I'm a college student, those deals have probably expired if my school had them to begin with, but I'd still feel ridiculous paying $200 for retail Windows 7.

I regularly see Windows 7 x64 Home Premium for 100 USD and Professional for 130 USD on NewEgg. If your an IT/CompSci student you should be able to get Pro for free from the MSDNAA since most schools have it.
 
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
1,027 (0.24/day)
Location
New Jersey, USA
System Name Current Rig
Processor AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI x670e Tomahawk wifi
Cooling Artic Freezer II 360
Memory G.Skill 32gb ddr5 6000mhz
Video Card(s) AMD 7900XTX 24 GB
Storage Samsung SSD 980 PRO 2TB
Display(s) Alienware 3420DW 120 Freesync
Case LianLi Lancool III white non-rgb
Audio Device(s) Onboard ALC
Power Supply Corsair Shift 1000W
Mouse G502 Hero
Keyboard Ducky Shine 5
Software Win 11 64bit
Benchmark Scores The second best!
Maybe it's Steam updating in preparation for the SUMMER SALE !!

Sorry, I wish I had a better answer... Uninstall Steam and see what happens?
 

baggpipes

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
163 (0.03/day)
System Name R2D2
Processor AMD FX-4100
Motherboard MSI 970 G45
Cooling Stock
Memory Kingston T1 8GB 1600 DDR3 @ 1800mHz
Video Card(s) AMD Sapphire 6850
Storage RAID 0 WD Caviar Blue 1TB total
Display(s) Acer 19" widescreen and Sony 32" Bravia 1080p 60hz
Case NZXT Gamma Series
Power Supply 700w OCZ Mod Stream Pro
Software Windows 7 Professional
Benchmark Scores hit 4.5ghz stock cooler....
Maybe a setting like vsync or triple buffering?
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
275 (0.05/day)
Processor Intel i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHZ
Motherboard Asus P8Z77 M
Memory Corsair XMS 4x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce GTX 970 4GB
Power Supply Corsair TX650W PSU
Software Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Well that was a nightmare. I got Windows 7 for $80 and am trying it later.
 
Last edited:
Top