Getting Random Stuttering in Games

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

https://youtu.be/hMFFNi9SKBA
https://youtu.be/iwbUUA_yzoQ

Trying to get to the bottom of what's causing this. It happens no matter the game and no matter what drivers I use. Just did a clean install of Windows on the SSD; game is running on HDD. Seems to happen completely randomly, can be after 2 mins or 30 mins of gaming. Computer specs are in my sig. Anyone else had this happen? Thank you in advance!

 

[Ketchup]

What temperatures are you seeing (video card and CPU)?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

What temperatures are you seeing (video card and CPU)?

Depends on the game. On this one since it's an older, less demanding game everything runs cool: 53-62C for the CPU and 50-60C for the GPU. On demanding games like Battlefield 4 on Ultra it'll be 68-78C for the CPU (Tj max is 98C) and 64-72C for the GPU.

 

[Annisman*]

Check out this thread, guys gives lots of good ideas to eliminate some of those random issues that us PC users have http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=406260 i use the tips in here for all my PCs. Instead of snappy driver installer I use driver booster - look it up, it will find drivers for parts of your PC you never even knew you had and help you keep them up to date.

 

[Ketchup]

OK, Temp numbers look good, depending on where you are getting them from. Have you been able to look and see if the Hitachi is thrashing during the slowdowns? One good test for this would be to install a troublesome game on the SSD and see if the issues persist.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Check out this thread, guys gives lots of good ideas to eliminate some of those random issues that us PC users have http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=406260 i use the tips in here for all my PCs. Instead of snappy driver installer I use driver booster - look it up, it will find drivers for parts of your PC you never even knew you had and help you keep them up to date.

Thank you! Unfortunately for me I had all drivers installed so that's not something that I could look into as a reason. The computer is running a clean install of Windows 10 Pro AU and the only things I have running in the background are Google Drive, my Bluetooth settings, Steam, and my Realtek audio. When gaming the processor has never gone above 80% usage in the more CPU intensive ones like BF4 and on an older game like DiRT 3 it never goes above 45% so it wouldn't be anything running in the background.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

OK, Temp numbers look good, depending on where you are getting them from. Have you been able to look and see if the Hitachi is thrashing during the slowdowns? One good test for this would be to install a troublesome game on the SSD and see if the issues persist.

I did, actually. I wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue with the HDD so I installed Unigine Valley on the SSD and left it running. I set it to DX11 on High settings with 4xMSAA at 1080p. It ran anywhere from 40FPS-120FPS depending on the scene, the average being right at 60FPS. CPU usage was between 25-35%. If the GPU reached 75C after 30 seconds it would throttle to 300MHz causing a huge slowdown so I tuned the fans on WattMan to where it'd only get to 73C.

ASUS also released a BIOS update for the card that was a fix for the power limiter issues so I installed it. It only helped with the clocks going down to 1150MHz when running something intense. No matter how I ran the card it always kept giving me the issues anywhere from 15 mins-40 mins of it running. It would run at max clocks and completely smoothly and out of nowhere it'd stutter for 4-6 seconds and after AMD settings would crash but the card would keep running smoothly. Tried at stock, stock with +10 or +20% power limiter, stock undervolted from 1043mV to 970mV, and lastly at 1025MHz 900mV, it all gave me the stuttering issue.

At this point I'm thinking the card is defective because there's some other odd behavior: when you're updating drivers the screen will go completely black and the machine will freeze, and if you restart it starts loading Windows but you get no display and the machine freezes. Only way to get graphics working again is to either reinstall Windows or go to the restore point before the update. Tried updating drivers on safe mode using DDU and the Microsoft Generic Graphics driver, same thing.

 

[Annisman*]

I did, actually. I wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue with the HDD so I installed Unigine Valley on the SSD and left it running. I set it to DX11 on High settings with 4xMSAA at 1080p. It ran anywhere from 40FPS-120FPS depending on the scene, the average being right at 60FPS. CPU usage was between 25-35%. If the GPU reached 75C after 30 seconds it would throttle to 300MHz causing a huge slowdown so I tuned the fans on WattMan to where it'd only get to 73C.

ASUS also released a BIOS update for the card that was a fix for the power limiter issues so I installed it. It only helped with the clocks going down to 1150MHz when running something intense. No matter how I ran the card it always kept giving me the issues anywhere from 15 mins-40 mins of it running. It would run at max clocks and completely smoothly and out of nowhere it'd stutter for 4-6 seconds and after AMD settings would crash but the card would keep running smoothly. Tried at stock, stock with +10 or +20% power limiter, stock undervolted from 1043mV to 970mV, and lastly at 1025MHz 900mV, it all gave me the stuttering issue.

