GTX 750ti and Stutter

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Hey all... I JUST purchased an ASUS GTX 750 ti card and slapped it into my ASUS P8P67 motherboard (pci-e 2.0) and most everything runs smooth... However, I do play Galactic Starfighter (SWTOR) and I notice a periodic drop in frame rate that looks like stutter while I'm flying. The game runs smooth pretty much everywhere else though. My GTX 560 card (non-ti) ran this game smooth as butter, but I wanted the capability to run 3 monitors (non-surround) and wanted the lower power draw the 750 ti gives.

What would cause this stutter? What things can I do to check it out?

I've owned the card about 24 hours, but this is my second card after RMA'ing the first - same issues. Drivers have been upgraded as well - even trying beta drivers - no dice.
Ran 3D Mark last night and the whole test ran flawlessly - no stuttering at any point. Got decent numbers as well.

Looking for advice - I'm doubtful it's the game due to the 560's performance, but not sure. Here are my specs:

i5-2500 (non-overclocked)
16 GB G-Skill Memory (800)
ASUS P8P67 Rev. 3.1
ASUS GTX 750 ti
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

===============
Wanted to add... I do have a Samsung 840 SSD. Also, monitor resolution is set at 1920x1080. The game is only playing on a single monitor.

There doesn't seem to be anything significant being displayed when it happens. It does seem to be periodic suggesting a bus issue of some type (saving/retrieving of data, transferring data, etc.). Also, nothing is running in the background.

I will try the driver sweeper and will get back shortly.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

Does it happen when something significant happens? Stutters occur when saving a lot of the time, since drives become a bottleneck then.

The best way to check whether it's graphics related is to lower the resolution and put the settings down all the way. That will ensure you are running something that requires far less than the capabilities of your card. If it still happens, then the issue lies somewhere else.

As for it possibly being related to drivers, have you tried to use Diver Sweeper to remove all traces of old drivers your 560 used? Get it at this link: http://www.guru3d.com/files_get/display_driver_uninstaller_download,9.html. It will have you reboot into safe mode. When you're there, check all remove options you see. Then let it restart and fresh install the latest non-beta drivers from Nvidia. That will eliminate driver issues if there were any.

Try these things and check back.

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

Tried the driver clean and I'm noticing no change. Also, per my update (please see the additional details), it's not when anything significant (or insignificant) happens graphically.

I notice a measured drop in the frame rate (the game has a built in frame rate reading) when this happens. Also, the OC'ing tool that came with the card (I'm not OC'ing yet) shows drops in GPU usage (15-20%), FB usage (-9%) and voltage (~ -250 mV) when this happens. Normal readings when in game are:

GPU Usage: 55%
FB Usage: 29%
Voltage: 1137 mV

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

Weird. That seems like a sign of a power limitation. What's your CPU usage like during the GPU power/usage drops? Maybe the CPU's spiking to where the power supply unit (PSU) can't deliver enough. It's hard to think that's the issue with such a low power card as the 750 ti (especially since your PSU ran a 560 before), unless this 750 ti is the version with power plugs. I think the power supplied to PCI-e 2.0 is the same as that supplied to PCI-e 3.0, so I can't imagine that would make a difference. Maybe the slot has an issue, though. If you have another PCI-e 16x slot, you can try putting the card in there. Also, just to rule things out, you can take out all of your RAM and put it back in securely. If none of that helps, you'll have to do some equipment swapping to test whether something went bad. For instance, you can try powering your computer with another PSU that has more power, try putting your card into another computer running the same game, etc. Before going down that route, try these simpler things just to rule out possibilities.

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Will try the other port. I don't yet have readings on the CPU as of yet when this happens. suggestion on a tool that will poll the CPU quickly and consistently that I can see the drops? Task Manager OK?

Also, I tried mining with this card as well. I'm not getting any drops when mining like I see when gaming. Granted, mining is more GPU based which leans me more back to the bus and memory as opposed to the actual GPU. Port is still a possibility as well.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

Task manager is fine. My favorite shortcut for that is Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Open it before playing the game, and then just press that as soon as a stutter occurs to examine the last minute of activity. As for mining, that wouldn't cause a power issue like the CPU, since the 750 ti is such a low power card, again, unless it's the version with the power plugs. Is it?

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

Yes, it is one with the plug. However, I'm sure I can use it without the plug as well. I just have it plugged in for the case that it needed more power at any point.

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

I don't see a CPU load hit, but while it's happening there's a definite CPU Frequency hit (about 10%) only while it's happening. Also, I did change PCI-e ports too. I used the BIOS's "Auto" setting for that port (can be 1x or 4x or Auto) and noticed something interesting. The GPU % was close to 100% while using "Auto", but the framerates were choppy and it wasn't something I would prefer. When set to "4x" I'm seeing the frequency and performance dips I'm referring to in this post (high FPS normally, then dips low). I have not tried "1x" for that port.

