Games Stutter 1-2 fps when capping framerate.

[toasty47]

I'm troubleshooting a friends pc. He literally doesn't know anything about computers, so I'm trying to help him.

His games (csgo/fortnite/valorant/etc) stutter about 1-2fps every 5 seconds when he caps his fps (144fps on a 144hz G Sync Compatible monitor).
Whenever he uncaps his fps it goes well above 144 no problem and there's no issue. But obviously capping fps would be better for temps & his 4c/4t cpu.
I did notice his GPU 'downclocks' (core goes from boost to stock) when he caps his fps (not thermal throttling). but that's only like a 200mhz difference (unless that could be the issue?).

I've had him try multiple gpu driver versions (used ddu for each one), setting stock clocks for cpu/ram, disable background/startup apps, closing everything but the game, disabling GFE overlay (& every other overlay), changed about everything possible in the nvidia control panel, disable/enable power saving, tried all windows power plans, reinstalled windows, and more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

I wouldn't say I know a lot about computers, but I know relatively basic troubleshooting/optimizations and I cannot for the life of me find the problem.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

His specs:
i5-6600k @ 4.4Ghz 
GTX 1080 FE
2x8gb Ram @ 2800mhz 14-16-16-36

[Npiet1]

Is it thermal throttling leading to performance decrease when he uncaps? If not, just leave it uncapped.

[CommanderAlex]

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

What settings is he playing at and what resolution? If its at low settings and 1080, try turning up the graphical settings to put more of a load on the GPU. If the issue goes away, I'd suspect the 6600K is bottlenecking, especially 4C/4T. Also, his CPU utilization in game in addition to GPU?

[Rawhide_K]

39 minutes ago, toasty47 said:

I did notice his GPU 'downclocks' (core goes from boost to stock) when he caps his fps (not thermal throttling). but that's only like a 200mhz difference (unless that could be the issue?).

that's probably almost definitely the issue, *if it's changing back and forth*.  when I had an AMD card, I had to use clockblocker to get it to stop downclocking and giving me stutters during lower intensity games.  same for nvidia, without this setting:

 

open the nvidia control panel, go to manage 3D settings, and change power management mode to prefer maximum performance.

[toasty47]

35 minutes ago, Npiet1 said:

Is it thermal throttling leading to performance decrease when he uncaps? If not, just leave it uncapped.

Its not thermal throttling, & yes uncapping would work, but that doesnt solve the actual issue.

 

37 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

What settings is he playing at and what resolution? If its at low settings and 1080, try turning up the graphical settings to put more of a load on the GPU. If the issue goes away, I'd suspect the 6600K is bottlenecking, especially 4C/4T. Also, his CPU utilization in game in addition to GPU?

1080p low settings yeah, and i tried upping graphics settings but it still happens. cpu is around 60-70% when capped to 144 (depends on the game, again, all esports titles), uncapped 100% cpu usage (gpu around 30-55%), the 6600k definitely bottlenecks the 1080, but it shouldnt be stuttering like that right? especially since the fps goes way higher uncapped.

 

9 minutes ago, Rawhide_K said:

that's probably almost definitely the issue, *if it's changing back and forth*.

 

open the nvidia control panel, go to manage 3D settings, and change power management mode to prefer maximum performance.

I had him try setting 'prefer maximum performance' globally, and per application this morning, as well as tried the other 2 options (perfer power & adaptive). none of them fixed the issue

[CommanderAlex]

2 minutes ago, toasty47 said:

1080p low settings yeah, and i tried upping graphics settings but it still happens. cpu is around 60-70% when capped to 144 (depends on the game, again, all esports titles), uncapped 100% cpu usage (gpu around 30-55%), the 6600k definitely bottlenecks the 1080, but it shouldnt be stuttering like that right? especially since the fps goes way higher uncapped.

Sounds like the CPU is not able to keep up with the GTX 1080 then at 100% utilization, for sure a bottleneck right there. I've had bottlenecking with a R9 270X and A8-5500 and it would stutter (simply put, the CPU was not up to the task and was a bottleneck). For the stuttering, not much you can do there unless you perform a platform upgrade. 

[toasty47]

14 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

Sounds like the CPU is not able to keep up with the GTX 1080 then at 100% utilization, for sure a bottleneck right there. I've had bottlenecking with a R9 270X and A8-5500 and it would stutter (simply put, the CPU was not up to the task and was a bottleneck). For the stuttering, not much you can do there unless you perform a platform upgrade. 

Usually when I hear people talk about stuttering, its because their components simply are not capable of the solid fps they want, in this case however it only stutters by 1 or 2, but uncapped the framerate basically doubles. which makes no sense to me why it wouldn't be solid at 144 if it can easily hit 300. But I do understand that the 6600k is definitely the bottleneck in terms of uncapped average and max fps.

[BlackManINC]

19 minutes ago, toasty47 said:

Usually when I hear people talk about stuttering, its because their components simply are not capable of the solid fps they want, in this case however it only stutters by 1 or 2, but uncapped the framerate basically doubles. which makes no sense to me why it wouldn't be solid at 144 if it can easily hit 300. But I do understand that the 6600k is definitely the bottleneck in terms of uncapped average and max fps.

Well yeah that CPU is definitely a bottleneck. You pretty much already answered your own question in the OP. I can't imagine playing any game with a four thread CPU, especially the more CPU intensive ones. He needs to get a better CPU before going any further with the troubleshooting honestly, no less than a 12 thread CPU preferably.