Moved to AMD, now games feel laggy (even though high FPS?)

hughythomas · 29 May 2020 at 15:10

Hi guys,

I've had to move to AMD (Ryzen 3900X & Radeon 5700XT) from a i7 8700k & 1080Ti for work reasons.

CPU is clocked at 4.2Ghz and I've used the AMD driver to 'tune' the 5700XT for a bit of an overclock.

My previous i7 8700k was at 4.6Ghz and the 1080Ti overclocked (on custom water).

I've got a fresh install of Windows 10 here using the same memory as before (Corsair 3200 DDR4) and I so far all the games feel laggy even though the FPS counter is on or about the same as my previous 1080Ti.

Can anyone shed any light for me?

I've gone through the Radeon driver suite and disabled a load of unnecessary guff.

Only thing I can think of is im just currently testing this new build on air before moving over to custom water tomorrow but I'm confused as to why games are feeling laggy even when the FPS counter is so high?

Thanks in advance!

Glanza · 29 May 2020 at 15:25

Have you tested turning off the 'tune' and seeing if it does the same?

hughythomas · 29 May 2020 at 15:35

OK so I've turned off the 'tune' and gone for a manual overclock by way of MSI Afterburner (core is currently @2096Mhz) which has helped smooth things but its still not the smooth experience that I'm used to from my previous 1080Ti. At least not yet!

As said, really this is a work machine but I do some gaming (mainly Frostpunk, Mordhau and Destiny 2). All three titles suffer from this weird laggyness that feels more like 40fps in places when according to the overlay I'm hitting 150fps? Very weird.

Nutella33 · 29 May 2020 at 15:38

Try turning windows game mode off

Rroff · 29 May 2020 at 15:38

Check DPC latency. Also what you are describing sounds like the effects of V-Sync - nVidia has several methods for V-Sync, with varying levels of latency, so you might have been using something different to whatever is setup on AMD now.

nutsnut · 29 May 2020 at 15:57

I would take the normal approach of under volting the GPU and leaving at stock clocks, with the lower temps your GPU will boost higher for longer.

When you say your 3900x is clocked to 4.2ghz, is that a manual all core overclock?

My advice would be.
1. Remove Ryzen master
2. Leave CPU at stock, but with an undervolt of around 0.06v to 0.1v.
3. Leave GPU and memory clocks at stock, but undervolt to 1050mv - 1100mv.

I have the same built (3900x and 5700xt) and its butter smooth.

arc@css · 29 May 2020 at 16:03

I've noticed a pretty decent improvement in overall smoothness since tinkering with the memory timings (still more to do on that front, though).

I didn't know that removing Ryzen Master was advised. I'll look into that, ta.

nutsnut · 29 May 2020 at 16:13

It's OK for monitoring, but all changes should be made via the bios.

The 3900x works best with 3600mhz ram, as the infinity fabric which connects the two chiplets is intended to run at 1800mhz (half ram speed). By using slower ram, the latency between the chiplets will be higher.

arc@css · 29 May 2020 at 16:55

Yup, running it with 3200 (overclocked) which certainly helps, but once I have more time I'll spend a bit on learning the finer details.

humbug · 29 May 2020 at 17:09

It shouldn't feel "laggy" there is very little difference between an 8700K and a 1080TI vs a 3900X and a 5700XT, they are near identical for games and when someone says "Its Laggy" there must be an underlying issue to cause that if not for the hardware just being slow, like GT 1030 + Celeron slow...

hughythomas · 29 May 2020 at 18:20

Hi guys,

Thank you for your detailed replies.

It seems like overclocking via MSI Afterburner has helped (2100mhz on core of 5700XT) and my 3900X is now running at around 4.3Ghz.

HOWEVER, the problem still remains and having done some research I can confirm I have micro-stuttering.

I haven't owned a Radeon since the 4850 days (been NVIDIA ever since). The problem I have is that I can be on a very high FPS (say for example in Mordhau just now @ 150fps) and it FEELS like 35fps at best.

It's incredibly annoying and if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears!

My specs:

Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro (latest F12e BIOS)
AMD Ryzen 3900X @ 4.3Ghz
Corsair Hynix 16GB DDR4 (X.M.P profile enabled)
Samsung 960 Pro NVME
1000W Superflower PSU
Phanteks Luxe 719

Thank you!

nutsnut · 29 May 2020 at 18:23

What are all your temps like? Does it happen when you run cpu and gpu at stock settings?

nutsnut · 29 May 2020 at 18:28

Also worth enabling adaptive sync withing windows.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80369-microsoft-adds-variable-refresh-rate-setting-windows-10.html

LoadsaMoney · 29 May 2020 at 18:41

Try the old 19.12 drivers, as the 20 sets have had loads of problems, the stutterings still a known issue on the 5s even with the latest set.

