Help improving my performance?

[Spev]

Hi all I'm trying to figure out what's holding my system back. I picked up a GTX 970 about a month back so I could get more into PC gaming. Some games it looks freaking great, like Tomb Raider which I was just playing on Ultra getting 100+ FPS. Then there are other games where most of the time it's good FPS on Ultra settings but will skip. Then, even if I change the settings down, it will still skip. I have single display max performance & max performance for power consumption, verticle sync off, although I have toyed with it on/off. This video is from the Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Also unrelated but for some reason MSI afterburner tells me I get like a couple hundred thousand FPS on this game lol which hasn't even happened before.

 

Example: I just ran around and recorded this there is a good example starting around 0:40 seconds. I recorded this so hopefully someone can help & see what's going on.

 

 

Anyways this is really annoying. I'm trying to figure out the problem, CPU, mobo, HDD? Are the settings really just too much for a GTX 970? In the game it skips in turning down the settings don't seem to affect much. Specs are in signature if you want to see, I'm also playing in 120hz on a Samsung monitor. I recently ordered a bunch of parts for black friday. I'm replacing my PSU, HDD, adding an SSD. I will replace my mobo/CPU if necessary as I really want to start playing games more smoothly.

[Archangel1994]

Lol @ overlay displaying 200000 fps

 

Is it only in this game that it happens or other games that display an abnormal amount of fps?

 

To me this would sound like throttling but with the I7-980 and the temps in the normal range this stuttering should not really happen.

[Spev]

Lol @ overlay displaying 200000 fps

 

Is it only in this game that it happens or other games that display an abnormal amount of fps?

 

To me this would sound like throttling but with the I7-980 and the temps in the normal range this stuttering should not really happen.

This is the only game that has happened in. I turned on MSI to monitor and was like wtf? Other games show accurate FPS numbers.

 

You see exactly what I mean though? About the stuttering? This is happening in multiple games and is really frustrating...

[Archangel1994]

This is the only game that has happened in. I turned on MSI to monitor and was like wtf? Other games show accurate FPS numbers.

 

You see exactly what I mean though? About the stuttering? This is happening in multiple games and is really frustrating...

Just looked closer at the video and to my surprise when the stutter occurs look at your thread utilization...

 

ALL 12 threads are suddenly taxed, then go back to normal gaming thread usage. That's not normal.

[EzioSan]

i run spellforce 2 at 3000fps, mass coil wine

[Spev]

Just looked closer at the video and to my surprise when the stutter occurs look at your thread utilization...

 

ALL 12 threads are suddenly taxed, then go back to normal gaming thread usage. That's not normal.

Ya I wasn't sure what MSI is displaying, so I guess it's not cores it's the threads? & ya I notice that. I just went in game too and it does the same thing. When it skips everything jumps up for a quick second then back to low %. I also took the liberty of turning on temp monitor for all of the threads which are all between 35-40 while playing the game.

[Archangel1994]

What do you have open in the background while playing? Some program might be causing the stutters, your RIG should be totally fine for now. Your CPU is far from underpowered (Unless it's not OC'd, then that MIGHT cause the stutter).

 

- What specific games do the stutters occur in? I want to maybe spot a pattern

- What do you have running in the background?

- Have you OC'd the I7-980? If yes, how far? If no, you should OC it to about 4GHz at least

[Archangel1994]

Ya I wasn't sure what MSI is displaying, so I guess it's not cores it's the threads?

The I7-980 is a Hexa-Core (6-Core) with hyper threading so it has 12 threads (I.E. Logical Cores). Games/programs use threads, not cores and CPU monitoring software sees it as 12 cores but it's actually the 12 threads it sees belonging to the 6 cores.

[Spev]

What do you have open in the background while playing? Some program might be causing the stutters, your RIG should be totally fine for now. Your CPU is far from underpowered (Unless it's not OC'd, then that MIGHT cause the stutter).

