Why is my PC performing so badly, when I've spent so much money on it?

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 15:50

Firstly, here's my specs
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/8531045

I have 2x Acer Predator XB271UH 165Hz G-Sync Monitors.

This is a newly built rig, all parts were bought within the last 2 weeks (around £2,500 including monitors and all peripherals). However since I've built it it has been the worst piece of garbage I've ever spent money on so far, I'm really angry, upset and shocked by this experience.

So, what are my problems?

I get stutter in every app that uses Hardware Acceleration, whether that's Spotify app, Discord app, Firefox, Chrome etc etc, scrolling looks like I'm getting 20FPS or something, its like a slide show, also looks like the page is tearing whilst scrolling. It also does the same when scrolling on the start menu, settings, etc.
Games are just as bad as above, frames are about right, but even a drop from 140 to 139 causes the biggest judder/stutter.

I just don't know what to do next, short of sending everything back for a full refund, as it's clearly not working as it should.

What have I tried?

I've reinstalled numerous versions of Windows 10 from 1607 right the way to 1803 (I'm currently on 1803 as they all performed the same)
I've tried using onboard graphics, however I can only obtain a max of 60hz because my monitors only allow 60hz under HDMI and my mobo doesn't have a DP - This test is pointless.
Installed nvidia drivers ranging from 388.00 all the way to 397.55
Ran numerous benchmarking tests (such as the one above) and they all come back as "working normally" or within the range that they should be.
Tried putting "prefer max performance" in nvidia control panel and also "High Performance" in windows Power settings
Tried disabling all C-States in bios
Tried turning HPET off in Bios AND Windows
Updates Bios + all chipset drivers
Tried using debug mode in NVCP
Re-seated GPU and RAM
Reset bios to factory settings numerous times
Ran MEMTEST which came back with no errors
Turned hardware acceleration off on apps that use it, but scrolling becomes far far worse

After all of the above I still cannot get this resolved, do I have a faulty piece of hardware? Did I buy an incompatible piece of hardware? I really need to get this fixed. I'm practically begging for help here!

Thanks in advanced for any replies that come, I appreciate any single bit of help regarding getting this issue solved!

Rroff · 13 May 2018 at 15:59

You've a cocktail of things that can cause poor performance and stutter with hardware acceleration:

One of the recent updates to Spotify has done some strange things to hardware acceleration and some of the recent nVidia drivers + Firefox in combination have some issues as well - Spotify with Firefox and recent nVidia drivers all with hardware acceleration enabled = LOL for a good number of setups

Multimonitor especially with G-Sync in the mix can cause stutter (try with only one monitor) - playing with the multi-display/mixed-gpu acceleration settings in the nVidia control panel and using another setting other than optimal power management in the nVidia control panel can help there.

EDIT: If you've used any SSD optimisation tools (some fiddle with pagefile settings) and/or changed the pagefile setting try putting that back to Windows managed to test as I've seen it do odd things on systems sometimes with it disabled or configured too low.

Also try changing G-Sync between Fullscreen and Fullscreen and Windowed mode while alternatively trying with the V-Sync setting in the 3D Settings part of the nVidia control panel on and off - with G-Sync enabled this doesn't enable V-Sync it changes how G-Sync works.

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 16:03

Rroff said:
You've a cocktail of things that can cause poor performance and stutter with hardware acceleration:

One of the recent updates to Spotify has done some strange things to hardware acceleration and some of the recent nVidia drivers + Firefox in combination have some issues as well - Spotify with Firefox and recent nVidia drivers all with hardware acceleration enabled = LOL for a good number of setups

Multimonitor especially with G-Sync in the mix can cause stutter (try with only one monitor) - playing with the multi-display/mixed-gpu acceleration settings in the nVidia control panel and using another setting other than optimal power management in the nVidia control panel can help there.

Thanks for the reply. Its not just spotify/firefox that I get such problems, I pretty much get the bad scrolling/stutter in every app on my PC.

I've just unplugged my 2nd monitor to check performance, but before I did that I looked in nvidia control panel at the multi-display settings but couldn't find such an option? Did I miss something?

Rroff · 13 May 2018 at 16:05

In nVidia Control Panel under Manage 3D Settings there should be an option about half way down the list for "Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration" you will have to try all 3 settings though as depending on what is causing the issue it might not be as simple as just enabling one of them.

