Graphics stuttering on Windows 10

[tinpanalley]

I have done Windows updates that were missing, my GPU has up to date drivers and my RAM is in good shape. However, games that weren't having problems before are now stuttering. I feel like at some point Windows updated something that has caused issues in graphics processing. I mean, how can a game start stuttering that was fine before? It would also appear that the GPU is in good shape. I can understand a new game not playing nice with my slightly older equipment, but games that played fine a year ago should still play fine, right?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Post hardware specs, run disk drive diagnostics

 

[tinpanalley]

Post hardware specs, run disk drive diagnostics

Any particular diagnostics test program that is free and recommended?

 

[tinpanalley]

Windows Version - Windows 10 (64 bit)
System Model Z68A-D3-B3
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 3301 Mhz, 4 Core(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F2, 02/05/2011
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 16.0 GB
Available Physical Memory 12.3 GB
Total Virtual Memory 18.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 14.3 GB
Page File Space 2.88 GB

GPU - AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Radeon Software Version - 18.12.1.1
Radeon Software Edition - Adrenalin
Memory Size - 3072 MB
Memory Type - GDDR5
Core Clock - 940 MHz

 

[ch33zw1z]

If it's a spinning disk, use the bootable diags for whichever company you got it from

What's your power supply and disk drives?

 

[tinpanalley]

If it's a spinning disk, use the bootable diags for whichever company you got it from

What's your power supply and disk drives?

Antec 650W

System: 500GB Samsung SSD
Storage:
- 2TB HDD
- 4TB HDD
It's the HDDs that these games are on.

 

[tinpanalley]

If it's a spinning disk, use the bootable diags for whichever company you got it from

Ok, I ran some Seagate diagnostic tools. Everything came back fine. So the HDDS are ok. I don't know what the heck else could be wrong.

 

[ch33zw1z]

What model PSU?

So you used Seagate seatools and a full certify of the disks passes?

Samsung SSD, do you use Samsung's magician software to check it out?

If all your disks pass, and you do the have a spare PSU to test with, I would suggest a couple things. Possible that it's a windows issue, ensure you using the driver's provided by manufacturers for your hardware. You could also reinstall Windows at some point to see if it's a software thing.

You rig is getting up there in age, a failing motherboard is a possibility.

 

[tinpanalley]

What model PSU?

Antec Truepower 650

Samsung SSD, do you use Samsung's magician software to check it out?

I didn't check the SSD because I doubt that it's the thing causing me problems. It's literally just this one game causing me stuttering problems.

If all your disks pass, and you do the have a spare PSU to test with

I don't, unfortunately.

I would suggest a couple things. Possible that it's a windows issue, ensure you using the driver's provided by manufacturers for your hardware.

The problem I'm having is that this was fine three weeks ago. No game gave me any problems.

You could also reinstall Windows at some point to see if it's a software thing.

I suppose I could try that, it's just the annoyance of having to set up all my programs again.

You rig is getting up there in age, a failing motherboard is a possibility.

When I put this one together in 2011, the whole thing cost me about $500. What would I be looking at paying now for something comparable to today's spec standards?

 

[Atreus21]

Do you have any System Restore points saved? If your suspicious of an update causing the issue, you could revert to a restore point earlier than the time of the update to troubleshoot that.

If that isn't possible or doesn't work, I'd try reinstalling the game to the SSD. A more extreme troubleshooting option would be to move all your data off one drive, install Windows to that drive, boot to it, install the game, and test its performance.

 

[tinpanalley]

Well, I tried a fresh reinstall. Nothing is working. This makes no sense whatsoever. Nothing in my system has changed. But all of a sudden, even a fresh install to a different drive stutters? How can that be? What happened between now and August with Windows that these games now stutter?

 

[mikeymikec]

The AMD drivers look new (at least I assume they are with '18.12' in the version number). Did you update those as a result of having the problem or was it the other way around?

 

[tinpanalley]

The AMD drivers look new (at least I assume they are with '18.12' in the version number). Did you update those as a result of having the problem or was it the other way around?

I just do updates whenever they're available but it does seem like all of a sudden a Windows or AMD update caused problems because everything else on the computer works perfectly.

 

[mikeymikec]

I just do updates whenever they're available but it does seem like all of a sudden a Windows or AMD update caused problems because everything else on the computer works perfectly.

I'd wind the driver back to a version you've used before, but also in Control Panel > Programs & Features > View Installed Updates, you could go on an update removal fest and see if that helps.

Please clarify though - I think you went from a a problem with one game to then using plural and then "nothing is working".

 

[tinpanalley]

Please clarify though - I think you went from a a problem with one game to then using plural and then "nothing is working".

