What causes FPS hiccups, in gaming?

[Randy Marsh]

Does bottleneck cause it?

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

cpu, gpu,memory, poor game optimization, bad driver, overheating cpu/gpu

[r.linder]

It can be any number of things, but there are a few very common things that can all tie into each other.

1. Your CPU is too weak, either for the game itself or it simply can't keep up with the GPU. The CPU prepares frames for the GPU, but if it can't prepare frames fast enough, it can cause frame drops and stutters. A clear sign of this is when your CPU usage is at 100%, but your GPU usage isn't.

2. Some games have bad optimisation and will run with stutters no matter what CPU you have.

3. Your GPU is too weak for the game, and certain effects can cause massive drops in frames, such as explosions or fire/smoke.

4. A bad GPU driver can cause problems, but you would notice it in every single game you run, and it would be more often causing a crash than anything else.

5. If your CPU/GPU's cooling solution or fan curve is insufficient in keeping them cool under heavy loads, the CPU/GPU will throttle itself to reduce temperatures, but this means the speeds of the CPU/GPU will be lowered, and that can definitely cause hiccups.



Possible solutions:

1. Use a program like RivaTuner Statistics Server (included with MSI Afterburner) to limit your framerate to a specific target or your monitor's refresh rate, preferably a number your system can consistently manage without hiccups, like 60 FPS. Usually, this makes gameplay much smoother when the problem is simply that your CPU is incapable of preparing as many frames as your GPU wants to render.
If your GPU can handle it and you aren't running at maximum settings, increasing graphical settings increases GPU load, which in turn lowers CPU load as the GPU isn't forcing the CPU to prepare as many frames for it.

2. If there is a CPU you can upgrade to that you can afford, it might be worthwhile to do so, but it depends on what you have. If your system is already 5+ years old then you're better off just upgrading the entire system.

3. For driver-related issues, install and run the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in safe mode to wipe your GPU driver completely and then reinstall the driver afterwards.

4. For a weak GPU, lower the settings. Pretty simple.

5. For overheating components, airflow either needs to be improved (by adding more fans) or the fan curves need to be adjusted so that they're more aggressive and capable of sufficiently cooling the components.

[Vulkan]

games made on UE3/4 are normally hiccup city so save yourself the headache of troubleshooting youre pc when playing those games just a FYI. athough gears 4 and 5 ran flawless on UE4 which was a first for me

[Kaihekoa]

Escorve is spot on. I would start diagnosing by playing the games that stutter and seeing what the CPU/GPU utilization rates and temps are at when the problem occurs.