Experiencing extremely annoying micro-stutter with single-gpu - driving me nuts!

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Dark12

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
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Hey everyone.
I have had an issue with my computer for a long time. I believe micro-stutter is something people often complain about with their multi-gpu configurations, but I am experiencing with my single 6950.
At first I thought it was just World of Warcraft that had the problem. I always just assumed the stutter was from loading the environment on-the-fly. But today I started playing some counter-strike 1.6 and I am noticing the exact same type of stutter in that game. cs1.6 is based off the original half-life engine so it should put a trivial load on my system.

The micro-stutter I am referring to happens at seemingly random times. My computer seems to hang on a frame for maybe a tenth of a second. It becomes extremely annoying in any multiplayer game. It is almost unplayable even though it only happens once every 10-30 seconds. It gives me headaches and the anticipation of the game skipping during an intense firefight is enough to drive someone insane.

I am running Windows 7 x64 with all of windows updates. I have formatted many times in an attempt to resolve this issue. I have tried to run my games off one of my SSDs or my HDD. I have installed countless IDE drivers and video card drivers to no avail. I have flashed firmware on my card. I have overclocked. I have underclocked. I have fiddled with AA, AF, v-sync, and triple buffering. I have tried turning hyper-threading on and off.
What am I missing?!

I am guessing there is some patch out there for some component in my system that I am overlooking. Since this problem happens with all of my games I believe it may have to do with the CPU side of my PC.
If anyone has any comments or advice regarding this issue I would be extremely grateful.
 
Some ideas:
Antivirus
Bad usb device, try changing your mouse/keyboard and remove any non-essential devices.
Crappy sound card - this used to cause me stutter in half-life back-in-the-day (tm), it would pause while loading sound effects).

nitpicking:
This is just plain stuttering. there's nothing micro about it.
 
Thanks for the response.
I don't have any anti-virus running.
I will try disconnecting all USB devices and post back with results.
I am using onboard sound so I guess that could be related, but it also happens when I use my USB headset.

It is definitely not a normal stutter. I have never had this issue even with my old TNT2 graphics card in half-life. It is extremely noticeable.
 
Micro-stutter is when you're showing a certain frame rate, and it looks like you're getting a much lower one. If you're seeing noticeable skipping or hangs it is plain old fashioned macro stuttering.
 
Alright thanks.
Then my problem is definitely macro stuttering.
Has anyone else had a similar experience to mine?
 
I plugged in only my mouse and keyboard and disabled sound card, still stuttering.
Also plugged computer directly into wall to bypass UPS.
:-/
 
So it's not limited to a specific game and you've tried formatting which suggests it's probably not a software issue but a hardware one, it's a case of finding the component causing it.

Based on the fact you've already tried most of the basic troubleshooting (drivers, firmware, fresh installs etc) I think you need to jump straight to hunting what piece of hardware is causing it, you're best off doing a minimal build just 1 HDD, 1 stick of RAM and your GPU, no other drives or devices, disable audio, optical drives, additional hard drives, all peripherals apart from mouse/keyboard. Make sure all components are at stock speeds. Re-test and see if you still have the issue.

Based on what you're saying my first guess would be the SSD maybe flaking out, they're not terribly reliable devices yet, I had a friend have his SSD drive start to die after only 8 months or so and he had similar issues with the drive effecting performance and stability of the whole system even if it wasn't used as C:. If you can boot from an old HDD and completely remove the SSD from the PC then I'd recommend that as a good test.
 
The last time I experienced this kind of thing was back in the single core days and ATI Tray tools would causes somes games to hitch every 10 seconds.

I'm guessing there's some piece of software fighting to get critical cpu time in. Possibly a driver. I'd look at the Intel SATA drivers. Make sure AHCI is enabled in your bios and the drivers are fully up to date.
 
Thanks for the tips everyone. I will definitely try that stuff out.
I have already tried countless different SATA drivers and 2 different controllers. I have 3 SSDs in my system and I tried running games off each one with the same results.
I remember there used to be some patch for AMD CPUs to correct some timing issue back when dual cores were new. Is there anything similar for hex-core processors?
 
That doesn't sound like microstutter. Microstuttter is when, for example, you're running at 40fps but it "feels" like 25fps at most. So it's not just one random every 30 seconds, but pretty much every other frame for an extended period of time.
 
Yea, that is definitely not the case.
It is definitely macro stutter.
 
I've had something similar before.

Found out my V-sync had somehow defaulted to 59hz while my monitor is 60hz. (or vice versa)

Made for very jittery graphics, worth a check. And make sure v-sync is completely disabled in-game & in drivers.
 
I actually have noticed that my monitor shows up as 59hz in some games. I do disable v-sync though so I am not sure if that would effect it, right?
 
It's worth noting my friend that had the SSD issues was having those issues when the drive was installed and being used as primary C:\ even if applications were loaded from other drives, he finally solved his performance and stability issues just completely removing that SSD.

