Stuttering in games after upgrade to 6700

[Nate75]

Hi.

Wondering what your guys thoughts are re an issue I am having across all games.

Basically, and as title, I am getting a lot of stuttering in games.

I upgraded from a 480 8GB Red Devil to a Sapphire 6700 10GB.

I also upgraded my 450W Superflower Gold PSU to a Corsair 1000W Platinum PSU.


Okay on first 3D Mark bench I got around a 120% increase in GPU score, happy days.

But then on playing anything, Borderlands 3 and Horizon Zero Dawn the stuttering is horrendeus.

I must admit I got a little paraniod thinking it was the new card so swapped it out and put the 480 back in but it's the same, I'm just not sure if it was as bad.


I'll admit the rest of my setup now is aging, i5 6400, 2 SATA drives and a Samsung SSD for the OS. RAM is decent 16GB DDR4, board is ASUS Z170-E.

But I guess I am just not sure what to do next. I have one finger on the Windows 10 refresh button and take it all off, apps and docs as I have most backed up etc.

Or maybe I have wired up the new PSU incorrectly if that's even possible, all the components work right.

However, I really don't want to do this really if I don't need to (re-install), or spend more just now...

With the stuttering it screams of memory be it RAM or storage. So what I did was remove Horizon Zero Dawn off one of the HD's and put it onto the Samsung SSD.

This to my shock actually made the stuttering twice as bad.


Further to this I just ran the TimeSpy stress test which came back 99%. And the WD HD tool which said the mechanical drives are fine (was only the quick test).

So I guess my options are to re-install Windows 10, and if still bad look at getting rid of the mechanical drives and maybe grabbing an M2 drive perhaps.

Or should I be looking at a Ryzen upgrade, it would be nice to use AMD Smart Access Memory...


A tad confused!

Cheers,

Nate.

 

[Nate75]

Which driver versions have you tried? Did you uninstall them prior to putting the 6700 in?

I put the one recommended for the 6700 over the exisitng driver. After the issues did a clear driver install using a newer one that came out at the time
Driver Version
22.20.19.15-220922a1-383925E-AMD-Software-Adrenalin-Edition

Do you have any monitoring software installed that can check temps and usage? Just task manager would probably do.

CPUID - temps seem fine

Did you change the settings on the pre-installed games?

I tried all manner of settings for the games, including setting everything to very low. Read lots on texture streaming but nothing I tried helped really.

3D Mark has no stuttering?

3D Mark has no stuttering but it looks like it loads everything into memory ahead of the tests running

What is the monitor and refresh rate?

ACER (forget the model just now) 144Hz screen

One thing I just noticed in the AMD app and don't know really if it has any bearing but the VRAM speed is near maxxed out just sat in Windows.

 

[Nate75]

Has the refesh rate changed from 144 to 60 in windows?

Shows as 144Hz in advanced display settings

 

[Nate75]

and the usage monitoring (particularly when stutters/stuttering is happening)?

Okay just did the Borderlands 3 bench, the stutters always happen at the same time (even when the first menu screen loads).

The 4 CPUs are all at around 85-92%, I did see one of them max at 95% for a moment.

 

[Nate75]

What about GPU, network and hdd/ssd?

I don't see that in CPUID HW Monitor.

Well, I see utilisation with regard space and the reletive temps. But not the activity as such.

Is there a "better" benchmarking tool you suggest perhaps?

In any case I am going to pick this back up tomorrow now, thanks for your help here (and others)

edit - I am referring to storage here

 

[Nate75]

Does it do it more in games when there is "lots going on"?

Eg if you find a part of the level with no bad guys etc around, walk right up to a wall, stay still and see what your fps is, and if you are getting any stutter, Vs when for example there are lots of bad guys and action etc.

As mentioned the stutter happens even when signing into Borderlands 3 (the whirlwinds in the background of the loading screen, if you have ever played it?), let alone benchmarks etc. I started Terminator Resistance on Friday and when the, or a new level starts it will stutter. It's 100% memory throughput which I will test tonight as per advice above.

 

[Nate75]

You've just had a huge GPU upgrade.
Your CPU is not fast enough for newer GPUs hence this stutter.

3dmark won't stutter as its mainly GPU benchmark.

Try capping your fps to reduce the stutter. Otherwise its a cpu upgrade.

I swapped out back to the 480 Red Devil as said. I did try capping the frames, honestly I tried a huge amount of different end user settings.

Anyways, I have checked out gpu.userbenchmark re the Ryzen system I am thinking about (Ryzen 5 3600). Not a huge difference really, worth a look and nice to have.

It will be RAM / storage. I will do the suggested later by @Tetras. Seems silly that I forgot about Task Manager, Performance Monitor. Sometimes the obvious tools are right there!


@gavinh87 or maybe the GPU is now so throttled by the CPU it's making the issue so much more apparent Will check it out in any case - thanks for the advice

 

[Nate75]

For the record, you haven't been messing around trying to install windows 11 and enabling tpm, etc, right?

The CPU is not supported so no

 

[Nate75]

Apologies for the lack of an update but after doing further testing I can see the CPU being maxed out during the stuttering.


@Joe Jones I have not completed a fresh install for about 4 years so I need to consider this.

However, after seeing the spikes and I am heading toward the upgrade route.

Thinking of Ryzen 5600X with an X570 motherboard. Again any advice appreciated with regard the upgrade path.

Cheers.

 

[Nate75]

People are saying dead platform but I don't agree. There's some bargains still to be had on AM4 that will last the average user/gamer years here. I've just dropped in a 5800x3D to replace my 5600X which will then go in my second pc to replace my 3600. Hell the new Intel cpus are using a dead platform if it comes to that. I reckon you'll get a good 5 years yet out of AM4.

Yep been looking at this. With my budget and requirements AM4 I think is what I will be buying.

I am running a years old i5 6400 which tbf is only being needed to be replaced now for my needs etc.