Massive lag spikes / stuttering issues with BF4 and BF1

[✪ amir]

Please note that this happens with Battlefield 4 as well as Battlefield 1. This is a system problem and not a "beta" problem with Battlefield 1. I've gotten no response on the battlefield forums so I thought I'd try here

For the past couple of months I've been receiving really bad and frequent lag spikes with BF4/BF1.
I'm easily able to run BF4 at ultra and BF1 at high but the problem is that the games are freezing every 10-20 seconds. My frames go from 100 to 0 for about 1-2 seconds.
I've tried so many different ways to fix this such as unparking my CPU, updating graphic drivers, lowering my graphic settings, disabling Origin In-game, etc.

My specs:
GTX 960 OC (bought it OC)
Intel i7-3770K @ 3.50 GHz 3.50 GHz
8 GB of RAM
Windows 10

No overheating issues.

I've also noticed that BF1/BF4 is taking around 3,000 MB of memory (not sure if that's normal or not).
Is there any reasoning why I could be lag spiking this badly? None of my friends are getting these problems and their computers aren't as good as mine.
This is only happening with Battlefield games which is surprising because I know Battlefield games are extremely optimized so I'm just very confused why I'm getting these issues with lag spikes / game stuttering.

Thanks,
Cra4t

[Hare+Guu!]

Is battlefield the only demanding game you have? If it is, the it could be a voltage/temp problem. Most new cards will throttle if they don't get enough power or the temp is too high. If you didn't change any overclocks, then check your temps. If it's below 80c, then it's a voltage problem. Chances are you psu might be choking. They lose efficiency as they age, so your gpu might not be getting the proper voltage. This could also extend to your other devices causing the massive stuttering/freezing.

If you have more demanding games, try using a different driver.

[✪ amir]

Hare+Guu! původně napsal:

Is battlefield the only demanding game you have? If it is, the it could be a voltage/temp problem. Most new cards will throttle if they don't get enough power or the temp is too high. If you didn't change any overclocks, then check your temps. If it's below 80c, then it's a voltage problem. Chances are you psu might be choking. They lose efficiency as they age, so your gpu might not be getting the proper voltage. This could also extend to your other devices causing the massive stuttering/freezing.

If you have more demanding games, try using a different driver.

I've got Arma 3, GTA 5, H1Z1, etc. and they all run fine. I don't believe its a PSU problem either because my temps are very stable. I've already tried different drivers.
This is ONLY happening with Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1.

[[☥] - CJ -]

BF games tend to be HDD limited, if you dont have them installed on an SSD that could be one possibility.

And yes, the memory usage is normal.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

That does not account for the FPS hits like that; I could see a slow HDD given you in-game pop-in or prefetching issues that are visually seen to take longer than usual (easily noticeable in games like GTAV when a slow HDD is used), but you shouldn't see that in games like BF4.

What the OP is describing sounds to me like the CPU or GPU is throttling; cause the FPS to dip down to nothing, then come back again... rinse & repeat.

If it's not heat-related issue, try down-clocking your GPU and see if this helps.
GPUs (especially factory OC'ed ones) might not hold up sometimes. If a down-clock is needed to have the GPU run stable, you can RMA it for replacement, since the maker has to stand by those factory OC.

Also, if you experiencing issues with the latest GPU Driver, run DDU and rid the system of all GPU Drivers, then go grab a slightly older one. BF1 requires one of those 368.xx (i forgot the exact version) as a minimum, so you can't back-track too far.

I had NeedForSpeed (2016) do that a couple times though; try also loading Origin games up in Borderless Window (or just without Full-Screen toggled in the game) then exit and relaunch the game. When the game loads up, wait til the main menu, then press ALT+Enter.

[✪ amir]

☥ - CJ - původně napsal:

BF games tend to be HDD limited, if you dont have them installed on an SSD that could be one possibility.

And yes, the memory usage is normal.

Bad-Motha původně napsal:

That does not account for the FPS hits like that; I could see a slow HDD given you in-game pop-in or prefetching issues that are visually seen to take longer than usual (easily noticeable in games like GTAV when a slow HDD is used), but you shouldn't see that in games like BF4.

What the OP is describing sounds to me like the CPU or GPU is throttling; cause the FPS to dip down to nothing, then come back again... rinse & repeat.