At this point I'm thinking the card is defective because there's some other odd behavior: when you're updating drivers the screen will go completely black and the machine will freeze, and if you restart it starts loading Windows but you get no display and the machine freezes. Only way to get graphics working again is to either reinstall Windows or go to the restore point before the update. Tried updating drivers on safe mode using DDU and the Microsoft Generic Graphics driver, same thing.

Had exact symptoms happen to me on my OG Titan, only fix was to flash to a custom bios if you can try that.

 

[Ketchup]

It actually does sound like a bios problem, like it is set to throttle at a much lower speed than it it should. If you are brave, a custom bios may very well be the answer, if the card is out of warranty.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Had exact symptoms happen to me on my OG Titan, only fix was to flash to a custom bios if you can try that.

It actually does sound like a bios problem, like it is set to throttle at a much lower speed than it it should. If you are brave, a custom bios may very well be the answer, if the card is out of warranty.

Dang. I bought it on Amazon a month ago but because of their extended holiday returns I have until the 31st of January to return it. Is flashing a custom BIOS very risky?

 

[Annisman*]

If you can find one that lots of other people have used you should be OK, don't have to look for anything crazy like a bios that gets rid of voltage limitations just a different one, that's what I did. I would def just send it back though if you can, if the problem persists with the new card we can start looking at other things.

 

[daveybrat]

Are you sure that Delta 400Watt power supply is good enough for that RX 470? Looks like an old model with split 12V rails.

 

[Ketchup]

Are you sure that Delta 400Watt power supply is good enough for that RX 470? Looks like an old model with split 12V rails.

Good catch. Been on my phone the last few visits. While OK for a stock system with built-in graphics, a system like your is probably going to want more power from a more reputable brand.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Are you sure that Delta 400Watt power supply is good enough for that RX 470? Looks like an old model with split 12V rails.

Good catch. Been on my phone the last few visits. While OK for a stock system with built-in graphics, a system like your is probably going to want more power from a more reputable brand.

Yeah, it's more than enough. It's a 400W 80 Plus Gold (90% efficient) unit. I made sure by running MSI Kombustor coupled with Intel Burn Test on 3 cores/threads (gotta leave 1 core for Kombustor) for 12 hours straight when I first got the card. The power supply was at room temp and the fan was audible but not running at high speed. Absolute max power consumption for an RX 470 is around 150W running FurMark/Kombustor at stock settings, 200W at OC settings, and a stock i5-2500K system consumes around 125W at max load.

http://media.bestofmicro.com/B/4/600448/original/23-Overview-Torture.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4083/35052.png

Add both you end up with max 275W and any game will consume less power than running FurMark/Kombustor and IBT at the same time. Gaming system power consumption is around 210W stock settings and 270W OC settings and it only nets you around 10% more performance so I'm not gonna bother with that. These numbers aren't taking into account efficiency losses, so really it's under 200W the PSU has to supply.

http://i2.wp.com/www.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/john15.png?w=800

Funnily enough it never stuttered running Kombustor while it does on games. And Delta is a very good brand, they're regarded as a top-tier OEM.

Amazon has on sale the PowerColor RX 470 4GB Red Devil OC for $160. Got that along with a Startech 6-pin to 8-pin PCIe adapter and an open-box CM Hyper TX3 for $15 which should lower my CPU temps by at least 15C. I'll run the RX 470 at stock/silent BIOS to make sure I'm always under 200W when gaming. Gonna be returning the ASUS as it was $40 more and didn't come with a $20 rebate or Hitman for free. Keeping my fingers crossed this fixes it.

 

[Ketchup]

Fingers crossed here too!

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Fingers crossed here too!

Got the new PowerColor Red Devil today. All problems solved so I'm really happy about that. Runs some 2-3C cooler than the Asus on their default/not-OC BIOS, but that's probably down to the PowerColor being 1220MHz vs 1250MHz. The memory does come clocked higher at 7GHz vs 6.6GHz so performance seems to be the same. Ran Valley for 2 hours and played Grid: Autosport for almost 2, no stutters. Also updated to a Beta driver before going back to the stable release, no black screen. Inaudible even at full-load: can't hear the fans unless I put my ears next to the case and no coil-whine. Returned the ASUS to Amazon for a refund. For the money you really can't go wrong with the PowerColor. Thanks for all the help, guys!

 

[Ketchup]

Glad to hear it was taken care of. You can't beat Amazon's return policy!

 

[Torn Mind]

Good catch. Been on my phone the last few visits. While OK for a stock system with built-in graphics, a system like your is probably going to want more power from a more reputable brand.

Delta is pretty much king of the jungle but they don't have much of a retail presence, having just a few lines from Antec featuring them on the retail level. OklahomaWolf mentioned in 2009 that their build quality was above Seasonic's at all levels. Seasonic now might have improved to similar levels, but Delta was there first. The most important part of build quality, soldering, is what lowers the incidence of duds that get shipped and prevents premature failure due to stuff like cold joints.