Perhaps the CPU is doing this? Maybe my bus speeds are set wrong for this speed of a card? Ugh.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

That hit your talking about, are you talking about overall CPU usage, or on a single core. Each core is a CPU, and maxing out one core actually is the same as maxing out your entire processor if the software can't access the other cores. I get this behavior in Borderlands 2, which treats my CPU's 12 logical cores as a three-core CPU. Annoying. Not sure if it's your problem, but it's good to know about. The point is, be sure to look at each core, not just the overall usage (unless you already were).

As for the PCI-e slot, have you tried physically removing the card and then plugging the card into an entirely different slot? Sometimes swapping out cards can damage a slot to make it behave funny. Maybe swapping out the 560 did something. Moving your card to another slot would test for that.

Also, if your BOIS settings were default when your 560 was working well, you can try resetting the BIOS to defaults. Don't bother if you know the BIOS are the same, but it won't hurt to try unless you have a special BIOS configuration.

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

Bah... didn't mean to pick the solution - that wasn't it. :/

The overall frequency takes a hit... I don't have each core frequency shown, only the core load. Load does not seem to go high at all (25% ish?).

I have physically relocated the card to a secondary slot. I have seated and re-seated as well. No change. I've played around a bit with power too (removed local batt backup), but that didn't make any difference. Because it's a frequency hit, that suggests power draw may be the culprit.

I have played with the BIOS now thinking that may be of help, but no dice there yet either. This bios has 4 settings as well, but each setting has the same issue. I'm pretty stumped on this one.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

The Performance tab under Task Manager on Windows 7 displays both overall and per-core usage. Using 25% on a four core i5 could me one core is maxed out while the others aren't doing anything.

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

Yup. Out of the four cores (and on the perf. tab), none are even close to 100%.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

That seems to leave power as the lingering question. Do you have access to another PSU either of your own or that someone else will let you use?

DougInOr · Apr 22, 2014

Eggz :

Ok, was able to test out on another PSU and it still has the same issue. So, it's not the power supply.

Eggz · Apr 22, 2014

DougInOr :

Dude, sorry it's giving you so much $#1t. My last idea is trying the card in another computer to see whether the game behaves the same way.

DougInOr · Apr 23, 2014

Eggz :

Driving me NUTS.... in the process of tweaking voltage (thinking that might help), I fried my CPU... doing that got me to upgrade so it's not all bad. At any rate, the new MB and CPU (diff than before) haven't shown improvement. I'm going to say it's either the card or the way the game is programmed simply isn't good for this card. I'm actually going to return the card and revert back to the 560. Thanks again for your help!

DougInOr · Apr 28, 2014

Here's the solution... (EDIT: Alas, no, this ended up NOT being the solution)

The cause of the voltage change/framerate drop was due to Intel's Speedstep technology. As I had an ASUS motherboard, this was the process I used to stop this from happening:

1. Boot into the system's BIOS
2. Disable EIST (Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology).
3. Disable C1E
4. Disable C3 Reporting.
5. Disable C6 Reporting.

There are a few more changes that *could* be made, but they were not necessary for me. The reason this happens is because Intel has a function that monitors and reduces the frequency of the CPU in order to control temperature and energy usage. Unfortunately, this was wreaking havoc with my setup.

Incidentally, AMD does the same thing. AMD's function is called "Cool And Quiet". I'm not sure how to disable this, but I'm assuming this is in the BIOS of an AMD machine as well.

Eggz · Apr 28, 2014

So weird. I have speed step enabled and have never seen anything like that. Granted, I do have a totally different chipset. So it could be an oddity with your particular combination of parts.

Anyway, I'm glad you finally found the solution. Congrats!!!

DougInOr · Apr 29, 2014

Eggz :

It fooled me. That wasn't it. After a while I noticed it wasn't throttling so I got a bit too excited and posted. So, once again, you're right. At any rate, I'm not sure what to do and am still looking. :/
Right now I'm wondering if it's something with the card again. Maybe a card throttling due to "underusage?" Hard to say. I can say that I've found other areas in SWTOR where this happens... I can be sitting on fleet in that game and it will go from a stable 60 FPS down to under 30 FPS then back up again for about a minute before doing it again. The time it sits at 30 FPS is about 5 seconds, then it's about 30 seconds to a minute before doing it again. It's DEFINITELY a periodic cycle though.

Eggz · Apr 29, 2014

Totally don't know why I didn't think of this before. I think SWTOR uses PhysX. Be sure it isn't on your CPU. I got the same behavior in Borderlands 2, which also uses PhysX. It really confused me until I went to the PhysX settings and noticed my CPU was doing the calculations, not my graphics card.

Right click on the desktop, and go to Nvidia control panel. Then, on the left, select the blue text that says "Set PhysX Configuration." There will be a drop down menu in the right pane where you can select "Auto, CPU, or 750 ti." Set it to "Auto" and see whether it automatically selects the 750 ti, which it should. If not, just select the 750 ti. Leave the "Dedicate to PhysX" box unchecked. That's only for when you have two graphics cards. See whether that fixes things.

[Edit]: Here is something about that game's graphics and stabilizing FPS via PhysX settings I described above.

See "SWTOR and Graphics–Part 7."

GTX 750ti and Stutter

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Share this page