High FPS But Not Smooth.

[BeadyRoller]

Hi guys, had this problem for a while now and it's driving me crazy.
I have high FPS in most games but even at high FPS the games don't feel smooth, it's hard to explain really. I may have 120FPS but it feels more like 40-50, especially when looking around. It's sort of like screen tearing but not really and I wouldn't really class them as stutters either, it's just not... smooth, feels choppy. I don't know how else to describe it. Sorry I can't be more precise.

I've recently upgraded my PC to a 5600x and 3070 graphics card and the problems still persist.

Rest of my specs are:

B550 A-Pro Motherboard
16gb 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM
Corsair RM750 Power Supply
1TB 970 EVO M.2 Drive.

I even have a G-SYNC monitor, it's a DELL S2716DG 144hz. I have noticed that if the FPS goes higher than 144hz it goes really choppy which is weird.

Things I have tried:

Updated the BIOS.
Put V-SYNC on in Nvidia CP and off in the actual game.
Downloaded RivaTuner to cap FPS so it never dips below a certain number.
Lowered my monitor refresh rate to 120hz - funnily this seemed to have a positive effect but if it dips below 120 it starts to feel choppy again - this was alongside VSYNC being on in Nvidia CP by the way.
Checked RAM is running on XMP.
Monitored frametime using RivaTuner - the spikes are definitely correlating with choppiness on the screen.

So yeah, I'm at a loss and it's really getting me down that I've spent all this money and it's not smooth. Really frustrating.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Appreciate any help, cheers.

 

[BeadyRoller]

From what I can see the newest drivers are installed. Says it's running 144hz in Windows and NVidia CP.

 

[BeadyRoller]

What games are you having issues with? I don't recall having vsync enabled on Nvidia control panel, just enabled GSync for full screen and borderless window modes for all game applications. There is an option to show an indicator that GSync is functioning too.

I was having similar feelings with a select few games, I've since doubled my RAM to 32GB and it's alleviated the issues I was having. Not saying that is the case here, but just may be useful depending on what games you were having issues with - mine were most noticeably Escape from Tarkov and BF2042.

I have had Vsync off mostly, read up that turning it on could fix it and did see a small improvement to be fair on Warzone so have left it. GSYNC is definitely enabled enabled in NVidia, have triple checked many times. I have noticed that sometimes I get a notification from Windows saying it's activated and sometimes not though.

Interesting about the RAM but really don't want to spend any more than I have, feel like my set up shouldn't be having problems really.

The games I am experiencing it in is Tarkov (like yourself), DayZ, Warzone and Halo Infinite. Haven't tried any other games yet but it's 4/4 so far so it can't just be a game problem.

 

[BeadyRoller]

so it is a proper fps drop.
Check if CPU usage looks different in these spikes

It is a proper drop but not like a massive one. For example - the FPS going from 90 to 78 or something, I can feel it. It's not like it's dipping a huge amount. I seem to be able to notice every little change in FPS which is ruining the experience. Will check CPU usage next time I'm on.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Also in the games you are playing what sort of frametimes are you experiencing.

Have you checked Gsync is working correctly, by using something like https://www.nvidia.com.tr/coolstuff/demos#!/g-sync

I have only played around with it briefly today. Just got the overlay up and noticed when a big spike happened I'd see a drop in frames in game. Do I need to look in to that further?

What will that demo do exactly you linked mate?

 

[BeadyRoller]

Are you running the games in fullscreen or windowed/borderless windowed? Try changing that.

I have the DELL S2721DGFA connected via DP and response time (on the monitor) set to "fast". Check a couple reviews to figure out what the best option for you is. Hardware Unboxed usually do full reviews and optimised settings.

On the software side, I have GSYNC and Low Latency mode enabled in CP. I didn't set VSYNC or a frame cap in CP, which is apparently best practice, but this works better for me.

As a last resort, maybe check the cable you're using.

Full screen. Read that is the best way? Also got my monitor set to Fast in the monitor settings. I believe I have Low Latency enabled also but will double check.

Going to try changing out the DP cable as well.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Have you tried locking the GPU core clock in afterburner at a set frequency like 1900mhz @ 0.950mv etc?

I haven't done anything like that. Get a bit scared with messing around with that side of things truth be told!

My 1080ti had exactly the same issue so I don't think it's the card.

 

[BeadyRoller]

You feel it through a less responsive mouse/camera movement.
So it will have to do with CPU

I don't see how the CPU could be causing me issues. Only just bought the 5600x, would be a bit gutted if that was the case!

 

[BeadyRoller]

It's safe to do as your actually lowering the cards voltage, just press CTRL + F on msi afterburner to bring up the voltage curve then on the main msi screen set the core clock to -500 and hit apply which should bring the curve right down then back on the voltage / frequency screen find the point at 0.950mv and drag it up to 1900mhz and hit apply which should flatten the curve.

