Stuttering on Everything (Desktop, Games, Mouse Cursor etc.)

[DarkPaladin]

I recently RMA'd my new laptop to get fixed, so I figured I'd use my older PCSpecialist laptop (purchased in 2014/2015) in the meantime. Unfortunately, when I switched on the laptop yesterday, I immediately noticed my mouse cursor stuttering (animations etc. aren't smooth anymore) across the screen but initially thought nothing of it. When trying to play games, the screen tearing on the display was significantly worse than I remembered it. I tried capping to 60 FPS, 70 FPS, then letting it reach its potential 150 FPS but nothing seemed to help it.

What I've done so far to fix the stuttering/delays:
- Reinstall Windows 10
- Download old and new NVIDIA drivers
- Update Intel GPU drivers
- Memory test which came back fine
- GPU/CPU re-paste with Coolermaster Thermal Paste

Specifications:
- Windows 10
- Intel i7-4940MX CPU
- GTX 980M
- 32GB RAM
- Samsung EVO 1TB SSD
- Clevo P17SM-A model

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[SpyderTracks]

I recently RMA'd my new laptop to get fixed, so I figured I'd use my older PCSpecialist laptop (purchased in 2014/2015) in the meantime. Unfortunately, when I switched on the laptop yesterday, I immediately noticed my mouse cursor stuttering (animations etc. aren't smooth anymore) across the screen but initially thought nothing of it. When trying to play games, the screen tearing on the display was significantly worse than I remembered it. I tried capping to 60 FPS, 70 FPS, then letting it reach its potential 150 FPS but nothing seemed to help it.

What I've done so far to fix the stuttering/delays:
- Reinstall Windows 10
- Download old and new NVIDIA drivers
- Update Intel GPU drivers
- Memory test which came back fine
- GPU/CPU re-paste with Coolermaster Thermal Paste

Specifications:
- Windows 10
- Intel i7-4940MX CPU
- GTX 980M
- 32GB RAM
- Samsung EVO 1TB SSD
- Clevo P17SM-A model

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I’ve got the same laptop although with the 870m, great laptop!

Might be worth uninstalling nvidia driver with ddu and then reinstalling from scratch.

Ddu is here: https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

BTW, the max FPS on that system will be 60fps (limitation of the screen), so best to turn vsync on.

Also check temps with hwmonitor

 

[DarkPaladin]

I’ve got the same laptop although with the 870m, great laptop!

Might be worth uninstalling nvidia driver with ddu and then reinstalling from scratch.

Ddu is here: https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

BTW, the max FPS on that system will be 60fps (limitation of the screen), so best to turn vsync on.

Also check temps with hwmonitor

Do you mean reinstalling Windows 10 after using DDU, or just reinstalling the GPU drivers?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Do you mean reinstalling Windows 10 after using DDU, or just reinstalling the GPU drivers?

Just reinstalling gpu drivers.

The other thing to try if it really isn't driver related is if you've got a secondary HDD or something in the laptop, try installing windows to that instead of the primary.

 

[DarkPaladin]

No luck with DDU. I'm not sure if it's clear from the video, but here's 2 examples of what I'm referring to:

https://imgur.com/QinxOIY

https://imgur.com/zcd82Ec

 

[ubuysa]

What are the temps like (especially GPU)? The clue I think is that it was working fine some time ago and it's sat unused for some time since (how long since it was last used)? Since it's a four or five year old laptop in any case I wonder whether the thermal paste has degraded somewhat?

 

[DarkPaladin]

What are the temps like (especially GPU)? The clue I think is that it was working fine some time ago and it's sat unused for some time since (how long since it was last used)? Since it's a four or five year old laptop in any case I wonder whether the thermal paste has degraded somewhat?

The last time I used it was 21st July. I checked the temps with HWMonitor and they all look fine (70 max in-game, 49 max when idle). I re-pasted both my CPU and GPU again yesterday just in case it was a temperature issue, but I think I can safely rule that out now.