If it's not heat-related issue, try down-clocking your GPU and see if this helps.
GPUs (especially factory OC'ed ones) might not hold up sometimes. If a down-clock is needed to have the GPU run stable, you can RMA it for replacement, since the maker has to stand by those factory OC.

Also, if you experiencing issues with the latest GPU Driver, run DDU and rid the system of all GPU Drivers, then go grab a slightly older one. BF1 requires one of those 368.xx (i forgot the exact version) as a minimum, so you can't back-track too far.

I had NeedForSpeed (2016) do that a couple times though; try also loading Origin games up in Borderless Window (or just without Full-Screen toggled in the game) then exit and relaunch the game. When the game loads up, wait til the main menu, then press ALT+Enter.

I'll try this later, thank you guys.

[Nejco]

Sorry for bumping this but have you solved your problem?

I have same thing since I went back to Windows 7. All frostbite engine games only. Reinstalled ♥♥♥♥ with DDU, installed new drivers, disable pretty much everything I could, nothing works.
Doesn't matter if a game is on SSD or HDD, it stutters.

Tried mutliple frostbite games including BF1, every game stutters. Bordeless/fullscreen any settings nothing helps.

[✪ amir]

Nejc | Windows 7 ♥ původně napsal:

Sorry for bumping this but have you solved your problem?

I have same thing since I went back to Windows 7. All frostbite engine games only. Reinstalled ♥♥♥♥ with DDU, installed new drivers, disable pretty much everything I could, nothing works.
Doesn't matter if a game is on SSD or HDD, it stutters.

Tried mutliple frostbite games including BF1, every game stutters. Bordeless/fullscreen any settings nothing helps.

np for bumping but I underclocked my GPU since it was factory overclocked and that fixed the problem for BF4. I never got to try it out for BF1 but maybe it would have also worked.

[Nejco]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ doesn't fix anything for me. I don't get it why it ran so well in Windows 10 and now on fresh Windows 7 I'm having ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problems. Makes no sense. Same hardware, same software, same game.

And not only BF1, even old BFs started to stutter.

[✪ amir]

Nejc | Windows HATES ME původně napsal:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ doesn't fix anything for me. I don't get it why it ran so well in Windows 10 and now on fresh Windows 7 I'm having ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problems. Makes no sense. Same hardware, same software, same game.

And not only BF1, even old BFs started to stutter.

yeah happened to me with BF4 and BF1, don't think it happened on BF2 or BF3 though. always had a problem with dice's games with BF

[[☥] - CJ -]

run a memory diagnostic, see if that comes up with anything.
you can try downclocking the GPU a lil as well since its factory overclocked.

[Nejco]

Just tried memory diagnostic nothing came up. I assume it's not hardware because played the game on same day jsut fine on Windows 10, than went to Windows 7 and now it stutters.

[Nejco]

So I figured out what is causing awful stutters it's low gpu usage in all these games and low temp. of gpu. CANT FIND FIX THOUGH!

So normally before during windows 10 era with same hardware it went anywhere from 60-70 °C even in menus. Now it's really low and it won't go up for some weird reason.

Again this is FROSTBITE ENGINE games only. Every other game works fine. But every frostbite engine game I have tried to run has same problem. Low gpu usage which results in crazy stutters. The newer the game, the more common the stutters.
I know tried 4 frostbite engine games: BF1, BF4, BFH, and NFS: Rivals. All stutter and don't use full gpu power, and usage of gpu is usually under 60 % and tempertures are too low.

If anyone has anyidea what could fix this, I'd be glad, at this point I'm kinda giving up.

[upcoast]

A stab in the dark, go through whatever gpu CP you have and check settings v-sync off instead of on / can't remember if triple buffer does much, settings can also be set to over ride in game settings.

I get your frustration sometimes it's something missing or not set the same as before, maybe force install dx again.

It sounds a bit like frame lock like v-sync though but who knows.

[Nejco]

It's not that just discovered the game doesn't show monitor name but default (Generic PnP) name which means it doesn't use driver properly, but I can't figure out how to fix that.

[upcoast]

Nejc | FIX ME původně napsal:

It's not that just discovered the game doesn't show monitor name but default (Generic PnP) name which means it doesn't use driver properly, but I can't figure out how to fix that.

Most times that's not a big deal but if it is go to the manufacturer site and dl the monitor drivers, I remember I had to get the drivers in win 7 for an old LG 1680x1050 monitor but the pnp drivers didn't screw up gaming just the coloring was off.