Need help diagnosing my issue. Have been trying for months now.

[Max_No]

Hi, I have a desktop pc: ASUS B-550 F-Gaming, Ryzen 7 3800x, ASUS TUF RTX 3080 12GB, 2x32GB Corsair vengeance 3600Mhz, Kingston A2000 1TB M.2.
My issue is that the pc stutters a lot and in pretty much every game I play. In some games it is very random when the stutters occur, but in other games it will happen at the same time, every time. For example in FIFA 23, whenever it cuts to a replay there's a big stutter. It can often happen in cutscenes aswell, especially (but not only) at the last frame before it cuts away or to a new camera angle. In another game Final Fantasy 7 Remake there are some areas which cause stutters every second. In the games where the stutters are more random, I usually get 1-2 microstutters a minute.
When benchmarking my pc the performance seems to be about what is expected. I have sent my pc to repair, but he gave me the wrong diagnosis. He said it was the graphics card, which is what I had thought aswell. But after changing it, it didn't make a difference. I have tried almost anything inside Nvidia control panel with no luck. I've tried to adjust power options, underclocked my gpu and cpu, and have probably reinstalled windows 5 times, but nothing has worked yet. At this point I don't know what to do about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bruce]

let's get all your PC specs.
get Speccy from here; https://www.piriform.com/speccy/builds

in Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
now you can paste (Ctrl+V) that link into a post.

One component Speccy doesn’t cover is the Power Supply Unit, so please also include the make/model of the PSU.

just to flesh out the stuff you have already tried, when you did the clean re-install of Windows, did you then only install Windows Updates, the game and its updates, the required drivers and try that.
in other words, there could have been no other software to interfere, like OneDirve, anti-virus, etc.

 

[Max_No]

let's get all your PC specs.
get Speccy from here; https://www.piriform.com/speccy/builds

in Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
now you can paste (Ctrl+V) that link into a post.

One component Speccy doesn’t cover is the Power Supply Unit, so please also include the make/model of the PSU.

just to flesh out the stuff you have already tried, when you did the clean re-install of Windows, did you then only install Windows Updates, the game and its updates, the required drivers and try that.
in other words, there could have been no other software to interfere, like OneDirve, anti-virus, etc.

I did do a clean reinstall of windows, if that is what you mean? And I have also tried reinstalling it via a usb-drive.

 

[Bruce]

OK, that's what I was after, but also making sure that after you cleaned installed again, that you didn't install anything else that may interfere.

so all you want on the PC is Windows and one of those games that stutters - nothing else.
if it still stutters, it's got to be hardware or your connection.

 

[PeterOz]

I did do a clean reinstall of windows,

Did you install all the chipset drivers from Asus ?
When you are finished with the install, then install your drivers. Install the chipset first then the rest of them. Reboot each time when prompted.

From here a list on how to install https://www.labnol.org/software/device-drivers-installation-order/14310/

 

[Max_No]

Did you install all the chipset drivers from Asus ?
When you are finished with the install, then install your drivers. Install the chipset first then the rest of them. Reboot each time when prompted.

From here a list on how to install https://www.labnol.org/software/device-drivers-installation-order/14310/

Hi, I had not done this. But I have now. Unfortunately though, it didn't seem to help much, but I need to test more to make sure, because it did seem to help a bit in FIFA.

 

[Max_No]

OK, that's what I was after, but also making sure that after you cleaned installed again, that you didn't install anything else that may interfere.

so all you want on the PC is Windows and one of those games that stutters - nothing else.
if it still stutters, it's got to be hardware or your connection.

Hey, I have now done this. And now i'm even more confused. So, after reinstalling windows I downloaded FIFA and it seemed to run fairly well, still some stutters occasionally, but it was ok. But after installing some apps like keyboard and mouse software and logging into onedrive etc. It seemed to get worse and worse. I'll link a video I took after downloading a couple of games and some software where you can see the stutters. But one interesting thing I noticed was that the stutters were way more intrusive in the first game where there was maybe more to load, in comparison to the second game where things where smaller. This by the way was not noticable before reinstalling windows. Then it was just like the first clip for every game. Link to clip of the two games: (useful timestamps: first game: 0:38, 0:50, 1:42, 2:06, 2:47 ||| second game:3:42 intro, 5:32 goal)

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Thanks for your help

 

[Max_No]

Hey, I have now done this. And now i'm even more confused. So, after reinstalling windows I downloaded FIFA and it seemed to run fairly well, still some stutters occasionally, but it was ok. But after installing some apps like keyboard and mouse software and logging into onedrive etc. It seemed to get worse and worse. I'll link a video I took after downloading a couple of games and some software where you can see the stutters. But one interesting thing I noticed was that the stutters were way more intrusive in the first game where there was maybe more to load, in comparison to the second game where things where smaller. This by the way was not noticable before reinstalling windows. Then it was just like the first clip for every game. Link to clip of the two games: (useful timestamps: first game: 0:38, 0:50, 1:42, 2:06, 2:47 ||| second game:3:42 intro, 5:32 goal)

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Thanks for your help

Forgot to mention but for the other games, tested FF7 and Battlefield V there were no difference.

 

[Bruce]

can't see your video - marked as private.

if the stuttering is related to your internet connection, you want to turn off everything you can that may be sharing your bandwidth, like OneDrive for example.

get ShutUp10 by O&O to turn off a bunch of Windows stuff.
how many other users & devices are there on the network?
have you done a speed test to check your upload and download speeds?

