Graphics micro-stuttering inherent to the game, or to the GPU?

[Dankk]

How many of you notice a small amount of "micro-stuttering" in your games (NOT caused by multi-GPU setups)? An obvious example would be the Gamebryo engine, where it's pretty well-documented that Oblivion and Fallout 3 have very bad micro stuttering.

What I want to know is whether or not this particular "stuttering" can possibly come from a faulty/underpowered GPU, and not just the game.

Today I started playing Anno 1404, and while it's a very beautiful game, the stuttering can be terrible. I know it must be micro-stuttering because when I run FRAPS with the game, it remains at a steady ~60fps even during the bad stuttering. Am I correct? Isn't this a good way to tell if it's just the engine's problem? I know FRAPS will still report a nice ~100 fps from Fallout 3, which micro-stutters constantly.

The last game I played that had absolutely ZERO perceivable stuttering was Resident Evil 5. Granted, it's a console port and all, but it seriously runs like a hot knife through butter, even in DX10 mode with everything cranked to max. However, this isn't common with a lot of other games. Even Portal 2, which uses the extremely resource-efficient Source engine, it still micro-stutters just a tiny bit. It probably isn't noticeable to people unless they have OCD like I do.

Anyway, like I said, I just want to know if this micro-stuttering can ever be caused by a bad GPU, or is always just the product of the game engine. Thanks.

 

[Silverforce11]

I've played Anno 1404 and FO3 extensively and did not notice micro stuttering. However, it's prolly biology, some people can notice the refresh rate at 60 hz and will be able to spot the difference between 100 fps and 60 fps.. i can't spot the difference.

 

[Dankk]

So, I just barely realized that turning of AA in Anno 1404 gives a HUGE performance improvement. The annoying stuttering I had earlier is now virtually nonexistent.

Anyway, I guess my question still stands.

 

[Powermoloch]

I have the same problem as well, turning up the AA smooths things up :thumbsup:

 

[alcoholbob]

Sometimes the stuttering is not an issue of the GPU at all. Some games rely a lot on texture streaming and it's the hard drive that's causing the stuttering. Anandtech's X-25M review showed minimum framerates can increase significantly based on HDD performance.

 

[CP5670]

There are certain game engines that have inherent microstuttering problems regardless of the video card. It's usually caused either by a fixed physics rate that goes out of sync with the graphics rendering, or by the engine applying a framecap that is just below the refresh rate. Some examples that come to mind are the Fallout 3 engine, the Doom 3 engine, the engine used in several NFS games a few years ago (Most Wanted, etc.) and some UE3 games on their default settings (can be fixed by disabling framerate smoothing in the ini files).

 

[betasub]

"Micro-stuttering" is normally a product of AFR on multi-GPU set-ups (like Silverforce has). Not sure if OP has a multi-GPU rig, but his description of the effect seems spot on: steady FPS if measued on the second scale, but uneven timing between frames on the millisecond-scale. What Astrallite describes is not what is meant by "micro-stuttering".

 

[Lonbjerg]

"Micro-stuttering" is normally a product of AFR on multi-GPU set-ups (like Silverforce has). Not sure if OP has a multi-GPU rig, but his description of the effect seems spot on: steady FPS if measued on the second scale, but uneven timing between frames on the millisecond-scale. What Astrallite describes is not what is meant by "micro-stuttering".

Yeah, what he is describing is what I would call...stuttering.

 

[Dankk]

"Micro-stuttering" is normally a product of AFR on multi-GPU set-ups (like Silverforce has). Not sure if OP has a multi-GPU rig, but his description of the effect seems spot on: steady FPS if measued on the second scale, but uneven timing between frames on the millisecond-scale. What Astrallite describes is not what is meant by "micro-stuttering".

No, I don't have a multi-GPU rig. Specs are in my sig.

 

[Dankk]

His description of the effect seems spot on: steady FPS if measued on the second scale, but uneven timing between frames on the millisecond-scale.

Thank you. I don't have multiple GPUs though, so what about micro-stuttering not caused by multi-GPUs, but rather, the game itself? Fallout 3 for example?

There are certain game engines that have inherent microstuttering problems regardless of the video card. It's usually caused either by a fixed physics rate that goes out of sync with the graphics rendering, or by the engine applying a framecap that is just below the refresh rate. Some examples that come to mind are the Fallout 3 engine, the Doom 3 engine, the engine used in several NFS games a few years ago (Most Wanted, etc.) and some UE3 games on their default settings (can be fixed by disabling framerate smoothing in the ini files).

Ah, thanks. I actually remember reading about how FO3 does that annoying micro-stuttering or "frame skipping" because of the physics.

I'm still unsure about my GIGABYTE Superclock 5770 card though. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to graphics cards, so I just wanted a straight answer about whether this "micro-stuttering" that exist on a millisecond-scale in some games can actually be caused by a bad GPU in some cases. As far as I'm concerned, my 5770 is pretty good but I don't know if there's a possibility that MAYBE it could cause microstuttering in some games.

 

[alcoholbob]

"Micro-stuttering" is normally a product of AFR on multi-GPU set-ups (like Silverforce has). Not sure if OP has a multi-GPU rig, but his description of the effect seems spot on: steady FPS if measued on the second scale, but uneven timing between frames on the millisecond-scale. What Astrallite describes is not what is meant by "micro-stuttering".

The problem is there is no agreed upon symptom of "micro-stuttering" and people seem to be using the term freely to describe a variety of frame-rate problems.

The fact that you state it's a symptom of Dual GPU while the OP states he has a single GPU is a typical scenario.

 

[Jacky60]

Sometimes the stuttering is not an issue of the GPU at all. Some games rely a lot on texture streaming and it's the hard drive that's causing the stuttering. Anandtech's X-25M review showed minimum framerates can increase significantly based on HDD performance.

Agreed -one of my OCZ Vertex 2's just died which contained my Arma 2 files-a smooth gameplay experience has been replaced by microstuttering very noticeably as the hard drive can't keep up! Very obvious AND annoying. Get an SSD or two if you want to prevent it.

 

[betasub]

Astallite/Jacky: my point was that the stuttering you describe that can be measured in terms of FPS, i.e. on the second-scale, is not micro-stuttering. OP's description is of steady FPS, but uneven gaps between frames on the milli-second scale, so does not fit your Minimum FPS problem (e.g. in the Crysis bench) & is not storage-related.