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Graphics Card issue diagnostic help please! Micro stutter

MoridinUK

MoridinUK

MoridinUK

Associate
Joined
16 Jun 2014
Posts
395
Hey all,

I have an older but solid system. The details are below. I'm unsure why but I experience micro stutter in many games. Some it's intermittent and restarting the whole system helps, others it is all the time.

I don't see the stutter when running furmark and the CPU is happy being prime95 torture tested.
Subnautica is the game I'm playing and noticed this most. The screen has a micro stutter or even judder at times. I have a few questions about what it could be and what I've tried.

I've tried running this with g-sync and V Sync turned on and off and the issue remains. Afterburner shows I'm almost always running at higher fps than the 75 Hz framerate but I still see micro-stutter and with v-sync and g-sync off even a little tearing where I see horizontal boxes form where the image tears.
I've tried to increase the GPU voltage in MSI afterburner by 20% but that did not improve the situation. Other games, Anno 1800, frostpunk, stellaris also have this stutter but not as often as Subnautica. The MSI Afterburner graphs show the GPU isn't maxing (the CPU seems to be when G-sync and V-sync are off even at 1080 dp) Both GPU and CPU are under less strain with g-sync enabled. The voltage limit graph in MSI Afterburner does jump to 1 even after boosting the power to the card. Which also switched the No load limit from 1 to 0 of course). At these times the GPU is pulling down about 220 watts. If Furmark is sett to the camera moving test I see the stutter too (but not when the camera doesn't move.

The problem persists both at the monitor native 2k (2560x1440) and the easier 1080 (1920x1080). FPS is looking solid at 140 G-sync on v-sync off and 130ish with both off (for some reason, maybe I was just rendering a more difficult part of the game!)

Any ideas on what to check or try? Or what to invest in? I was thinking a 3070 may work but now I've seen the CPU doing so much work I fear it could be a wasted investment.

System:
Graphics card: EVGA Geforce GTX 1080
CPU: I5-6600K overclocked to 4105 (solid overclock doesn't fail a prime95 torture test)
Mem: 16gb DDR4 3900 Mhz
Mainboard: ROG Maximus VIII Gene
HardDrive: SSD (on a pci-e slot I think not a sata cable, at least the system drive is, game is installed on a sata SSD)
PSU: Antec Gold (IIRC I'd need to open the case to check)
Monitor: AOC Q3279WG5B (g-sync compatible 75hz)
Monitor cable: Display port

Please any help!
 
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This is what I would do. Update bios to latest. Update chipset drivers to latest. Update graphics card drivers to latest. If the problem is still there. Start removing software you don’t use. I would also check startup programs in task manager and disable programs you don’t need. I would also be temped to reinstall windows 10 completely. What anti virus software do you use. I know mcafee is a major cpu hog.
 
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eeii said:
This is what I would do. Update bios to latest. Update chipset drivers to latest. Update graphics card drivers to latest. If the problem is still there. Start removing software you don’t use. I would also check startup programs in task manager and disable programs you don’t need. I would also be temped to reinstall windows 10 completely. What anti virus software do you use. I know mcafee is a major cpu hog.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice.
I'll flash the mainboard bios and update chipset drivers tonight i hadn't checked that. I update graphics card drivers like an obsessive at the moment!
I'm relying on windows defender for anti-virus prepare to hide from everyone telling me I'm mad
There are a few programs I can stop in the tray, I'm unsure if I should stop msi afterburner and riva (puts my fps on the screen)?
 
Is there any OC on the GPU itself?

A while back I had a GPU with faulty memory that manifested as stutters and instability, but only when the memory clock jumped up under persistent high load was this apparent.

If it's mostly happening in the one title, then it could be it's a demanding game, or it could be something related to that title. For instance, a recent update to WoW has caused a bunch of performance issues even on high end hardware because it doesn't cache shaders in memory by default.

Is there anything which might causes issues with the amount of GPU memory, such as trying to store very high quality assets?
 
When running the game and using MSI afterburner can you see what each CPU core is loaded too. My first instinct would be you are running into a CPU bottleneck with only 4 cores and not HT.

Note, even if the CPU overall is at say 60% load you could actually have more than one core pegged at 100%. This can cause stutter or micro stutter which will be represented in decent average FPS but poor 1% or 0.1% lows.
 
You want to be gpu-limited (not cpu-limited) but also don't want your gpu to be maxed out (if it's busy it isn't available to respond so that causes lag).

aka... set a lower framerate limit for the game.
 
