ALL steam games have microlagging/stuttering when online, as well as the client.

[Soaknfused]

Even as I type this, steam is microstuttering and I dont know why. I tried playing the games in steam offline mode, doesn't help. The only thing that works is when I completely disable my internet connection, then everything runs buttery smooth. I have a 2070, i9 9900k and 16GB DDR4. No idea what to do.

[Iceira]

Try nvidia custom install ( clean driver install to see if that help )

Or try turn off shader precache ( to see if this is harddisk lag issue ) vulkan is the newest thing , problem is still yours and Nvidia support could be best advice.

do check single player game ( so this is all games and not just online games )
because single play game with no server will almost be a 100% problem is at your pc.

dont forget old safe boot mode , to test thirdpart app interference.

[Soaknfused]

Originally posted by Iceira:

Try nvidia custom install ( clean driver install to see if that help )

Or try turn off shader precache ( to see if this is harddisk lag issue ) vulkan is the newest thing , problem is still yours and Nvidia support could be best advice.

do check single player game ( so this is all games and not just online games )
because single play game with no server will almost be a 100% problem is at your pc.

dont forget old safe boot mode , to test thirdpart app interference.

So I tried the clean driver install, that that didn't work. Disabling shader precache didn't work either. Also its the steam client itself that is also lagging and stuttering, not just games. And they're only steam games. WoW, League, and other non-steam games run fine. I booted up safe mode and it ran fine in the client, which leads me to believe there may be another problem somewhere. Keep in mind that all these issues only happen when I am connected to the internet. When I disable my internet connection, steam has zero stuttering, and steam games have zero stuttering as well. Its really bizzare.

[Iceira]

Try the reduce option in steam client settings, only idea left.

or you might have network issue with ISP , if single player game also do then its your pc

[ReBoot]

Disable your WLAN hardware and connect, as a test at least, via Ethernet. WLAN drivers causing this effect isn't unheard of.

[Soaknfused]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Disable your WLAN hardware and connect, as a test at least, via Ethernet. WLAN drivers causing this effect isn't unheard of.

I am always connected via ethernet, but I disabled my wireless first, got not results. Then I tried just disabling ethernet and connecting via wifi only, no results. Only when I completely disable both connections via the adapter settings in windows do I get any improvement.

Like I was saying, very bizzare, and it only affects the steam client and steam games specifically. Like even as I'm typing this it gets "micro-freezes" and catches up.

I can go right into any web browser or any other part of my computer and it runs just fine, no stutter whatsoever. It literally is just Steam that I'm having the issue with.

[ReBoot]

Ok, so to get this straight
1. It stutters when there's a network connection and not when there's none (network, not internet)
2. It stutters also when you're using anything offline (i.e. playing a singleplayer game) when there's a network connection

Hm. Looks like SOMETHING is running on your system that takes network traffic as a reason to hog CPU performance (or firing heaps of interrupts, which while technically not hogging performance, got the same effect, you can check with task manager).

So yeah, my bet is on background crapware that "helpfully" tries to do something with your network stuff. KillerNIC drivers for example are known to be ♥♥♥♥ as well as NVidia NForce drivers.

Since it happens with Steam as well, I suggest booting into safe mode (for obvious reasons with networking). That's the usual #1 diagnostic step when background crap is suspected.

As someone who installs as nothing as possible and the barest minimum of what he needs, I can't give you a pointer on which particular program may be the cause as I only know such things from forums, lacking the personal experience with background crapware myself. As far as drivers come, I let Windows Update install everything except the graphics driver (which tends to be months old when coming from Windows Update). WU drivers are known to be rather low on issues, while possible offer less functionality (i.e. Intel's RST which I don't use because it renders the main storage unit potentially dead in case the system doesn't boot and I have to use a boot disk).

I suggest going through things installed on your system and see what may got something to do with network connections.

[Iceira]

hmm or bypass router to test if thats is doing this. if wall plug is rj-45 , then you have ruleout another issue , update router software and netcard drivers. even reset to factory default.

check cable ? or other cable.

you can also try the reset winsock.


ps.
or another way get a friends laptop to ruleout router and cable, this also verify it is the pc issue.

[Soaknfused]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Since it happens with Steam as well, I suggest booting into safe mode (for obvious reasons with networking). That's the usual #1 diagnostic step when background crap is suspected.
I suggest going through things installed on your system and see what may got something to do with network connections.

Its not "steam as well", its literally only steam. Anything else runs fine, even if steam is running. Basically if steam is up and I launch a game via steam, it stutters and has terrible input lag.
If steam is running and I run say, WoW or a non-steam game in general, its completely fine.

[Soaknfused]

Originally posted by Iceira:

hmm or bypass router to test if thats is doing this. if wall plug is rj-45 , then you have ruleout another issue , update router software and netcard drivers. even reset to factory default.

check cable ? or other cable.

you can also try the reset winsock.


ps.
or another way get a friends laptop to ruleout router and cable, this also verify it is the pc issue.

