Frametime question..

[DeFrxg]

So recently downloaded MSI Afterburner trying to diagnose why my games feel a bit laggy even though fps is reasonable.

From what I've researched your frametime should stay relatively flat if looking at a graph. However mine is constantly spiking which would explain why my games feel inconsistent.

Could somebody explain this?

The picture I show is from playing Arma 3 at 60+ FPS at all times.

https://gyazo.com/e68d04cc2d46a591acf6e46109705044

 

[steaky360]

I'll start by saying I don't fully understand this, I had never considered frametimes before!

However from googling, frametime is a measure of the amount of time it takes to render a frame. Why should this be flat? Makes sense to me that it would take a different amount of time to render different frames depending on their complexity? I guess the spikes are the issue here though causing stutter (or similar).

From a short amount of reading

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/3j743i

seems as though spikes in frametimes can cause micostuttering issues.

How to fix the problem however.... You could try tweaking your graphics settings in the game to see if that improves things and gradually increase them until the problem reoccurs?

What's the game and what hardware are you running? Can you post your full specs?

 

[DeFrxg]

I have a really good PC, just I dunno, seems way too stuttery and not smooth.

Case	CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 570X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 10 Core Processor i9-9900X (3.5GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® PRIME X299-A: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s, RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive	1TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) Partitions: 1000GB
2nd Storage Drive	2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE Partitions: 2000GB
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

 

[steaky360]

I think your best bet might be to wind down the settings and see if it fixes the issue (if it doesn't then it rules out it being a 'simpler' case of GPU hardware), then you can start bringing everything back up and see where that takes you. Worst case it might simply provide more info to work with .

What monitor are you gaming on? Are you playing at 4K or 1080?

 

[DeFrxg]

I'm playing at 1080.

 

[SpyderTracks]

That CPU is not optimal for gaming and may contribute to stutter.

But need to know your full specs also, there’s a fair chunk missing, need to know cooler and any peripherals.

Did you order with windows or install your own?

 

[DeFrxg]

Ordered with windows but have done complete reinstall since, everybody says that CPU is not optimal for gaming but surely it's not gonna have a negative impact on gaming?? It's a beast

Here's the rest of the specs -

https://gyazo.com/dbcaf6bad895b941d1956183cea028bd

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ordered with windows but have done complete reinstall since, everybody says that CPU is not optimal for gaming but surely it's not gonna have a negative impact on gaming?? It's a beast

Here's the rest of the specs -

https://gyazo.com/dbcaf6bad895b941d1956183cea028bd

But it’s not a gaming CPU, it’s not designed for the type of performance that gaming requires.

When you reinstalled, how did you install drivers and what OS image did you use?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Think have found the issue, that cooler is woefully inadequate for that CPU.

I would immediately check thermals with hwmonitor on both gpu and cpu when idle and under load.

What do you use the build for?

 

[DeFrxg]

GPU Temps underload are about 40-50 and CPU 60 ish, idle they both sit at around 20 for GPU and 30-40 for CPU. Seems cool enough.

I just use the build for gaming and general browsing.

 

[SpyderTracks]

GPU Temps underload are about 40-50 and CPU 60 ish, idle they both sit at around 20 for GPU and 30-40 for CPU. Seems cool enough.

I just use the build for gaming and general browsing.

What are you using to read temps? That can’t be accurate for the cpu under load.

 

[Scott]

I really feel for that poor cooler. I would check it's not turned in its resignation and ditched the build altogether

In all seriousness, that chip is an absolute toaster, the H60 will be screaming for mercy when under full gaming load.

By "load", we mean run HW monitor while gaming for an hour or so and see what your peaks are. If you want a laugh, fire on Prime95 and run a torture test. I think it would spike a throttle quicker than it ran super-pi to be honest.

 

[Oussebon]

Why should this be flat? Makes sense to me that it would take a different amount of time to render different frames depending on their complexity? I guess the spikes are the issue here though causing stutter (or similar).

The ideal is that the frametime graph is flat while you're running a consistent framerate, or else the transitions between individual frames isn't even and can be perceived as stutter. I think GamersNexus found that anything over about 8ms variation can become more noticeable.. iirc. Although, games are games, you're going to get the odd bit of variation bigger than that in various games / setups / settings.

As above, check temps for the CPU (per core, not just the package) and GPU - and also check frequencies per CPU core and for the GPU. It could be that something is causing frequencies to drop which gives an uneven frametime.

Also, this is Arma. Which I don't play but from what I gather isn't known for delivering a reliably buttery smooth gaming experience...

How is it turned to lowest settings with FPS capped to 60? Not vsync - capped with e.g. Rivatuner Statistics Server (which you have via MSI Afterburner).

What about other games? What about benchmarks like Unigine Valley?
Perhaps do a Firestrike run and link your result.