Photolysis said:
Is there any OC on the GPU itself?

A while back I had a GPU with faulty memory that manifested as stutters and instability, but only when the memory clock jumped up under persistent high load was this apparent.

If it's mostly happening in the one title, then it could be it's a demanding game, or it could be something related to that title. For instance, a recent update to WoW has caused a bunch of performance issues even on high end hardware because it doesn't cache shaders in memory by default.

Is there anything which might causes issues with the amount of GPU memory, such as trying to store very high quality assets?
Click to expand...
No OC on the gpu, but I have upped the voltage. It doesn't only happen in one game though it's worse there. And GPU memory didn't look exhausted. It's got 8gb to play with... I'll double check it, but even if I drop a lot of the quality settings, which should drop the need for shaders etc, it makes little difference. :( Thanks though!
oweneades said:
When running the game and using MSI afterburner can you see what each CPU core is loaded too. My first instinct would be you are running into a CPU bottleneck with only 4 cores and not HT.

Note, even if the CPU overall is at say 60% load you could actually have more than one core pegged at 100%. This can cause stutter or micro stutter which will be represented in decent average FPS but poor 1% or 0.1% lows.
Click to expand...
Yeah, with g-sync on the cpu looks fine, but with it off the cpu is under heavy load all four cores are high 80s low 90s. But with the sync on, where I'm not making more frames than I need the cpu looks happy. I'll play some more though, but I do think I'm cpu bound. Oddly dropping from 1440 to 1080 increased the load on the cpu! I don't get it! Thanks for the advice, Maybe a cpu upgrade, maybe a gpu I which would solve more issues?
throwaway4372 said:
You want to be gpu-limited (not cpu-limited) but also don't want your gpu to be maxed out (if it's busy it isn't available to respond so that causes lag).

aka... set a lower framerate limit for the game.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how to do this. But doesn't a lower framerate setting possibly cause miro-stutter? Or so I thought it did? because it the new frames wont meet up with the screen refresh? But I'll have a look to try!
 
Is the stuttering worse when playing an Unreal Engine 4 game? If so, it is a well known problem, to which various solutions have been proposed, to mediocre results [Use fast sync, borderless windows, low latency on, the list goes on and on...]
 
MoridinUK said:
I'm not sure how to do this. But doesn't a lower framerate setting possibly cause miro-stutter? Or so I thought it did? because it the new frames wont meet up with the screen refresh? But I'll have a look to try!
Click to expand...
A monitor with variable refresh rate (gsync, freesync) will make the screen refresh rate match the fps as long as it's within a range, something like 30-max iirc.
 
zer said:
Is the stuttering worse when playing an Unreal Engine 4 game? If so, it is a well known problem, to which various solutions have been proposed, to mediocre results [Use fast sync, borderless windows, low latency on, the list goes on and on...]
Click to expand...
How do I tell which games are unreal engine 4?
 
Use msi afterburner and monitor your cpu cores if one the cores is at 100% or near 100% it’s upgrade time
 
Without a new mainboard the max cpu the board supports is apparently the i7-7700k, still only 4 cores but faster and supports HT. Not sure it's worht the money instead of saving for a new mainboard, cpu and memory... :/
Also I never feel happy buying secondhand cpus...

Given that, what would be a good but cost-effective upgrade on the ROG maximus vIII gene, intel i5-6600k 16gb 3900 ddr4?
 
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MoridinUK said:
Without a new mainboard the max cpu the board supports is apparently the i7-7700k, still only 4 cores but faster and supports HT. Not sure it's worht the money instead of saving for a new mainboard, cpu and memory... :/
Also I never feel happy buying secondhand cpus...

Given that, what would be a good but cost-effective upgrade on the ROG maximus vIII gene, intel i5-6600k 16gb 3900 ddr4?
Click to expand...
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £260.50 (includes delivery: £10.50)​



​
 
Would I need a cooler?
Joxeon said:
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £260.50 (includes delivery: £10.50)​

​
​
​
Click to expand...
Looks good, should I be looking for a cooler too? I'm not sure I've the parts to shift my current one over...
 
I'm using the 6700k, which is pretty close to the 7700k, and starting to think about replacing it, so i wouldn't advise that upgrade.

Go for a bigger upgrade. I'd probably choose the 12400f, the amd equivalent looks fine too.
 
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