Unexplained Stuttering/Frame Drops

[waljoricar]

Hi all,

I bought a PC from PC Specialist almost two years ago after some really great advice on this very forum. I'm hoping that you can offer some insight to a technical issue I'm having when gaming.

First off, here's my build,

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Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)

Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card
16GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6950 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)

1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)

2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED

Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)

Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100i ELITE RGB High Performance CPU Cooler

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT

Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED

USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]

Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

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I've been experiencing some very noticeable stuttering when trying to play a number of games that, by all accounts, should run as smooth as butter on my PC.

The most notable culprits are The Last of Us, Spider-Man 2, South of Midnight and the recently released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

I typically allow these games to determine what graphic settings are most appropriate and they generally default to "Ultra" with the occasionally setting set to "High".

However, even if I reduce the graphic presets to "Medium" or even "Low" I still encounter intermittent stuttering during gameplay and cutscenes. Particularly, but not limited to, frenetic moments of gameplay (combat).

[Sidenote: something that gives me pause about my experience with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered in particular is that I have no issue navigating the open world on Ultra settings, even at pace. I just get random frame drops/stuttering almost exclusively during combat regardless of where it occurs]

Is anyone able to shed some light as to why this might be? As far as I'm concerned, but PC should be more than capable of handling these games and giving me an almost flawless experience.

I appreciate that no PC gameplay experience is going to be 100% without hiccups, but the level of stuttering/frame drops/freezing I'm experiencing is enough for me to install these games until I can find a solution.

I hope this makes sense. I can try and take some footage if that would help and will provide any additional information necessary. Any insight this community can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hiya

What make and model monitor are you pairing the system with?

Have you changed any settings in Adrenalin?

What Anti-Virus are you running?

Am I right in thinking that card is a 3 x 8pin connectors? Can you confirm if that's powered by 3 x individual PCIe power cables? If not, that's worth doing, that's quite a hungry card

There's a good AMD specific troubleshooting guide here:

 

[waljoricar]

Hiya

What make and model monitor are you pairing the system with?

Have you changed any settings in Adrenalin?

What Anti-Virus are you running?

Am I right in thinking that card is a 3 x 8pin connectors? Can you confirm if that's powered by 3 x individual PCIe power cables? If not, that's worth doing, that's quite a hungry card

There's a good AMD specific troubleshooting guide here:

Hey SpyderTracks, thanks for your quick response.

My monitor is a AOC Gaming Q27G2S - 27 inch, 2560x1440 @ 165Hz.

I've not changed any settings in Adrenaline.

I don't have any antivirus running, beyond Windows Defender (if that counts).

Im unsure of how best to check my PC to answer your question regarding the number of pin connectors and PCIe power cables. If you can clarify, I'll check that right away!

Thanks so much for the video also. I will watch this when I finish work at 14:00.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hey SpyderTracks, thanks for your quick response.

My monitor is a AOC Gaming Q27G2S - 27 inch, 2560x1440 @ 165Hz.

I've not changed any settings in Adrenaline.

I don't have any antivirus running, beyond Windows Defender (if that counts).

Im unsure of how best to check my PC to answer your question regarding the number of pin connectors and PCIe power cables. If you can clarify, I'll check that right away!

Thanks so much for the video also. I will watch this when I finish work at 14:00.

Thanks again for your response.

The GPU power cables run into the side of the GPU, that should really be 3 individual cables running from the PSU rather than 2 cables using a splitter.

 

[waljoricar]

The GPU power cables run into the side of the GPU, that should really be 3 individual cables running from the PSU rather than 2 cables using a splitter.

View attachment 44171

Thank you for clarifying.

Apologies for such a dodgy photo; I'm working at the moment so have limited access to my PC. I think this shows three cables, but I could be way off.

If I need to take a closer look/better photo, please let me know.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for clarifying.

Apologies for such a dodgy photo; I'm working at the moment so have limited access to my PC. I think this shows three cables, but I could be way off.

If I need to take a closer look/better photo, please let me know.

