CPU AND STUTTER

[Massive Shart]

I have noticed that my FPS will stutter when i try and play my games. Would my CPU cause this?

My main issue is on BF4, but i also see it on Metro, the Witcher 2, and a few other games.

i7 4800MQ 2.7GHz
GTX880M
2TB Raid 0
Windows 8.1
32GB Ram

[Kate]

That should not stutter in any way. What do you mean by "stutter" exactly? Like occasionaly drop from 60?

[Massive Shart]

Originally posted by Kate:

That should not stutter in any way. What do you mean by "stutter" exactly? Like occasionaly drop from 60?

yes, it would be a noticeable drop in FPS. example. 60 to 40. Sometimes when i try and mess around with the video settings, it will even drop below 30.

[Mattio]

Sorry for the long post but..

Stutter can be caused by a thousand things. The games themself, drivers, overheating, heavily fragmented HDD, background applications, an active anti-virus scan, malware, overclocks.

There's countless possibilities in each of those topics, you'll need to look into each one and try to determine which is the likely problem. Then try to solve it through trial and error.

A generic list of things to try would be;

**(Probably the most important for laptops) Watch your CPU and GPU usage, memory usage, VRAM and temperatures during the game to make sure none are maxing out.
Watching temperatures is important as in some cases(mostly laptops) it will downclock the CPU automatically as temperatures rise too high.
This can also be affected by overclocking if it applies to you. Overclocked CPU > easily heats up > automatically downclocks.

Check your Graphics drivers are all up-to-date with the latest stable release.
Check Windows has the latest updates.
Run a disk defrag to clean up your HDD, and you should really do this often.

Look at your process list and disable any background programs that you recognise that you don't require.
Running an anti virus scan doesn't hurt either, just check it's not set to automatically run scans as it can begin scanning during game time without warning. Some AV software still does this.
__

And of course, after each test, try the games. Although it's never bad to know the details and perform these tasks even when your PC is functioning normally.

Those are some generic starting points, it's quite likely one of them is the cause although of course over the internet it's difficult to determine exactly what your problem is, you'll need to do some digging. Although the majority of stutter / low fps problems I've seen with laptops are because of the temperature. I'd start there.

[Syncro]

if you are using a laptop. make sure its plugged into the power supplay wall charger!

[Massive Shart]

Originally posted by Mattio:

Running an anti virus scan doesn't hurt either, just check it's not set to automatically run scans as it can begin scanning during game time without warning. Some AV software still does this.
__

And of course, after each test, try the games. Although it's never bad to know the details and perform these tasks even when your PC is functioning normally.

Those are some generic starting points, it's quite likely one of them is the cause although of course over the internet it's difficult to determine exactly what your problem is, you'll need to do some digging. Although the majority of stutter / low fps problems I've seen with laptops are because of the temperature. I'd start there.

I have Mcaffee for AV...it is constantly scanning and i have no idea how to turn it off. Maybe that is it.

For my temps, i run my fan constantly and i have a cooling pad. I also just recently downloaded a temperature monitoring program. What are the acceptable temps?

Thanks!

[Charlie]

See if any of your cores are being parked, it can have quite a large effect on fps. Core parking is very common on laptops and CPUs with Hyperthreading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrvDVZg6C58
I remember when Arkham Asylum would stutter but after doing this nothing.

[L0WHAWK]

Get rid of AVG and get Avast. It uses a lot less resources and is game friendly. :)
Also, are you getting these sudden stutter while playing online or offline?
If online, it could just be a bad conection to the server, or if you are running your
wi-fi on the 2.4ghz bandwidth, then many things can disrupt your quality of your connection..
Such as a cell phone ringing, microwave being used, wireless headset, even a remote.. -lol-

[Massive Shart]

Originally posted by L0WHAWK:

Get rid of AVG and get Avast. It uses a lot less resources and is game friendly. :)
Also, are you getting these sudden stutter while playing online or offline?
If online, it could just be a bad conection to the server, or if you are running your
wi-fi on the 2.4ghz bandwidth, then many things can disrupt your quality of your connection..
Such as a cell phone ringing, microwave being used, wireless headset, even a remote.. -lol-

I would get rid of Mcafee, but it is litterally a virus of it's own >.< plus, i was stupid and paid for it. I would turn off the active scanner, but people tell me that is a bad idea becuase you can still get viruses while playing online.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by CuddlySharpkill:

I would get rid of Mcafee, but it is litterally a virus of it's own >.< plus, i was stupid and paid for it. I would turn off the active scanner, but people tell me that is a bad idea becuase you can still get viruses while playing online.

You won't get viruses while playing games with other people. Personally I wouldn't get any live protection software because even they fail against viruses/malware. The best defense against malware is you, I personally just run a scan every few days with Malwarebytes and herdProtect and I've never had any issues.

[_I_]

only if they send you ingme links to sites outside the game to virus containing sites

but thats not in the game

[Massive Shart]

Originally posted by 169 Days To Go:

Originally posted by CuddlySharpkill:

I would get rid of Mcafee, but it is litterally a virus of it's own >.< plus, i was stupid and paid for it. I would turn off the active scanner, but people tell me that is a bad idea becuase you can still get viruses while playing online.

You won't get viruses while playing games with other people. Personally I wouldn't get any live protection software because even they fail against viruses/malware. The best defense against malware is you, I personally just run a scan every few days with Malwarebytes and herdProtect and I've never had any issues.

I'll give it a shot. I'm about to get off work. I have been looking up tricks and tips all day. lol

I'll update you guys wheither it worked on not.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by CuddlySharpkill:

I'll give it a shot. I'm about to get off work. I have been looking up tricks and tips all day. lol

I'll update you guys wheither it worked on not.

Good luck

[bmac1191]

Great post mattio.

OP, you have w8.1.. it has good enough anti virus that runs in the background. Good chance its the other anti crap causing your issues. Also make sure your playing in "high performance" power setting.

If messing with settings don't fix it, I always start with a fresh OS install (which I just did myself yesterday :) )

[Majin_Erick]

I have a GTX 735M on my Sony Vaio Fit/Flip, but the main GPU is my Intel HD Graphics 4000 series. I thought it was because of the overheating of the GPU that caused my stuttering or power saving settings, so I changed them to High Performance like everyone else........bad idea.

When you change to High Performance, your CPU's Maximum Processor State is 100 percent!! That is too much for gaming performance to be honest. After 20 minutes, you should begin to see game stuttering or slowdown while playing. However, even if you kept the Balanced Power Profile, the CPU's Maximum Processor State is......100 percent!!! What were they thinking??!!

My Solution:

What I have done was kept the Balanced Power Profile. In the Advanced settings, I changed the Maximum Processor State to 75 percent. The results were I played Ultra Street Fighter 4 for more than 3 hours on my laptop without any slowdown or stuttering as this forces the CPU to not exceed 75 percent of it's full power. All CPU's are designed differently like GPU's and need to have governors set in regard to power.

By default, Windows is set to run everything at 100 percent on the CPU and will result in a shorter lifespan of the PC.

[Majin_Erick]

Originally posted by CuddlySharpkill:

I have noticed that my FPS will stutter when i try and play my games. Would my CPU cause this?

My main issue is on BF4, but i also see it on Metro, the Witcher 2, and a few other games.

i7 4800MQ 2.7GHz
GTX880M
2TB Raid 0
Windows 8.1
32GB Ram

Yes.....CPU is too hot.