Stuttering in PC games

[-Alligator-]

Hello,
since I bought my new PC a few months back, I've been experiencing very annoying stuttering in most games I've tried, for example Serious Sam 3, Metro 2033, The Witcher. There are some games where the stuttering doesn't happen (Hard Reset, Psychonauts). The stuttering looks a bit like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgM2O8Ci4SU

The stuttering is not happening constantly like in the video though. It usually stutters for maybe a second, then for another second it's fine and so on, but it seems very random.

My HW is:
i7 2700k
gigabyte gtx 570 OC
msi z77A-GD65
KINGSTON HyperX Genesis 2x4GB (1600 MHz)
WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX 1TB SATA/600
SEASONIC 620W
Soundblaster X-Fi
Windows 7 64bit


So here's what i've tried and didn't help:
- I tried replacing my gtx570 with old 8800GTS.
- I tried removing the sound card.
- I tried removing one of the memory modules, try if it helped, then put it back and try with the other one removed.
- I also bought new motherboard (originally had asus P8P67-m Pro).
- I tried installing Windows XP, the stuttering was still there, although it was a bit different.
- I tested at least 5 different drivers for the graphics card, none of then made any difference.
- I've disabled HyperThreading, CPU parking.
- I tried a new clean install of Windows 7.
- I tried ps2 mouse and keyboard instead of usb ones.
- also tried replacing my LCD screen with a CRT display and tried a different HDD

Here is what helped:
- Setting the maximum prerendered frames to 1 reduced the stutter in some games (Serious Sam 3), but didn't help much in others (The Witcher). But even in SS3 where it helped significantly, it is still pretty annoying.
- Limiting FPS to 59. This removed the stutter but replaced it with a small hiccup or frame skip that happens periodically every second.
- Disabling vsync removes the stutters in most games, but then there is the screen tearing, which is not nearly as annoying as the stuttering, but it's still not a very good solution.

I will appreciate a lot if anyone has any suggestions what I could try to get rid of this problem completely.

Sorry about my bad english.

 

[Dangman]

KINGSTON HyperX Genesis 2x4GB (1600 MHz)

While probably not the cause of your current issue, you should replace this RAM nonetheless since it's rated at 1.65V, well above the max recommended RAM voltage of 1.5V for Intel CPUs:

With the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors only support DDR 3 at 1066/1333 and now on some 1600; that isnt what I am hearing as causing the issue in almost every case is that they are running the memory at 1.65v +. The 2nd generation Intel Core processor only support memory at 1.5v ±5% (1.425v to 1.575v) anything over this has a chance of damaging the processor memory controller.

Personally the performance increase of anything over 1600 doesnt seems to be worth the extra cost.

So I recommend replacing that RAM ASAP to avoid damaging the CPU any further. I recommend this replacement:
$49 - G.Skill Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM

So here's what i've tried and didn't help:

Have you tried replacing the PSU for shits and giggles? More than like not a cause but at this point, might as well mostly rule out a hardware issue.

Also, once you've bought the new RAM, try a different CPU just to make absolutely sure that your Kingston RAM didn't damage the CPU or the CPU itself is defective.

After the CPU, RAM, and PSU swap, if you're still having issues, then it's probably software related.

 

[-Alligator-]

Thanks for the reply! I will definitely try what you suggested, I'm pretty sure this isn't a software related issue.

 

[juicedown]

I had some similar problems a while back. I just Googled "stuttering issue" and found some tutorials about it.

 

[-Alligator-]

I had some similar problems a while back. I just Googled "stuttering issue" and found some tutorials about it.

I already spent many hours googling the issue, above I mentioned all that helped. Nothing fixed the issue completely though.

Anyway, I just tried a different PSU but the stuttering was still the same.

About the memory, it is true that now I had it running at 1.65V, but originally when I bought the computer I didn't have the XMP enabled, so it was running at 1.5V and it was stuttering anyway. Now I disabled the XMP again but set the frequency to 1600MHz. So far it seems stable.

I also just tried the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool and memtest86. Both passed with 0 errors.

It's just really weird, only components I haven't tried replacing are CPU and RAM.

 

[Wyluliraven]

This may be a shot in the dark, but do you have the onboard video from the 2700k disabled in the bios?

Like I said, this is a guess.

Also, try unplugging your fans. Disconnect one, then boot up and try. Leave that one unplugged, and then disconnect another one. Repeat until you're down to just the PSU, the GPU and the CPU cooler fan running. I've seen case fans cause some wacky shit.

 

[mls1995]

I built my PC a year ago so I'm having trouble remembering, but I thought stuttering was a CPU bios setting problem. Are you overclocking? Maybe reset bios to default and fire up one of the troublesome games.

 

[-Alligator-]

Thanks for your replies guys!
I think my onboard video is probably disabled. In BIOS I only see an option called "Initiate Graphic Adapter", which is set to PEG. I think that means that it should use a PCI-E graphics card.

I already tried default BIOS settings when I installed my new motherboard. My CPU is running at stock speed, my GPU is overclocked by the manufacturer, but the temperature never goes above 75C which I think is fine.

EDIT: I unplugged the case fan, unfortunately it didn't help.

EDIT2: I noticed another weird thing. On my MB, there are 8 CPU phase LEDs. These LEDs should change according to CPU loading. So when I was running around in The Witcher 1, I noticed that during the biggest stutters, these LEDs start flashing. I have no idea what to make of it though. In Serious Sam 3 the stuttering is probably even worse, but the LEDs are never flashing.

 

[plagas]

It could perhaps be your psu..

 

[-Alligator-]

It could perhaps be your psu..

I tried a different one yesterday.

 

[bigdogchris]

I've seen behavior like this in games, but it has always been a game issue that is resolved in patches. Plus every game shouldn't have the same type.

Have you tried the new Nvidia Adaptive V-sync? It's supposed to fix a lot of the problems that are typically attached to Vsync.

 

[-Alligator-]

I've seen behavior like this in games, but it has always been a game issue that is resolved in patches. Plus every game shouldn't have the same type.

Have you tried the new Nvidia Adaptive V-sync? It's supposed to fix a lot of the problems that are typically attached to Vsync.

Yes I have tried the adaptive vsync, but it doesn't help. The stuttering happens when the games run at 60 FPS. Adaptive vsync only helps reduce the stuttering when your FPS drop below 60 by disabling the vsync.