I have my own laptop with much lower specs, and it runs fine on all the same network hardware.
Its just this particular computer, and just steam and steam games.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Soaknfused:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Since it happens with Steam as well, I suggest booting into safe mode (for obvious reasons with networking). That's the usual #1 diagnostic step when background crap is suspected.
I suggest going through things installed on your system and see what may got something to do with network connections.

Its not "steam as well"

There's a difference between games showing this behaviour and Steam showing this behaviour. In the former case, booting into safe mode would diagnose exactly 0 as games generally don't run well or at all in safe mode. Since it's also Steam, which works just fine in safe mode, using safe mode as a diagnostic step is a viable solution.

As for the rest of your post, background crapware interfering with Steam but not WoW isn't news. It wasn't news 10 years ago and it's not news now.

I've seen several cases on the forums of Steam shooting down cheap-o crap-o WLAN hardware. Everything else works fine, Steam shoots it down. Still, the issue is the crap WLAN adaptor, it's just that Steam's the only program that overloads it.

Right now, there's cases of Steam shooting down crappy GPU drivers on Windows 8.1. Is it a bug in Steam that needs fixing? No. It's a bug in the graphics driver that needs fixing. It's just that Steam triggers it.

I've seen routers cutting connection because of Steam's server browser. Same topic: does Steam do anything it shouldn't? No. It's just the only program that fires up enough simultaneous connections to overload a crappy router. WoW doesn't do that.

That kinda reminds me on how Donald Trump claims tests are the only reasons for the high Covid case numbers in the US. No, tests merely expose existing issues, they aren't the issue.


It's not like I'm telling you it's your network driver which is the cause. I'm merely telling you to do a diagnostic step to get further information. You may or may not have a testing case. You don't know. I don't know. That's what diagnostic steps are for.

[Iceira]

as Reboot point out you are in processes of elimination, just because 1 pc work and other dont, still 2 diffrent OS and something can have corrupted it. if you have a sparedisk try reinstall OS there to either confirm still happend or blaim whatever it is system is been draging down with something. and to ID it can be hard is no error msg is give a clue untill you figure it out.

if you notice you almost have same issue as other thread by another user.

can you also test a single player game with native resolution as 60hz lock with vsync on.

i cant say its same issue, but i bet even reboot can see things could look like same issue, but its seen before they aient.

[Iceira]

and i also recommend you contact Nvidia support 2 pc with same stuttering, this could be a clue but if you did read other post then you know what i did to solve this on my nephew pc.

many hardcore gamers do not wait a week for solutions or they role back drivers or roleback OS to last know working OS. but thats not faulth finding that restore it.

[Soaknfused]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by Soaknfused:

Its not "steam as well"

There's a difference between games showing this behaviour and Steam showing this behaviour. In the former case, booting into safe mode would diagnose exactly 0 as games generally don't run well or at all in safe mode. Since it's also Steam, which works just fine in safe mode, using safe mode as a diagnostic step is a viable solution.

As for the rest of your post, background crapware interfering with Steam but not WoW isn't news. It wasn't news 10 years ago and it's not news now.

I've seen several cases on the forums of Steam shooting down cheap-o crap-o WLAN hardware. Everything else works fine, Steam shoots it down. Still, the issue is the crap WLAN adaptor, it's just that Steam's the only program that overloads it.

Right now, there's cases of Steam shooting down crappy GPU drivers on Windows 8.1. Is it a bug in Steam that needs fixing? No. It's a bug in the graphics driver that needs fixing. It's just that Steam triggers it.

I've seen routers cutting connection because of Steam's server browser. Same topic: does Steam do anything it shouldn't? No. It's just the only program that fires up enough simultaneous connections to overload a crappy router. WoW doesn't do that.

That kinda reminds me on how Donald Trump claims tests are the only reasons for the high Covid case numbers in the US. No, tests merely expose existing issues, they aren't the issue.


It's not like I'm telling you it's your network driver which is the cause. I'm merely telling you to do a diagnostic step to get further information. You may or may not have a testing case. You don't know. I don't know. That's what diagnostic steps are for.

Yes, I've booted into safe mode and steam runs fine there. I booted it up today normally and literally everything is fine like nothing happened. I have no idea what caused the problem or why.
The client is no longer giving me any input lag or stuttering, the games aren't either, and I have changed nothing, nothing has updated, nothing is different. So very bizarre.

[ReBoot]

The piece of software that may have been the casue may have received an update. Automatic updates are more common than not and the vendor of that component may have pushed a bugfix.
Not bizarre, that's more like the reality of it.

My personal favorite way to deal with such flukes is not paying all too much attention unless it returns.