 

- What specific games do the stutters occur in? I want to maybe spot a pattern

- What do you have running in the background?

- Have you OC'd the I7-980? If yes, how far? If no, you should OC it to about 4GHz at least

Steam, MSI Afterburner, Task Manger, EasyTune6, and a couple chrome tabs. I wouldn't think running these in the background would cause stutters on my system.

 

Also no, I have not OCd. I had never before, I don't have the X version of my CPU which is popular for OCing. I just have the 980. I have an auto 4ghz overclock button on my motherboard. The Gigabyte manual said it supports the use of the 980x for this but not the 980...so I'm not sure I should use it.

 

I just got it recently so haven't tried a ton of games. Far Cry 4 is skippy as shit for me, it's like the skip you saw there but much more common. This game which I just got today doesn't play very smooth and does that a decent amount, overall it isn't very smooth either. Even playing League of Legends I very occasionally experience this stutter, but on LoL it's pretty rare. I have multiple benchmark tests. Valley and heaven usually run pretty smooth and I get good scores, but I have these same damn skips in them as well, maybe not quite as bad but still very apparent. 

 

[Archangel1994]

I just got it recently so haven't tried a ton of games. Far Cry 4 is skippy as shit for me, it's like the skip you saw there but much more common. This game which I just got today doesn't play very smooth and does that a decent amount, overall it isn't very smooth either. Even playing League of Legends I very occasionally experience this stutter, but on LoL it's pretty rare. I have multiple benchmark tests. Valley and heaven usually run pretty smooth and I get good scores, but I have these same damn skips in them as well, maybe not quite as bad but still very apparent. 

 

Hmmmm, I see a pattern. The skips seem to occur from stressing CPU. Try to OC your 980 to 4GHz or higher and see if the stutter still occurs. I can't find another potential cause for stutter.

[Gloxxy]

I was getting this massively in BF4 after the latest patch and Final Stand DLC release. It turns out that Origin In-game was causing the micro stuttering. I disabled Origin in-game completely and the stuttering disappeared.

 

Is the Vanishing Of Ethan Carter on Origin?

[Spev]

I was getting this massively in BF4 after the latest patch and Final Stand DLC release. It turns out that Origin In-game was causing the micro stuttering. I disabled Origin in-game completely and the stuttering disappeared.

 

Is the Vanishing Of Ethan Carter on Origin?

No.

 

Also I have still not found a solution for this issue.

[Tie Lightning]

Hi all I'm trying to figure out what's holding my system back. I picked up a GTX 970 about a month back so I could get more into PC gaming. Some games it looks freaking great, like Tomb Raider which I was just playing on Ultra getting 100+ FPS. Then there are other games where most of the time it's good FPS on Ultra settings but will skip. Then, even if I change the settings down, it will still skip. I have single display max performance & max performance for power consumption, verticle sync off, although I have toyed with it on/off. This video is from the Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Also unrelated but for some reason MSI afterburner tells me I get like a couple hundred thousand FPS on this game lol which hasn't even happened before.

Example: I just ran around and recorded this there is a good example starting around 0:40 seconds. I recorded this so hopefully someone can help & see what's going on.

Anyways this is really annoying. I'm trying to figure out the problem, CPU, mobo, HDD? Are the settings really just too much for a GTX 970? In the game it skips in turning down the settings don't seem to affect much. Specs are in signature if you want to see, I'm also playing in 120hz on a Samsung monitor. I recently ordered a bunch of parts for black friday. I'm replacing my PSU, HDD, adding an SSD. I will replace my mobo/CPU if necessary as I really want to start playing games more smoothly.

The 970 and 980 are having a lot of problems, just wait for NVidia to fix it, it SHOULDN'T take too long:)

[Spev]

The 970 and 980 are having a lot of problems, just wait for NVidia to fix it, it SHOULDN'T take too long:)

Really? I have not heard of any issues. I also notice that when it lags my CPU threads spike up. Well actually someone from the forums noticed it while trying to help me. We were thinking maybe it was the CPU.

