GPU dropping to 0% causing stuttering in VR while streaming.

Shodah · August 2, 2021

Hey all, I've got a bit of a strange one, after around 30 mins of streaming VR games, I start to experience micro stutters in both my Valve Index and on the desktop display output - it is more prominent when I move around a lot, but can happen when I'm stood still. The graph below was a stress-test straight after a VR stream, CPU sits between 66c to 70c and the GPU sits at around 55c so I can't see it being a thermal issue.

Here are my specs

Aorus X570 Mini ITX wifi
Ryzen 7 3700x @ 4.4ghz 1.35v (Vetroo V5 CPU Cooler)
Aorus RX 5700XT
16GB Corsair Vengence RGB RAM 3200 (Two sticks)
Corsair TX-M 650 Watt
WD BLACK SN750 500GB NVME SSD
Samsung 860 QVO 1 TB SATA
Valve Index (I set this to 80hz when streaming)
F33c BIOS version
21.7.2 AMD GPU driver version

I'm using Streamlabs OBS, set to 936p, 48fps, x264 encoder on fast, 6200kbs bitrate and I have an upload of 30mb/s (It looks stunning with these settings, a really clear and smooth stream, up until micro stutter land!)

I'm leaning towards my PSU not being able to pump enough consistent power over a long period of time, or the VRMS are getting toasty! Streaming VR has my CPU pegged to around 80% and my GPU sits at 99% before it starts dipping a lot (I only ever seem to use around 13 to 14GB or RAM, you can see on the included image, that the power consumption dips with the clock speed.

What do you lovely people reckon before I go with my gut and purchase a new PSU?

START OF STREAM - Here is a Twitch clip at the start of a stream, nice and smooth.
MICRO STUTTERS - Here is a Twitch clip with how it looks when it's stuttering, each time it stutters, it's both in my headset and on the stream

I've been a VR enthusiast for nearly 5 years now and even I'm starting to feel sick when this happens, help!

Thanks!

Bombastinator · August 2, 2021

That it’s more prominent when you are moving implies a cord or connector issue more than an internal to the headset or box issue. That’s about all I can tell myself and it may be wrong. I understand there are wireless systems as well which would have different issues. I don know if you have a wireless system or not. I know almost nothing about the peculiarities of the different VR systems myself. There are people around that could. Not a large percentage though. This one could take a while to get an answer to. VR stuff is quite new and not a lot of people have it.

Shodah · August 2, 2021

3 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

That it’s more prominent when you are moving implies a cord or connector issue more than an internal to the headset or box issue. That’s about all I can tell myself and it may be wrong. I understand there are wireless systems as well which would have different issues. I don know if you have a wireless system or not. I know almost nothing about the peculiarities of the different VR systems myself. There are people around that could. Not a large percentage though. This one could take a while to get an answer to. VR stuff is quite new and not a lot of people have it.

Can't be the cord/connection, else it would surely start stuttering from the get go? Something is throttling somewhere, I just hope it's the PSU.

EDIT

I dropped my power limit to 32% and undervolted my GPU by a tiny amount and it's seemed to have made a huge difference, I'm leaning more towards PSU now, unless there are any settings in the BIOS I have not seen?

FIXED IT

Put my GPU in my wifes PC (Identical spec other than MOBO) and it's running fine, put her 6700xt into my rig and it's bouncing all over the place again, so got a new PSU on order, let's hope it's not the mobo!