Stuttering issues in PC games

[Agent67]

Are you running dual channel memory? Or just a single 8GB stick?

Yes.

 

[zll]

Yes.

That's probably a big issue.

 

[Agent67]

Firstly, 2 cores and 8Gb of RAM is just not enough these days. If you want to play games smoothly, you really need to aim for a setup with at least 4 cores with 16Gb (2x8Gb) DDR4 3000Mhz.


But I know that's expensive so let's have a look at everything else.

Do you have 2x4Gb or a single 8Gb stick instead? If you only have one stick, that's worse as single channel is seriously stuttery in gaming.
When I had to send ram for repairs, I ran one stick and even with an i9 and GTX1080Ti it made Gears of War 5 stutter.

I did buy around two months ago but the RAM was faulty and caused my graphics to constantly crash. Had to return to the old single stick I had.

Not sure if I have a GPU problem or a monitor problem.

So something weird started happening this afternoon. I was busy listening to music on Youtube and posting here on the forum, and then all of a sudden, my monitor goes blank/black/off. I thought, "Oh that's odd?". I plug out the HDMI cable from both the monitor itself and the graphics card (ASUS...

mybroadband.co.za

Thread related.

Edit : Also, I see your GPU is downclocking a lot from the Afterburner screenshots. Go into the NVIDIA Control Panel and change the settings for Battlefield so that it's set to Prefer Maximum Performance. Should keep the GPU from downclocking.

I have an AMD RX580?

 

[grok]

Long shot maybe & haven't read the thread, but I'm following Ilmago's skyblock 1.19 series on Youtube and he complained about an underperforming card for 2 years.

Turns out the card wasn't seated properly, was the cause of all his issues.

 

[Agent67]

Long shot maybe & haven't read the thread, but I'm following Ilmago's skyblock 1.19 series on Youtube and he complained about an underperforming card for 2 years.

Turns out the card wasn't seated properly, was the cause of all his issues.

Sure, but the problem is this doesn't happen with all games. If it did, then that would've been an option.

Perhaps my CPU is just too shite?

 

[IssiAmd]

Sure, but the problem is this doesn't happen with all games. If it did, then that would've been an option.

Perhaps my CPU is just too shite?

It sounds a like a bottleneck as others have mentioned.
You need to run an FPS monitor while playing to see where the bottleneck is.
The culprit will be the one that's always running at a 100%.
My money is on the CPU

 

[Agent67]

Ok.

If I were to get the money/decide to upgrade CPU, which of these would be the best (sub R2500 for the CPU alone)?

Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU

Buy Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU

Buy AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

 

[Brawler]

Sorry to say but I think it is just hardware getting long in the tooth. You are going to have to fiddle endlessly to optimize.

And to make matters worse, with PC gaming the problems never fully go away. Over the years even with relatively high-end hardware (i7 8700, 2070s, 6700XT, 3060ti, 32GB ram, G-Sync certified monitor) I've had games that just stutter for no reason at all (BFV was terrible with this), screen tearing and low FPS even though the CPU/GPU and RAM are only being used 50%.

Then we get the high pings in SA for games not hosted here. Makes me question why I do it sometimes.

 

[Forum Reader]

Firstly, 2 cores and 8Gb of RAM is just not enough these days. If you want to play games smoothly, you really need to aim for a setup with at least 4 cores with 16Gb (2x8Gb) DDR4 3000Mhz.


But I know that's expensive so let's have a look at everything else.

Do you have 2x4Gb or a single 8Gb stick instead? If you only have one stick, that's worse as single channel is seriously stuttery in gaming.
When I had to send ram for repairs, I ran one stick and even with an i9 and GTX1080Ti it made Gears of War 5 stutter.

If you only have one 8Gb stick, I would suggest starting with adding a second stick of roughly the same speed/latency (we can help you check this in CPU-Z).
I would also suggest reformatting Windows and using the latest drivers - I've been surprised in the past at how much of a difference it can actually make.


Edit : Also, I see your GPU is downclocking a lot from the Afterburner screenshots. Go into the NVIDIA Control Panel and change the settings for Battlefield so that it's set to Prefer Maximum Performance. Should keep the GPU from downclocking.

Running in single channel doesn't cause issues for me. Been using 2x4Gb sticks and a single 8Gb stick in 3 ram slots for the last 3 years.

Sounds like his RAM is maxing out and he needs more or his CPU is bottlenecking.

 

[NR7]

Running in single channel doesn't cause issues for me. Been using 2x4Gb sticks and a single 8Gb stick in 3 ram slots for the last 3 years.

Sounds like his RAM is maxing out and he needs more or his CPU is bottlenecking.

That's because you aren't running just single channel. Running 3 sticks (4Gb, 4Gb, 8Gb) means using something called flex mode - basically 2 sticks running dual channel and the rest is single channel.

Running a single stick is worse.

 

[NR7]

Ok.

If I were to get the money/decide to upgrade CPU, which of these would be the best (sub R2500 for the CPU alone)?

Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU

Buy Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU

Buy AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

CPU (R2099) : https://www.wootware.co.za/amd-100-...6ghz-4-2ghz-boost-socket-am4-desktop-cpu.html
Motherboard (R1491) : https://www.wootware.co.za/gigabyte-a520m-s2h-amd-am4-socket-a520-micro-atx-desktop-motherboard.html
2x8Gb 3600MHz RAM (R1069) : https://www.wootware.co.za/g-skill-...-3200mhz-cl16-1-35v-black-desktop-memory.html

That's what I'd save up for if I was in your position. The R5 5500 is also a 6 core versus the 4 core i3 12100f.

 

[ponder]

Ok.

If I were to get the money/decide to upgrade CPU, which of these would be the best (sub R2500 for the CPU alone)?

Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU

Buy Intel BX8071512100F Core i3-12100F Quad Core 3.30GHz 10nm 12MB L3 Alder Lake LGA1700 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU

Buy AMD 100-100000147BOX Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.2GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop APU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU

Buy AMD 100-100000644BOX Ryzen 5 4500 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.1GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

It's more important to look at total budget, I would personally go for an i3 12400f and go with a cheap MB and RAM. The 12400f is a little beast of a CPU.

 

[OhYeah84]

So I'm getting stuttering in various PC games for some reason. It's hard to describe the "stuttering" per se, but it's like, it would run at 60 fps, then quickly jump to 40 fps, then back up to 55 fps, then 38 fps, etc. Almost as if everything is jumping on screen so to speak... It's extremely jarring.

Specs:

i3-7100
8 GB RAM
RX 580 4GB
1TB HDD
120 GB SSD

I'm not sure what the hell it could be, since I'm pretty much forced to turn all the settings down to low 1080p, and even then I get it.
I have turned VSync on in almost all my games to see if it'll help and in some cases DX12, but not by much (except Hitman 2).

I'm not sure what's going on, since a game like Battlefield V, I ran with pretty much the same build except I had a GTX 750 Ti 4GB instead of the RX. Same settings and no stuttering.

Games like Rocket League, CSGO, etc at least work perfectly (on 1080p Medium/High settings).

For example, I pass the minimum requirements for Forza Horizon 4 and Serious Sam 4, yet in both I get stuttering. Even with 1080p low...

Does anyone know what the problem could be here? Since it makes no sense to qualify the minimum requirements for a game yet that same game you're playing is stuttering at low settings at 1080p.

Could very well be your CPU. the i3 is awesome for general office work applications but won't run games very well. A bit of extra RAM won't hurt either.

 

[OhYeah84]

So I'm getting stuttering in various PC games for some reason. It's hard to describe the "stuttering" per se, but it's like, it would run at 60 fps, then quickly jump to 40 fps, then back up to 55 fps, then 38 fps, etc. Almost as if everything is jumping on screen so to speak... It's extremely jarring.

Specs:

i3-7100
8 GB RAM
RX 580 4GB
1TB HDD
120 GB SSD

I'm not sure what the hell it could be, since I'm pretty much forced to turn all the settings down to low 1080p, and even then I get it.
I have turned VSync on in almost all my games to see if it'll help and in some cases DX12, but not by much (except Hitman 2).

I'm not sure what's going on, since a game like Battlefield V, I ran with pretty much the same build except I had a GTX 750 Ti 4GB instead of the RX. Same settings and no stuttering.

Games like Rocket League, CSGO, etc at least work perfectly (on 1080p Medium/High settings).

For example, I pass the minimum requirements for Forza Horizon 4 and Serious Sam 4, yet in both I get stuttering. Even with 1080p low...

Does anyone know what the problem could be here? Since it makes no sense to qualify the minimum requirements for a game yet that same game you're playing is stuttering at low settings at 1080p.

Could very well be your CPU. the i3 is awesome for general office work applications but won't run games very well. A bit of extra RAM won't hurt either.

 

[zll]

Sorry to say but I think it is just hardware getting long in the tooth. You are going to have to fiddle endlessly to optimize.

And to make matters worse, with PC gaming the problems never fully go away. Over the years even with relatively high-end hardware (i7 8700, 2070s, 6700XT, 3060ti, 32GB ram, G-Sync certified monitor) I've had games that just stutter for no reason at all (BFV was terrible with this), screen tearing and low FPS even though the CPU/GPU and RAM are only being used 50%.

Then we get the high pings in SA for games not hosted here. Makes me question why I do it sometimes.

My PC:

Ryzen 3600
16 GB Ram
RX5700
Dell 244hz 24 inch monitor

I've never had an issue at all with any of the games I play, which various from esports titles to games like God of War and the new Spiderman.

Ping is another story, but that's not down to the PC.

 

[Agent67]

Sorry to say but I think it is just hardware getting long in the tooth. You are going to have to fiddle endlessly to optimize.

And to make matters worse, with PC gaming the problems never fully go away. Over the years even with relatively high-end hardware (i7 8700, 2070s, 6700XT, 3060ti, 32GB ram, G-Sync certified monitor) I've had games that just stutter for no reason at all (BFV was terrible with this), screen tearing and low FPS even though the CPU/GPU and RAM are only being used 50%.

That's the problem, I could run most games at 1080p Low, no problem. Even on a card that doesn't technically support 1080p or when my CPU doesn't qualify for minimum requirements...

So when this stuttering **** started with some games, it caught me off guard...

 

[s0lar]

And to make matters worse, with PC gaming the problems never fully go away. Over the years even with relatively high-end hardware (i7 8700, 2070s, 6700XT, 3060ti, 32GB ram, G-Sync certified monitor) I've had games that just stutter for no reason at all (BFV was terrible with this), screen tearing and low FPS even though the CPU/GPU and RAM are only being used 50%.

Sounds like you are ready for console gaming. Kiss these issues goodbye..

 

[Brawler]

Sounds like you are ready for console gaming. Kiss these issues goodbye..

I notice them on the console as well but as there are no settings to tweak, I just forget about it.

I think some people are just more sensitive to FPS drop / stutter / etc and I am one of them. Back in the day I was happy at 1080P 60 and now I get upset when something isn't ultra smooth at 1440p 165hz

 

[Agent67]

Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy at 1080p. Didn't see any graphical settings specifically other than the resolution.

Worked perfectly.

 

[Soul Assassin]

The original vs this graph is 90% vs 30% CPU usage, your CPU maxes out, your frametime jumps and that's a stutter.