 

[Max_No]

can't see your video - marked as private.

if the stuttering is related to your internet connection, you want to turn off everything you can that may be sharing your bandwidth, like OneDrive for example.

get ShutUp10 by O&O to turn off a bunch of Windows stuff.
how many other users & devices are there on the network?
have you done a speed test to check your upload and download speeds?

Ok. fixed the link now. (useful timestamps: first game: 0:38, 0:50, 1:42, 2:06, 2:47 ||| second game:3:42 intro, 5:32 goal)

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I can't see it being the internet connection. I play these games offline, and my internet speed is pretty good aswell.

 

[Bruce]

I play these games offline

OK, that rules out the web connection then.

let's get @PeterOz back, plus some others - @Bastet @Pyro @Malnutrition

 

[Max_No]

OK, that rules out the web connection then.

let's get @PeterOz back, plus some others - @Bastet @Pyro @Malnutrition

Ok, I appreciate the help. Thanks.

 

[Pyro]

I can assist you better once you post the requested speccy and tell us your PSU as detailed in post #2.

 

[Max_No]

I can assist you better once you post the requested speccy and tell us your PSU as detailed in post #2.

on the graphics section it says 4095MB on my 3080 12GB card. Is that of any relevance?
The PSU: Corsair TX850M

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/kA0RD2bBDk4YsPO0lJLnBAN

 

[Pyro]

A few things:

Your ram is not up to spec, looks like you're using 2133 while your CPU can use up to 3200MHz.

What DRM are you playing the game through? Steam, Epic, GOG?


This is my laundry list, it's a good starting point for troubleshooting and should get you an idea what's going on:


1. Try running the following programs, also try to keep at least 20-25% of your disks as free space.

Run Disk Cleanup (check all the boxes) this will delete things such as your recycling bin, so make sure you don't have any files you want to keep.

Run Defragment and Optimize Drives, run this on your drives.


2. Disable any overclocking or changes to power/performance settings

Turn off XMP/any overclocking you may have done (if any)

Settings > System > Power and sleep > Additional power settings
Make sure your power plan is set to balanced, anything else could tamper with the wrong settings and cause issues.


3. Check for Operating System Corruption

Right click on the Windows logo in the bottom left and select Windows Powershell (Admin)
Run these three commands separately:

sfc /scannow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These will take a while to run, do not close out of Powershell while they are running, if one fails then move onto the next and then loop back around.

Note: It doesn't hurt to make a system backup before you make all these changes, save any important files of folders. While these changes shouldn't cause any issues, better to be safe than sorry.


4. Unplug unnecessary devices.

If you have a gamepad, extra monitor, external hard drive/flash drive, or anything that is not essential to using the computer plugged in, unplug it.


Once you have completed all of these tasks, restart it (using the restart option in the power menu) and re-test.

 

[Max_No]

A few things:

Your ram is not up to spec, looks like you're using 2133 while your CPU can use up to 3200MHz.

What DRM are you playing the game through? Steam, Epic, GOG?


This is my laundry list, it's a good starting point for troubleshooting and should get you an idea what's going on:


1. Try running the following programs, also try to keep at least 20-25% of your disks as free space.

Run Disk Cleanup (check all the boxes) this will delete things such as your recycling bin, so make sure you don't have any files you want to keep.

Run Defragment and Optimize Drives, run this on your drives.


2. Disable any overclocking or changes to power/performance settings

Turn off XMP/any overclocking you may have done (if any)

Settings > System > Power and sleep > Additional power settings
Make sure your power plan is set to balanced, anything else could tamper with the wrong settings and cause issues.


3. Check for Operating System Corruption

Right click on the Windows logo in the bottom left and select Windows Powershell (Admin)
Run these three commands separately:

sfc /scannow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These will take a while to run, do not close out of Powershell while they are running, if one fails then move onto the next and then loop back around.

Note: It doesn't hurt to make a system backup before you make all these changes, save any important files of folders. While these changes shouldn't cause any issues, better to be safe than sorry.


4. Unplug unnecessary devices.

If you have a gamepad, extra monitor, external hard drive/flash drive, or anything that is not essential to using the computer plugged in, unplug it.


Once you have completed all of these tasks, restart it (using the restart option in the power menu) and re-test.

I use steam mostly, but this happens in every launcher i've used. FIFA redirects from steam to origin.
I've now done all of the listed suggestions, I'll link to a txt document of the powershell diagnostics aswell, but nothing interesting. Unfortunately though, I (as usual ) had no luck with any of the suggestions.

 

[PeterOz]

besides what @Pyro suggested (do all of that)
get off one drive - sign out.
It will keep syncing and cause problems.
Just as a reminder when you do a fresh install
Download all your drivers
Install windows
Install all drivers
THEN connect to the internet

 

[Bastet]

Do you have dual graphics- say Intel + NVidia? If yes then ensure the games are using the NVidia graphics.

 

[Max_No]

besides what @Pyro suggested (do all of that)
get off one drive - sign out.
It will keep syncing and cause problems.
Just as a reminder when you do a fresh install
Download all your drivers
Install windows
Install all drivers
THEN connect to the internet

That would be all the drivers from ASUs + NVIDIA correct? or are there more?

 

[Max_No]

Do you have dual graphics- say Intel + NVidia? If yes then ensure the games are using the NVidia graphics.

I think I have internal graphics too, if that's what you mean. But I don't thihk it's using the wrong one since the framerate is generally good.