(Single display performance mode option is relevant to multi-monitor - in multi-monitor it means that the primary display will be the priority for performance while the secondary display will only update if it won't affect the primary one).

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 16:09

Rroff said:
In nVidia Control Panel under Manage 3D Settings there should be an option about half way down the list for "Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration" you will have to try all 3 settings though as depending on what is causing the issue it might not be as simple as just enabling one of them.

(Single display performance mode option is relevant to multi-monitor - in multi-monitor it means that the primary display will be the priority for performance while the secondary display will only update if it won't affect the primary one).

Yeah, I definitely don't have that option.

https://imgur.com/a/0V1bOsf

I also get the weird scrolling/stuttering with my 2nd display disconnected.

Rroff · 13 May 2018 at 16:13

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/6kefgj/multidisplaymixed_gpu_acceleration_not_in_3d/

Possible it is obsolete with those drivers dunno I've not really had a reason to play with it in awhile. Your screenshots seems to indicate G-Sync is off as well - was that intentional?

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 16:16

Rroff said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/6kefgj/multidisplaymixed_gpu_acceleration_not_in_3d/

Possible it is obsolete with those drivers dunno I've not really had a reason to play with it in awhile. Your screenshots seems to indicate G-Sync is off as well - was that intentional?

Yeah, I've turned that off during troubleshooting, just incase that's being problematic, but it appears its not the number one cause, as it still happens without it being on.

Mysterae_ · 13 May 2018 at 16:34

Covering the basics here, what video cable are you using? HDMI is terrible on my X34 gsync monitor (gsync only works over DP, I use it as a stop-gap for switching between onboard graphics and the 1080Ti's).

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 16:49

Mysterae_ said:
Covering the basics here, what video cable are you using? HDMI is terrible on my X34 gsync monitor (gsync only works over DP, I use it as a stop-gap for switching between onboard graphics and the 1080Ti's).

Using both the DisplayPort cables that came in the boxes to my XB271UH Monitors.

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 17:28

I'm starting to wonder if my GPU is maybe bad.

I get the same performance without the 2nd monitor connected.

pastymuncher · 13 May 2018 at 18:41

What make and model psu do you have?

VaderDSL · 13 May 2018 at 18:45

Can we grab a screenshot of device manager by any chance? with most of the categories expanded? Not running RAID or anything like that? Also does the same thing happen when only using 1 monitor?

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 19:20

pastymuncher said:
What make and model psu do you have?

CX 750M - Corsair

VaderDSL said:
Can we grab a screenshot of device manager by any chance? with most of the categories expanded? Not running RAID or anything like that? Also does the same thing happen when only using 1 monitor?

https://imgur.com/a/PO5gXME

Same performance on single monitor, no RAID.

Rroff · 13 May 2018 at 19:25

Oh random thought and probably not it but just in case if you have Samsung Magician running try completely stopping the UI for it - it used to have some bugs with the way it used DirectX that would cause issues with hardware acceleration and some games.

TBH though sounds like you are one of the people like in that reddit thread I linked to affected by the mess that seems to be Windows 10 + more recent nVidia drivers though

another reason I stuck with Windows 7 on my gaming PC.

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 19:27

I don't have Samsung Magician.

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 19:33

Rroff said:
Oh random thought and probably not it but just in case if you have Samsung Magician running try completely stopping the UI for it - it used to have some bugs with the way it used DirectX that would cause issues with hardware acceleration and some games.

TBH though sounds like you are one of the people like in that reddit thread I linked to affected by the mess that seems to be Windows 10 + more recent nVidia drivers though another reason I stuck with Windows 7 on my gaming PC.

8700K doesn't work in W7 though?

Rroff · 13 May 2018 at 19:39

You lose some benefits, non-trivial to get working, might have problems with some drivers. It is one reason I've not rushed to upgrade from my 4820K yet.

VaderDSL · 13 May 2018 at 20:31

As above, wonder why Montor Technology isn;t showing as GSYNC.

What does the setup GSYNC option, setup multiple displays and configure surround all show?

JL94x4 · 13 May 2018 at 21:30

VaderDSL said:
As above, wonder why Montor Technology isn;t showing as GSYNC.

What does the setup GSYNC option, setup multiple displays and configure surround all show?

I turned gsync off as a test to see if gsync was the problem. The problem remains.

jsmoke · 13 May 2018 at 21:38

Check cpu and gpu temps. Google cpuz I think it's called and download the hardware monitor.