Suddenly getting random stutters in all games

Feb 21, 2023
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Hopefully this is the right place to be posting this!

After experiencing severe stutters in Hogwarts and refunding it due to it being a common issue, i have noticed not so severe and just slightly annoying stutters across all other games. They can happen every 5seconds or i can go 5minutes without. The game is essentially just "freezing" for micro-seconds which is enough to be an annoyance. I'm experiencing no loss in FPS (unless stuttering counts as fps loss). All drivers are up to date, HDD is not full and V-Sync is off

Ryzen 5 3600X
GeForce 2070 Super
16GB Ram
Windows 11
 
Feb 21, 2023
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I see on Steam:
"Warning: This title uses 3rd-party DRM (Denuvo Anti-Tamper)."

When you refunded and uninstalled, did Denuvo also get uninstalled?


I'm moving to Troubleshooting forum, probably a better place.
Thankyou for your reply Brian, I have double checked this and Denuvo has already been uninstalled with the initial uninstall of Hogwarts.

Thanks for moving the post :)
 
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Hopefully this is the right place to be posting this!

After experiencing severe stutters in Hogwarts and refunding it due to it being a common issue, i have noticed not so severe and just slightly annoying stutters across all other games. They can happen every 5seconds or i can go 5minutes without. The game is essentially just "freezing" for micro-seconds which is enough to be an annoyance. I'm experiencing no loss in FPS (unless stuttering counts as fps loss). All drivers are up to date, HDD is not full and V-Sync is off

Ryzen 5 3600X
GeForce 2070 Super
16GB Ram
Windows 11

Hi. A couple of questions and a few suggestions :) To be clear, you've had this system a few years and not had these problems in other games until you installed Hogwarts Legacy?

Does this happen across different game launchers, Steam, Epic, or the EA App?

Whats the make and model of PSU and RAM kit?

A few basic things I would check first:

-Does all drivers up to date include motherboard drivers, chipset and other miscellaneous like network and USB from the manufacturers support page ?

-Any antivirus or other 3rd party software running in system tray? Tested them all on and off?

-Have you tried unplugging all USB devices except your mouse and keyboard?

-Latest version of Motherboard BIOS?

-Have you tried XMP profiles both on and off in BIOS RAM settings?

Maybe something there will help. Let us know!
 
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Feb 21, 2023
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Hi. A couple of questions and a few suggestions :) To be clear, you've had this system a few years and not had these problems in other games until you installed Hogwarts Legacy?

Does this happen across different game launchers, Steam, Epic, or the EA App?

Whats the make and model of PSU and RAM kit?

A few basic things I would check first:

-Does all drivers up to date include motherboard drivers, chipset and other miscellaneous like network and USB from the manufacturers support page ?

-Any antivirus or other 3rd party software running in system tray? Tested them all on and off?

-Have you tried unplugging all USB devices except your mouse and keyboard?

-Latest version of Motherboard BIOS?

-Have you tried XMP profiles both on and off in BIOS RAM settings?

Maybe something there will help. Let us know!
Hi! Appreciate the response!

I have had the system for 3 years, no stuttering until now. It could be a coincidence that it occured after installing Hogwarts Legacy, but apparently it is a common issue on the game itself (so not sure if it is related or a coincidnence)
This does happen on all launchers.
Corsair RM750 Gold 750W Power Supply
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 DDR4
All drivers are up to date to my knowledge
Tested all sys tray softwares on and off.
Have not tested unplugging USB devices, although i only have a few.
BIOS has not been updated ever, mostly due to it being intimidating but will do if its a potential fix.
American Megatrends Inc. 1.60 6/11/2019 is the version for my BIOS.
I enabled XMP yesterday, no improvements unfortunately.
 
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Hi! Appreciate the response!

I have had the system for 3 years, no stuttering until now. It could be a coincidence that it occured after installing Hogwarts Legacy, but apparently it is a common issue on the game itself (so not sure if it is related or a coincidnence)
This does happen on all launchers.
Corsair RM750 Gold 750W Power Supply
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 DDR4
All drivers are up to date to my knowledge
Tested all sys tray softwares on and off.
Have not tested unplugging USB devices, although i only have a few.
BIOS has not been updated ever, mostly due to it being intimidating but will do if its a potential fix.
American Megatrends Inc. 1.60 6/11/2019 is the version for my BIOS.
I enabled XMP yesterday, no improvements unfortunately.

OK nice thanks. Try some of the stuff in Brians link too when you get a chance. If none of that helps then I only have a couple more general suggestions for now.

Should have asked first, but have you been monitoring temperatures on your CPU or Video card while gaming? PC been cleaned out recently for dust?

As long as you don't have power outage problems in your area and dont turn the power off while its running the BIOS update is completely safe to do, check your motherboard manual for instructons, and do it through the BIOS itself. If you try to do it through some software in Windows it just adds a little risk to it with potential crashes.

Still worth going to your manufacturers motherboard support page and updating chipset, network and USB drivers. They wont be updated automatically unless you did them yourself manually. Also use DDU for GPU drivers to do a full fresh install.
 
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OK nice thanks. Try some of the stuff in Brians link too when you get a chance. If none of that helps then I only have a couple more general suggestions for now.

Should have asked first, but have you been monitoring temperatures on your CPU or Video card while gaming? PC been cleaned out recently for dust?

As long as you don't have power outage problems in your area and dont turn the power off while its running the BIOS update is completely safe to do, check your motherboard manual for instructons, and do it through the BIOS itself. If you try to do it through some software in Windows it just adds a little risk to it with potential crashes.

