Bought new rig, frequent stutters/frame spiking? i5 9600k, Z390 AORUS PRO & 16 GB DDR4

[jonny321321]

Is it possible for a recording of the stutter? Does the screen freeze for a spilt second, does the audio skip, are some games affected more than others, does it occur if you stand still in game and is there anything which effects the frequency and intensity of it? Also, do the stutters occur at any particular point (e.g loading asset or key input), can you reproduce it at certain points in a game scene? If you reboot the PC is it improved or the same?

Have you tried disconnecting all peripherals (minus monitor of course) to see if it helps?

Whilst the reviews you linked have a frametime anomaly they are less frequent and possibly over longer runs. The last afterburner graph you linked for example is very abnormal, even for a 9600K. Interestingly it looks to spike in some kind of rhythm.

Having skimed through your pastebin I would say it is unlikely to be a hardware fault with the components (have they been stress tested?). Configuration issue possibly, but I don't think anything is faulty providing there is no other problems with the computer and because you have already ruled out many components. Did you have another build before this one? Was that fine?

I guess you have tried the usual 'fixes' like disable fullscreen optimisation, disable game mode, disable DVR, remove XBox app and so on. Have you checked for the standby memory issue which is sometimes the cause of stutter? (thread)

You could also try collecting a performance trace with Windows Performance Analyzer which helps diagnose software issues (Nvidia guide). The results are a bit confusing, though if you filter the graphs to when the stutters occur (often manifest as a gap in the DX frame chart) you can see if anything abnormal only happens at that time. To see the DX frame graph you usually have to disable fullscreen optimization on the games exe.

Finally I would try a different power outlet/extension lead. Whilst unlikely I have seen a stuttering problem before due to a faulty surge protector.

As far as whether or not the audio skips during a spike, I'm not entirely sure because it's not as if I have the game music on. However, my impression is that the audio doesn't skip/repeat. Yes, certain games are more affected than others. Fortnite and CS GO the spikes are more in the 23-27ms region. In Black Ops 4 it's more around the 70ms region. However, the severity of the spikes do vary according to what the CPU is clocked at. Black Ops 4 is heavy on the CPU and utilises the AVX instruction set.

Even with afterburner off I can feel the spike (particularly when it's 100ms in the last graph @ 3ghz)

It occurs consistently whether I'm moving around or not. I've left it afk, alt-tabbed, keyboard and mouse disconnected and the same spikes still occur at the same interval. I've not noticed anything to affect this interval, it's pretty consistent and doesn't seem to be related to asset loading/disk load. Exactly the same whether or not the computer has been for time or freshly rebooted.

So it doesn't seem related to the mouse or keyboard and I have nothing else plugged in. I have also tried HDMI and DVI-D with a separate monitor to the same effect.

I had a previous build, but I never exactly monitored the frame time before, didn't experience stutters so I had no need to.

I have gone through all the disable fullscreen optimizations, game DVR etc, and tried the EmptyStandbyList.exe fix for the Win 10 OS versions it's relevant to. Given that the EmptyStandbyFix only needs running every 5 mins or so and these occur more frequently, I wouldn't have thought it was the cause.


My PC is in my shed, I did try bringing it up to the main house and testing it there, exact same problems. I tried different extension leads too.

try limiting framerate to 30 and 60 to see if it still stutters.

what background apps do you have running?

I don't install anything other than the bare minimum. I am quite neurotic in this sense. I have yet to try limiting the frames. I suppose it might add more emphasis on the CPU/RAM but I've tried 50% render resolution in Black Ops 4 (GPU usage drastically reduced), the last graph shows that. With Black Ops 4, both the GPU and CPU usage are pegged quite high.


It appears to me that the more emphasis I place on the CPU (either by running at a lower clock hz or taking load off the GPU) the more prominent the spikes.

 

[youdsy]

As far as whether or not the audio skips during a spike, I'm not entirely sure because it's not as if I have the game music on. However, my impression is that the audio doesn't skip/repeat. Yes, certain games are more affected than others. Fortnite and CS GO the spikes are more in the 23-27ms region. In Black Ops 4 it's more around the 70ms region. However, the severity of the spikes do vary according to what the CPU is clocked at. Black Ops 4 is heavy on the CPU and utilises the AVX instruction set.

Even with afterburner off I can feel the spike (particularly when it's 100ms in the last graph @ 3ghz)

It occurs consistently whether I'm moving around or not. I've left it afk, alt-tabbed, keyboard and mouse disconnected and the same spikes still occur at the same interval. I've not noticed anything to affect this interval, it's pretty consistent and doesn't seem to be related to asset loading/disk load. Exactly the same whether or not the computer has been for time or freshly rebooted.

So it doesn't seem related to the mouse or keyboard and I have nothing else plugged in. I have also tried HDMI and DVI-D with a separate monitor to the same effect.

I had a previous build, but I never exactly monitored the frame time before, didn't experience stutters so I had no need to.

I have gone through all the disable fullscreen optimizations, game DVR etc, and tried the EmptyStandbyList.exe fix for the Win 10 OS versions it's relevant to. Given that the EmptyStandbyFix only needs running every 5 mins or so and these occur more frequently, I wouldn't have thought it was the cause.


My PC is in my shed, I did try bringing it up to the main house and testing it there, exact same problems. I tried different extension leads too.






I don't install anything other than the bare minimum. I am quite neurotic in this sense. I have yet to try limiting the frames. I suppose it might add more emphasis on the CPU/RAM but I've tried 50% render resolution in Black Ops 4 (GPU usage drastically reduced), the last graph shows that. With Black Ops 4, both the GPU and CPU usage are pegged quite high.


It appears to me that the more emphasis I place on the CPU (either by running at a lower clock hz or taking load off the GPU) the more prominent the spikes.

yeah thats why i suggested capping FPS as it will take load off CPU.