Microstutter on single GPU?

[pong lenis]

I have several games that give microstutter on my single GPU GTX 580.
I know that microstutter is generally said to be when you perceive a low framerate while the frame counter remains 60 (or whatever your monitor's refresh rate is).
According to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cH_ozvn0gA microstutter in multi-GPU configurations happens at the hardware level not at game engine level, meaning it can only be picked up by a capture card like the FCAT which simulates a monitor.

But I can pick up the single-GPU microstutter with Fraps's frame times, meaning, as far as I know, this is happening at the game engine level.
Here is an example, the game is BF1942:

Frame times:

FPS:

What's up with this and how do you fix it?

 

[imaheadcase]

nope. Unless you got some wonky cpu/ram setup you should not be getting any on a gtx 580.

 

[Silverforce11]

Some games are just horrible at being smooth. FC3 at release is a recent AAA example.

 

[BrightCandle]

Quite a few games have microstutter issues inbuilt into the engine. Hitman absolution, Skyrim and Arma all have problems and it shows up in the frame time traces as you can see.

I don't know of a solution, even though these companies know their games have a problem they haven't fixed them yet so I can't imagine they will at any point.

 

[pong lenis]

Quite a few games have microstutter issues inbuilt into the engine. Hitman absolution, Skyrim and Arma all have problems and it shows up in the frame time traces as you can see.

I don't know of a solution, even though these companies know their games have a problem they haven't fixed them yet so I can't imagine they will at any point.

k thanks.

 

[bystander36]

That fraps reading is so consistent, it appears you have v-sync on, and just not maintaining 60 FPS when you get the stuttering.

 

[Stuka87]

You have vsync on, so of course it will stutter when you drop below 60fps. Adjust your settings down. You may also be running out of VRAM, which also can cause stuttering. I know in BF1942 this is unlikely unless you are playing at a really high res.

You can also get stuttering when you have to load areas from disc, which some games are worse at than others.

 

[mikeymikec]

Process Explorer has a GPU monitoring option that will show how much GPU and video memory is being used at a given time.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

It might also help you keep an eye on CPU/RAM usage.

 

[AdamantC]

Have you tried setting the process affinity via the task manager? Some older engines throw a hissy fit if they're running on a multi-core CPU. Unreal Engine 1 and earlier versions of 2 are especially bad about this.

 

[hyrule4927]

You also might want to make sure your GPU is set to always run at full speed in 3D applications. With older games that don't tax your GPU very much, it might jump down to 2D clocks sometimes.

 

[bystander36]

Looking at the Fraps, it certainly is v-sync, it is not anything else. Just simple v-sync causing that. Notice the frames times are ~17ms the whole time until it stutters, and then it jumps to 33ms? That is v-sync.

 

[Dave3000]

I'm also running a single GPU and got microstuttering in some games. My video card is a GTX 680 4GB. One of those games is Fallout New Vegas, even though FRAPS shows a constant 60 fps, the panning is choppy, until I disconnect my XBox 360 controller. LA Noire is another game that I get microstuttering even though FRAPS reads a constant 30 fps. In Alice The Madness Returns I sometimes get 3 second pauses.

I think that all this stuttering even on powerful hardware is just a sign that some games just don't take advantage of PC hardware very well since it happens on high-end hardware as well.

 

[nico9]

Some games definitely occasionally hitch or stutter more than others.

Background services polling a computer could contribute to that in some cases.

I smoothed out Skyrim's outdoor areas by capping my FPS with MSI's Afterburner.

 

[Headfoot]

I'm also running a single GPU and got microstuttering in some games. My video card is a GTX 680 4GB. One of those games is Fallout New Vegas, even though FRAPS shows a constant 60 fps, the panning is choppy, until I disconnect my XBox 360 controller. LA Noire is another game that I get microstuttering even though FRAPS reads a constant 30 fps. In Alice The Madness Returns I sometimes get 3 second pauses.

I think that all this stuttering even on powerful hardware is just a sign that some games just don't take advantage of PC hardware very well since it happens on high-end hardware as well.

Note on Fallout New Vegas. It's because the engine is super janky. There is a mod out there called the NV Stutter Remover, and while it sounds too good to be true it totally works. Eliminates stuttering of the variety you are talking about as well as preloading areas before you move into them so you never have the 1-2 second hangs as you walk around. Really a great mod. Find it on newvegasnexus