Nothing is working is in reference to the several things I'm trying, not the number of things not working on the computer.
I'll try the things you suggested. I'm not sure how to roll back gpu drivers, though. Never had to do that before. I guess I'll have a look online.

 

[mikeymikec]

Nothing is working is in reference to the several things I'm trying, not the number of things not working on the computer.
I'll try the things you suggested. I'm not sure how to roll back gpu drivers, though. Never had to do that before. I guess I'll have a look online.

Driver - what I'd do:
Go to amd.com, drivers + support, choose your gpu, look for an option for older drivers and download something from a point in time that you know it all worked. Don't install it yet.
Disconnect network connection.
Control Panel > Programs & Features > Remove AMD display driver
Reboot.
Install the new AMD driver, reboot if necessary.
Test game.
Reconnect network connection.

 

[tinpanalley]

Driver - what I'd do

I will certainly try that tonight. Thanks. Honestly, its the weirdest thing because if i could say that the whole computer was having issues, then fine, I'd think bad RAM, bad HDD, bad gpu, something... But this is one game that since a month ago.

 

[tinpanalley]

Ok, so I've gone back to a driver that I'm pretty sure worked well and the stutter issue is still there.
What else could this be? A GPU problem? All of a sudden I don't have enough RAM?

 

[mikeymikec]

What's the game you're having stuttering issues with? How much stutter are we talking about, like the FPS drops to 5? Is it the most demanding game you own? What are some of the other demanding games you've got that don't stutter?

What anti-virus / security software do you have installed? Is the computer performing perfectly in general, video playback etc?

I wonder if an update to the game has occurred. Have you tried turning the graphics settings in the game way down and steadily work them up to reasonably normal settings while testing in between?

Another thing I'd consider doing is having Task Manager (or better yet Process Explorer - download it from MS, run it with admin privs - that allows you to point at resource spikes in the graph to check which process they were caused by) and check resource usage after a bit of gaming with the problematic game.

 

[tinpanalley]

What's the game you're having stuttering issues with? How much stutter are we talking about, like the FPS drops to 5? Is it the most demanding game you own? What are some of the other demanding games you've got that don't stutter?

Like the fps drops to looking like it's in slowmo. I also notice audio clipping. I need to try the program you mentioned below. But even MORE demanding games don't stutter as bad. It's FIFA 18 and 19 that stutter. In early September FIFA18 wasn't stuttering at ALL. No matter how much I played or reloaded the game.

What anti-virus / security software do you have installed? Is the computer performing perfectly in general, video playback etc?

All other things work fine; no change in responsiveness or performance. I only use Windows Security.

I wonder if an update to the game has occurred. Have you tried turning the graphics settings in the game way down and steadily work them up to reasonably normal settings while testing in between?

I haven't done that, but I have fully reinstalled the game from scratch and used the default settings which were always fine. I've even been able to have the game fully cranked up in quality settings which really doesn't work well now. The currently available (and last) update to the game had always worked fine until I started having problems.

Another thing I'd consider doing is having Task Manager (or better yet Process Explorer - download it from MS, run it with admin privs - that allows you to point at resource spikes in the graph to check which process they were caused by) and check resource usage after a bit of gaming with the problematic game.

I'll definitely try Process Explorer. Very curious to see what could be causing this.

 

[mikeymikec]

I wonder if it's worth checking the driver date of the audio driver.

Process Explorer will show RAM usage (both physical and logical representations). If RAM usage is hitting say 75% of the total then that's worth looking into IMO.

 

[Ketchup]

Can you be any more precise on what model the video card is? 3 GB makes me think 280, but that is just an educated guess.

Also, next time you start a game, look inside the case and make sure all the fans are spinning, especially the fans in the video card.

 

[Oyeve]

Use a fan utility for the video card and crank it up to 100%. I had a similar issue a couple of years ago with a 290X card where the fan was only spinning at 25% and games would crawl and then crash. Was the GPU overheating.

 

[tinpanalley]

Can you be any more precise on what model the video card is? 3 GB makes me think 280, but that is just an educated guess.

Also, next time you start a game, look inside the case and make sure all the fans are spinning, especially the fans in the video card.

It is precisely the 280, yes. I'll check on the fans later today. If one of the fans on the games gpu is dead, can anything be done?

 

[tinpanalley]

Use a fan utility for the video card and crank it up to 100%. I had a similar issue a couple of years ago with a 290X card where the fan was only spinning at 25% and games would crawl and then crash. Was the GPU overheating.

I've never used a fan utility, can you recommend one? And if the fan isn't spinning properly, is there a fix for that? It would suck if the gpu couldn't be used only because of a mechanical problem.