 

I'm building my new rig this weekend, I'd be pretty mad if I still had issues on it (if it was the GPU). However I'm still trying to figure out the issues as I will be giving my old PC to a friend.

[Tie Lightning]

Really? I have not heard of any issues. I also notice that when it lags my CPU threads spike up. Well actually someone from the forums noticed it while trying to help me. We were thinking maybe it was the CPU.

I'm building my new rig this weekend, I'd be pretty mad if I still had issues on it (if it was the GPU). However I'm still trying to figure out the issues as I will be giving my old PC to a friend.

My friend has a 4770k and he just got a 970 and his computer is only using about 40-50% of his gpu, and 40-50% of the cpu, not a cpu bottleneck, and other people are having this same problem. I would just wait for a fix

[Spev]

My friend has a 4770k and he just got a 970 and his computer is only using about 40-50% of his gpu, and 40-50% of the cpu, not a cpu bottleneck, and other people are having this same problem. I would just wait for a fix

I was already planning on building a new PC anyways, my parts have all shipped. The black friday sales were good. My GPU doesn't go less than 99% on any other games than this, so I'm not sure this is an accurate game to measure. It's 99% in everything even with my current CPU.

 

But don't you think the CPU spike has anything to do with the lag spikes? If it was the GPU why would the CPU spike like that?

[SpriteNo5]

I get a slight stuttering on this game, it's most noticeable near the start when you finish space man section and are running past the train carriages then again when you get to the bridge and cross it. My problem was more like hitching and wasn't quite as pronounced as the stutters in your video.

I'm running 980 SLI, 5820k @ 4.3 and 16gb ddr4. Im assuming it's a software problem related to this game as I'm not having issues in anything else, playing FC4, DA:I, Dear Esther and Divinity OS - all running fine.

[Tie Lightning]

I was already planning on building a new PC anyways, my parts have all shipped. The black friday sales were good. My GPU doesn't go less than 99% on any other games than this, so I'm not sure this is an accurate game to measure. It's 99% in everything even with my current CPU.

But don't you think the CPU spike has anything to do with the lag spikes? If it was the GPU why would the CPU spike like that?

Well the skipping only happens in certain games, my friend gets frame stutter in BF4 but doesn't have any problems in ARMA 3, so it really just depends:(

[Spev]

Well the skipping only happens in certain games, my friend gets frame stutter in BF4 but doesn't have any problems in ARMA 3, so it really just depends:(

Some games are fine for me but others are really bad. Tomb raider was so smooth & was perfect on Ultra with 100+ fps. Far Cry 4 is aweful and this game too is just so bad.

[Tie Lightning]

Some games are fine for me but others are really bad. Tomb raider was so smooth & was perfect on Ultra with 100+ fps. Far Cry 4 is aweful and this game too is just so bad.

Well FC4 is HORABLY optimized, I don't care if someone has an r9 295x10, it runs like ass.

[SpriteNo5]

Far Cry 4 is a known issue there's quite bad hitching going on in that game, it's most noticeable when travelling quickly in a vehicle. TB talks about it a lot in his PC Port report for the game.

I was getting hitching too but the last time I played it wasn't happening anymore, hadn't changed anything. Not touched it since DA:I was released.

[Spev]

Well FC4 is HORABLY optimized, I don't care if someone has an r9 295x10, it runs like ass.

I'm aware which is why I thought I'd try out some other games. It isn't the only title I have this issue in.

[JOHN30011887]

I too get strange stutter issues in random games but mostly Ubisoft games and Amd games, watch dogs, far cry 3/4, assassins creed black flag/unity, saints row 3/4, bioshock infinite, hitman absolution and sniper elite 3

 

the only amd game iv got that doesnt stutter is tomb raider (without tressfx)

 

After reading few sites on the net there seems to be alot of people with the 900 series that have stutter issues etc

 

My system specs are on my profile