What will this do?

May be worth having Afterburner running in the background with the data graphs, play a game for a bit and let it happen, tab out and take a look. I have mine set for things like FPS, frametime, CPU usage, GPU usage, RAM usage, VRAM usage, clock speeds, memory speeds. It all helps to get an idea of what may be causing it. Is it a Founders Edition 3070? I've found mine was hitting power limits quite easily and that was also lending itself to microstutters ingame.

Yeah I can do that and see what I find.

I do have the 3070 founders edition. Really? That doesn't fill me with confidence haha. I did have this issue with my old card though so don't think it's card related but could be wrong.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Have you checked Gsync is working correctly, by using something like https://www.nvidia.com.tr/coolstuff/demos#!/g-sync

Right, so I've just downloaded and tested this. It wont even left me choose the GSYNC option in the demo, only lets me go between VSYNC and NO VSYNC. Also, just launched in to DayZ with the GSYNC indicator ticked in the NVidia CP and there's no indicator in game. Something seems not to be working properly with GSYNC?

 

[BeadyRoller]

You might need to enable a setting in your monitors config menu, adaptive sync on etc.

When I bring up the monitor menu it doesn't say anything about GSYNC or adaptive sync, have looked many times. When I just turned on my PC a message from Windows came up in bottom right corner saying "GSYNC display detected", that doesn't necessarily mean it's connected though.

Is connected via DP.

 

[BeadyRoller]

The power limits are quite conservative on the 3070 it seems, but like the previous post was suggesting, ctrl+F is the overclock scanner tool in Afterburner. Run that and it'll generate a reasonable overclock curve for the card. What you can then do is drag the clocks down and in essence "undervolt" the card. Whilst it seems counterintuitive, it can actually result in a more stable card and overclock as it doesn't draw as much power and can still maintain good perform without slowdown.

Will look in to this next once I know for sure GSYNC is working.

What else do you have running on your PC? Which virus-checker are you using? Something is blipping the CPU? Or are you running out of RAM or VRAM?

Nothing really. Have chrome sometimes on my second monitor. Would say it could be the second monitor but had the same issues when I only had 1 monitor. Just using Windows virus checker. 16gb ram and a 3070 so should be ok?

 

[BeadyRoller]

If you load up a game with gsync then it should say in the monitors OSD if it's running gsync check around 9:20 in this vid.

It constantly says GSYNC mode for me even when not in a game. Only got the full screen option ticked in Nvidia as well.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Put Task Manager on your second monitor with the CPU graph active and see if it peaks when you get a frame-rate drop. Then have the Process view open and see what is using the CPU.

Just had a little go and everything seems to be ok to my eyes. Pretty consistent. No proper spikes on the CPU tab.

It's early days but I have just turned on "Variable Refresh Rate" in Windows graphics settings and launched DayZ. Probably the smoothest it's played in ages. GSYNC indicator was working as well.

 

[BeadyRoller]

I don't want to speak to soon but it looks like turning on "Variable Refresh Rate" has drastically improved everything. Everything feels a hell of a lot smoother now. I'm guessing GSYNC was not activating because that was turned off. How the hell did I miss it?

 

[BeadyRoller]

So yeah, I did speak to soon. Didn't last long did it, maybe it was just a placebo?

Anyway, I'm pulling my hair out trying to fix this, just don't know what to do.

Since we last spoke I've enabled BAR in BIOS, disabled High Precision Event Timer and even disconnected the USB 3 cable on motherboard as that fixed it for someone.

It's like I can feel every little frame drop, even if it goes from 140-130, I can see it, there's a tiny stutter, just not smooth at all.

So down about it.

 

[BeadyRoller]

@BeadyRoller it sounds like your G-Sync is not actually engaged properly, try going into Nvidia control panel, firstly in "display tab" set your resolution and refresh rate to 144hz, then in the "3d settings" tab change it from fixed refresh into G-sync mode, next go to the "set up G-Sync" tab and make sure "enable G-Sync" is ticked.
also in the "3d settings" tab, you will need to set "low latency mode" to Ultra, and set a suitable "max frame rate" of something like 142

PS you would notice some improvement last time by enabling the fixed refresh but G-sync is better, the two shouldn't be working at the same time.

All of this is already setup DK. Always has been. Nothing changes.

 

[BeadyRoller]

well I didnt see that anywhere so thought it was worth mentioning, you are welcome regardless

Thanks for trying to help, appreciated.

 

[BeadyRoller]

https://youtu.be/p4MiBgNemyw

Here is a small video I took to show off the problem. As you can see (I hope), it's very choppy when I look around. It's almost asif my mouse gets caught on the trees and slows down. Hard to explain.