Still worth going to your manufacturers motherboard support page and updating chipset, network and USB drivers. They wont be updated automatically unless you did them yourself manually. Also use DDU for GPU drivers to do a full fresh install.
Just went through and did everything from Brian's link as well as updating bios (wasn't as bad as i thought) and double checking all drivers were updated (they were) It feels like theres a slight improvement but that may be my imagination, overall the stutter is still there. I have been monitoring temperatures, GPU is not breaking a sweat and hardly gets into the 60 degree mark, my CPU on the other hand definitely gets into the high 70's but i don't think that is much of a concern as it has always been that way. Usage also spikes up on the gpu to 90+% sometimes (not sure if this means anything, never taken notice of usage before this)

This may seem silly but a few weeks ago i bought an air duster off of amazon (probably not the best idea) and surprise surprise, it wasn't that great. I found that most of the dust didn't come off, so my question is what is the ideal way to dust a pc? My pc probably hasn't had a full clean ever as i can never seem to get all of it off.
Thankyou both for your help so far!
 
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Just went through and did everything from Brian's link as well as updating bios (wasn't as bad as i thought) and double checking all drivers were updated (they were) It feels like theres a slight improvement but that may be my imagination, overall the stutter is still there. I have been monitoring temperatures, GPU is not breaking a sweat and hardly gets into the 60 degree mark, my CPU on the other hand definitely gets into the high 70's but i don't think that is much of a concern as it has always been that way. Usage also spikes up on the gpu to 90+% sometimes (not sure if this means anything, never taken notice of usage before this)

This may seem silly but a few weeks ago i bought an air duster off of amazon (probably not the best idea) and surprise surprise, it wasn't that great. I found that most of the dust didn't come off, so my question is what is the ideal way to dust a pc? My pc probably hasn't had a full clean ever as i can never seem to get all of it off.
Thankyou both for your help so far!
Did you do the DDU safemode driver removal and then installation? Temps sound OK

GPU usage depends, in most cases its better for it to be close to 100%. A lot depends on the game and your monitors refresh rate.

I used cans of air for a long time, but a few months ago I bought an air duster because I probably spent more than it costs on cans over the years and hopefully it will last. Its pretty effective, and not quiet. Just have to be careful to secure the case and GPU fans when youre blowing stuff out, as you can break them if they spin too fast. I have an old make up brush I use on fan blades, heatsinks, and around the case, dont use one directly on any electronic components though, theres a risk of static damage.

If you have an aircooler with an alumiium heatsink thats really bad you can just put it in the dishwasher. Some new ones have plastic shrouds you might want to remove first because of the heat though.
 
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Did you do the DDU safemode driver removal and then installation? Temps sound OK

GPU usage depends, in most cases its better for it to be close to 100%. A lot depends on the game and your monitors refresh rate.

I used cans of air for a long time, but a few months ago I bought an air duster because I probably spent more than it costs on cans over the years and hopefully it will last. Its pretty effective, and not quiet. Just have to be careful to secure the case and GPU fans when youre blowing stuff out, as you can break them if they spin too fast. I have an old make up brush I use on fan blades, heatsinks, and around the case, dont use one directly on any electronic components though, theres a risk of static damage.

If you have an aircooler with an alumiium heatsink thats really bad you can just put it in the dishwasher. Some new ones have plastic shrouds you might want to remove first because of the heat though.
I did do the DDU safemode driver removal and then installation, was a bit confusing

I actually meant to type CPU usage not GPU sorry. CPU was spiking up towards 100% at times, again not sure if that is a non issue or not

I was never a fan of cans of air as sometimes it would spit out liquids which would be worrying for using it on electronics! (also adds up over time as you said) My air duster came with a little brush attachment luckily :) I suppose i would probably have to take all the components out to do it properly, it doesn't seem like there is enough dust in the PC overall for it to be causing issues, but i could be completely wrong

I will be sure to use the dishwasher tip! That was one of the areas i was struggling to get the dust out of the most
 
I did do the DDU safemode driver removal and then installation, was a bit confusing

I actually meant to type CPU usage not GPU sorry. CPU was spiking up towards 100% at times, again not sure if that is a non issue or not

I was never a fan of cans of air as sometimes it would spit out liquids which would be worrying for using it on electronics! (also adds up over time as you said) My air duster came with a little brush attachment luckily :) I suppose i would probably have to take all the components out to do it properly, it doesn't seem like there is enough dust in the PC overall for it to be causing issues, but i could be completely wrong

I will be sure to use the dishwasher tip! That was one of the areas i was struggling to get the dust out of the most

CPU spiking at 100% could cause stutters, have you checked task manager for any unknown processes using up CPU or RAM.

If using the dishwasher for the heatsink, don't use any detergent! It will corrode the alumimium.
 
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CPU spiking at 100% could cause stutters, have you checked task manager for any unknown processes using up CPU or RAM.

If using the dishwasher for the heatsink, don't use any detergent! It will corrode the aluminium.
Yes! I have checked task manager but nothing in there is a surprise to me, everything seems pretty normal. The stutters doesn't always occur when it spikes & can occur at a lower usage, very strange.

Yep good tip haha! Maybe giving it a quick wash in the sink might be easier! I cut my finger on it last time, those heatsinks are sharp!
 
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Hopefully this is the right place to be posting this!

After experiencing severe stutters in Hogwarts and refunding it due to it being a common issue, i have noticed not so severe and just slightly annoying stutters across all other games. They can happen every 5seconds or i can go 5minutes without. The game is essentially just "freezing" for micro-seconds which is enough to be an annoyance. I'm experiencing no loss in FPS (unless stuttering counts as fps loss). All drivers are up to date, HDD is not full and V-Sync is off

Ryzen 5 3600X
GeForce 2070 Super
16GB Ram
Windows 11
I have had this same problem since the latest Windows update. I've had to adjust my graphics options down in just about every game.
 
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