To rule it out for sure the best thing to do is completely unplug all SSDs from your PC and boot from another drive, preferably a spindle one.

This goes back to my original suggestion which is to run a barebones system, pull out absolutely every single piece of hardware that is not strictly necessary to boot in to windows and see if you still get the problem, then you can add pieces back in 1 at a time to determine which part causes the problem.

Monitors should be correctly set where possible but I highly doubt it's the cause of these problems, you should be able to force the refresh rate to 60hz in the advanced properties for the display adapter. For that in windows you just go to the resolution setting screen and right click the appropriate monitor, select properties and switch to the monitor tab, set the refresh rate there.
 
Found the problem... XFX HD6950 unlocked @ 840/1345<<<<< amd drivers
 
Are you running a fps display (like fraps)? When you say it feels like it pauses does it actually show a fps drop on fraps? I had a similar issue years ago where it felt like the computer locked up for a split second but it wouldn't actually show a fps drop. My issue ended up being a bad/underpowered psu. What kind of psu are you running?
 
Update to my issue:
I was typing a paper in Word and I just noticed that this stuttering issue happens outside of games as well! I will be typing away and suddenly the screen freezes for about half a second then continues along as normal. If I do not touch the keyboard and just watch the blinking cursor then it will occasionally stop blinking like its stuck every 10 seconds or so.
This is also happening right now in Google Chrome. It also happens in the address bar of any browser and anywhere else I type in text.
So the stuttering isn't limited to games..
I just formatted again last week.
Has anyone heard of this happening?
I am going crazy!
 
Did you try my suggestion of running with a minimal build? Preferably without the SSD installed.
 
FWIW, I've been the victim of this exact stuttering inside Firefox. So much so that I dumped it in favor or IE. Of course, now I'm experiencing all sorts of IE rendering quirks, so I don't know what's worse. This is with a 2600K and 16 gigs of RAM using the onboard HD3000 with all current drivers (no SSDs).

I've also encountered this stuttering in games. I have never run an SLI or CF setup, so it can definitely happen with single-GPU configurations, too.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. This is more of a misery loves company post.
 
I have had that experience before, where no matter what, every few seconds the system would just skip a beat almost. Not a long amount of time, but noticeable when you are using it, making gaming almost impossible. I cannot recall what I did to resolve the issue, but I will look back over my previous posts and notes. I am sure there was a fix, but I can't remember if it was a format or new hardware or just a setting.
 
Just remembered my Dad had a similar issue recently.

A dying DVD drive was the culprit.

Removed it and all pausing went away.

So something to try...
 
It definitely helps to hear that other people also experience the issue.
I have tried running a minimal build as others have suggested. I have tried with a total of 3 different SSDs, but no HDD yet because I don't have any extras laying around at the moment.
It feels like there is some background service that is greedy for cpu time.
btw, i have also experienced the cd/dvd drive lag that you mentioned, but in this build I dont have an optical drive so it couldnt be that.
 
I greatly appreciate the post Godmachine, but this issue is continuous even immediately after a format. No backup files or internet connection.
 
As also mentioned, could try out a new power supply, yours might be flaking out. If you don't have one lying around, could always buy one somewhere and just return it if that doesn't seem to be the problem. Could even be a quirky motherboard, has it always had this problem?
 
I guess the only thing it could be is my power supply. I have replaced almost everything in my system except for my video card.
I have a Rocketfish 700w. It is Best Buy's brand.
 
Dark12 said:
I guess the only thing it could be is my power supply. I have replaced almost everything in my system except for my video card.
I have a Rocketfish 700w. It is Best Buy's brand.
Click to expand...
THIS, my brother was having problems like you describe using a junk psu that came with his gateway. I got him a new power supply and voila.
 
I have a similar problem to yours, but it's mainly in gaming and also depends on the game whether it is noticeable or not. I too have an unlocked 6950 2GB reference card. Many of the fixes provided here are generic trouble shooting; replace a component to see if its hardware, reformat to see if its software.

Consistent stuttering that repeats a pattern usually is caused by some software accessing the system for information/processing. If you have "started from scratch" with your system, check to see what programs you are re-installing. I wouldn't rule out malware, but I would look at any programs that may "poll" your system.

Polling

If you have ruled out faulty hardware, check to see if you have any software programs monitoring/overclocking your CPU, GPU, HDD, mouse, fans, etc. It could even be related to other devices you have or may have attached to your system. Hope this helps.
 
Have you tried messing with your powersaving options in the BIOS? Phase control and all that? I know you're running Intel, but I've noticed a stupid stutter on AMD systems sometimes until I shut off C1E stepping and cool-n-quiet.
 
Dark12,

I read your posts and it seems your CPU may not be getting enough volts, or you have overclocked too much.

Another symptom you may experience is a hanging mouse pointer in windows, like it sometimes gets stuck for a moment.

I suggest you downclock to default settings and see if that works better.
 
LOL at this bump. I read my post and thought it was good advice, but didn't even realize it was my post because this is soooo old.
 
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