Known Issues

Radeon RX Vega Series and Radeon VII graphics products may experience performance drops when Performance Metrics Overlay is open while a game is running.

Some game titles may experience hitching when Instant Replay is enabled on Radeon RX 5000 series system configurations.

Enhanced Sync may cause a black screen to occur when enabled on some games and system configurations. Any users who may be experiencing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled should disable it as a temporary workaround.

Using Edge™ web browser to playback video content with a multi display system configuration may cause a system hang or crash after extended periods of use.

Performance Metrics Overlay and Radeon WattMan incorrectly report higher than expected idle clock speeds on Radeon RX 5700 series graphics products. Performance and power consumption are not impacted by this incorrect reporting.

Some games may exhibit stutter intermittently during gameplay on Radeon RX 5000 series graphics products.

Radeon RX Vega series graphics products may experience a system crash or TDR when performing multiple task switches using Alt+Tab.

Desktop or In-game corruption may occur intermittently when HDR is enabled.

Some users may still experience black screen or system hang issues during extended periods of gameplay. AMD will continue to monitor and investigate reports of these issues closely.

Nutella33 · 29 May 2020 at 19:07

I would really recommend turning game mode off in windows. it's known to induce lag.

Phixsator · 29 May 2020 at 19:37

First off I would advise when troubleshooting stuff like this to do it with everything at stock. Stock should always work. After you've done troubleshooting you can tinker with one component at a time, undervolting, overclocking, or whatever you want to.

Second, I would download the latest drivers and install it, but remember to tick of factory reset and don't keep user settings. Also, install the latest chipset drivers.

Third, I would try disabling Fullscreen optimizations and enable high DPI scaling override(set to application) on the problems causing the problems.

Twinz · 29 May 2020 at 20:18

Phixsator said:
First off I would advise when troubleshooting stuff like this to do it with everything at stock. Stock should always work. After you've done troubleshooting you can tinker with one component at a time, undervolting, overclocking, or whatever you want to.

Second, I would download the latest drivers and install it, but remember to tick of factory reset and don't keep user settings. Also, install the latest chipset drivers.

Third, I would try disabling Fullscreen optimizations and enable high DPI scaling override(set to application) on the problems causing the problems.

+1 for starting with all stock. When so many variables are in play, you need as many "known good(s)" as possible.

I would even consider trying the RAM at JEDEC with a stock CPU and GPU.

Troezar · 29 May 2020 at 21:09

I find these issues really strange. Maybe I don't tinker enough but I've not had any driver issues, stutter, lag or anything else odd with my 3700X and 5700XT. The advice to revert everything to stock does seem the best bet.

hughythomas · 29 May 2020 at 21:16

nutsnut said:
I would take the normal approach of under volting the GPU and leaving at stock clocks, with the lower temps your GPU will boost higher for longer.

When you say your 3900x is clocked to 4.2ghz, is that a manual all core overclock?

My advice would be.
1. Remove Ryzen master
2. Leave CPU at stock, but with an undervolt of around 0.06v to 0.1v.
3. Leave GPU and memory clocks at stock, but undervolt to 1050mv - 1100mv.

I have the same built (3900x and 5700xt) and its butter smooth.

This fixed the issue guys - undervolting/underclocking the graphics card.

So usual culprit of heat. My bad! I'm not used to air cooling and just started overclocking the bejesus out of it straight away whilst i test the hardware. I monitored the temps in MSI Afterburner and quickly discovered one of the cores was reaching 100c. Not cool!

Tomorrow we are putting in custom water cooling into this Luxe 719 build which should improve things.

I've been taking photos the way through so will upload on here if that still exists (Project Logs?).

Thank you for your quick responses!

Best,

Tom

Troezar · 29 May 2020 at 21:21

hughythomas said:
This fixed the issue guys.

So usual culprit of heat. My bad! I'm not used to air cooling and just started overclocking the bejesus out of it straight away whilst i test the hardware. Tomorrow we are putting in custom water cooling to the Luxe 719 which should improve things.

I've been taking photos the way through so will upload on here if that still exists (Project Logs?).

Thank you for your quick responses!

Best,

Tom

Good news, I've read of similar issues being attributed to AMD, probably the same cause. Still, a nice easy fix