View attachment 44172

Youd need to trace the cables, you’ll know if one of them is a splitter as 2 lines will run into one

This is a splitter which is one 8 pin at the PSU that splits into 2 to serve the GPU

 

[waljoricar]

Youd need to trace the cables, you’ll know if one of them is a splitter as 2 lines will run into one

This is a splitter which is one 8 pin at the PSU that splits into 2 to serve the GPU

View attachment 44185

Thanks for that.

I've had a feel and a closer look and still couldn't fully discern if there was a splitter cable in use, I'm sorry.

I had a quick chat with someone at PC Specialist who wasn't sure what type of cable would have been originally used, though they said, typically, they use a splitter for most builds. They also suggested taking a look at and photographing the cable management side of the PC as that would hopefully answer the question.

I'm sorry I can't provide a more definitive answer for you. I hope this doesn't prove too much of an obstacle?

Thanks for all your help so far!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for that.

I've had a feel and a closer look and still couldn't fully discern if there was a splitter cable in use, I'm sorry.

I had a quick chat with someone at PC Specialist who wasn't sure what type of cable would have been originally used, though they said, typically, they use a splitter for most builds. They also suggested taking a look at and photographing the cable management side of the PC as that would hopefully answer the question.

View attachment 44187View attachment 44188View attachment 44189

I'm sorry I can't provide a more definitive answer for you. I hope this doesn't prove too much of an obstacle?

Thanks for all your help so far!

It’s not something we’d be able to tell you, you’d need to trace the cable to see if it’s splitting. The split will likely be near the GPU on that side of the case as you can see from the image I attached

 

[waljoricar]

It’s not something we’d be able to tell you, you’d need to trace the cable to see if it’s splitting. The split will likely be near the GPU on that side of the case as you can see from the image I attached

That's completely fair. I've had another look and traced it and am confident that it's two cables using a splitter.

 

[SpyderTracks]

That's completely fair. I've had another look and traced it and am confident that it's two cables using a splitter.

So with the 6950XT it's up to 400W Total Board Power (TBP)

The 8pin connector can carry 150w per connector

Then you've got 75W capability on the PCIe slot.

But I believe the PCIe slot is only used as a fall back if the PCIe PSU cables are maxxed out.

So in theory you've got up to 250w going down a single PSU cable, IMHO that's overdoing it, I wouldn't personally be happy with that.

If you want to get the system optimally configured, I would personally run another PCIe cable from the PSU to plug into that 3rd connector.

From there you know it's fully within spec.

 

[waljoricar]

So with the 6950XT it's up to 400W Total Board Power (TBP)

The 8pin connector can carry 150w per connector

Then you've got 75W capability on the PCIe slot.

But I believe the PCIe slot is only used as a fall back if the PCIe PSU cables are maxxed out.

So in theory you've got up to 250w going down a single PSU cable, IMHO that's overdoing it, I wouldn't personally be happy with that.

If you want to get the system optimally configured, I would personally run another PCIe cable from the PSU to plug into that 3rd connector.

From there you know it's fully within spec.

Thanks for explaining this! I'll look into this further and try some of the fixes in the video you shared.

 

[waljoricar]

So with the 6950XT it's up to 400W Total Board Power (TBP)

The 8pin connector can carry 150w per connector

Then you've got 75W capability on the PCIe slot.

But I believe the PCIe slot is only used as a fall back if the PCIe PSU cables are maxxed out.

So in theory you've got up to 250w going down a single PSU cable, IMHO that's overdoing it, I wouldn't personally be happy with that.

If you want to get the system optimally configured, I would personally run another PCIe cable from the PSU to plug into that 3rd connector.

From there you know it's fully within spec.

Apologies for the double post.

If I want to remedy this issue myself and use another PCIe cable, is there a particular version or make you would recommend, or would any suffice?

 

[Martinr36]

Apologies for the double post.

If I want to remedy this issue myself and use another PCIe cable, is there a particular version or make you would recommend, or would any suffice?

You've probably got a spare in your welcome pack, that's where I'd check first

 

[TonyCarter]

I've just had a look at pictures of that XFX 6950XT, and it looks to be one of the few that only takes 2 8-pin power cables.

XFX Speedster MERC 319 RX 6950 XT Black Specs

AMD Navi 21, 2368 MHz, 5120 Cores, 320 TMUs, 128 ROPs, 16384 MB GDDR6, 2250 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com