Low FPS in CS:GO + Stutters (I think it's a CPU issue)

Ezenemy

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Hello,
I have a GTX 980, an i7 4790k, and CS:GO installed on a Samsung 850 1TB SSD. My FPS in game is around 250-300, which is okay, but pretty low. But every so often I will get a huge stutter, kind of like how when you change your resolution, you get the loud stuttering noise and such, it's exactly like that except shorter.

Also on DM servers and such my FPS is around 150, I know there is more going on in DM servers, but it never used to be like that, it would dip to 200 at the lowest but still be consistent 300. I see people with builds not as good as mine get more FPS while streaming, so there really must be something wrong. I think it might be my CPU because I get 60-80 FPS in GTA maxed, same with Witcher 3.
Please help.
 

Ezenemy

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If I locked to 144 FPS that would kinda hurt me as it would be playing at a pretty low FPS for CS.. I don't think that's the issue, it has to be something more. My 3770k didn't do this, and my 4790k didn't do it until the last few months. With a $400 CPU I am kind of upset/scared.
 
If your monitor's refresh rate is 144, there is no point going above. It can't get any smoother, because you're only displaying a new frame every 6.9 ms, meaning no more than 144 frames per second. Going higher will only introduce micro stuttering, and your GPU is going to work harder, as it's rendering extra frames to the back buffer that copies them to the frame buffer, meaning lots more frame tearing, even though it's hardly noticeable on the 144 Hz panels.
 

Ezenemy

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RAM usage is around 40-50%. I am aware of limiting the FPS to 144, and I have done that, although say what you want, but the game feels smoother at 400-500 FPS which is what I used to get, and should be getting, especially on low settings.

Anyway, limiting the FPS hasn't fixed the stuttering issues that I am getting in all of my games, it's especially bad in PoE. Maybe there is something wrong with my CPU?
 
Hello again,

You cannot feel the difference between 144, and 500. It just doesn't work that way.

Refresh rate = How many frames your monitor can display per second
Frames per second = How many frames your graphics card can render per second

When a monitor wants a frame from the graphics card's frame buffer, it takes the completed frame, and displays it. Not the other way around. Displaying more frames per second at once than what the electronics inside the monitor is capable of, can't happen.

Have you tried uninstalling/re-installing your graphics card drivers? It's possible you're using a BETA driver, that is giving you problems.

Regarding your processor, if it wasn't running as it should, your PC wouldn't boot into Windows. There is no inbetween.
 

Ezenemy

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I understand, and respect what you say, but if that was 100% the case, then pro CS players wouldn't emphasize how important it is to run CS on 300+ FPS. I don't know what to say. I appreciate the help so far, and don't mean to argue with you, it's just what I've been taught and what I am used to, maybe you're right though..?

Anyway, are you sure it couldn't be an issue with the CPU? A cooler issue, etc. I have a Noctua air cooler, it's a good one, my temps are around 25-40. I just know that my frames aren't as high as they should be, and the stuttering is a major issue.
 

DubbleClick

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Suzuki you can. Not necessarily visual, but definitely the mouse movement. It simply isn't as smooth.

As for the topic, there's often no easy fix to this. The fastest (and least annoying) way would probable be setting up a fresh windows install.
 

Ezenemy

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That's the thing, I was noticing lower than usual FPS and some weird issues with my Windows starting REALLY weird (nothing starting on launch) so I just reformatted. That's when the stuttering started, and the low FPS didn't go away.
 
I was talking about how smooth it can get, going above refresh rate won't make things smoother. Regarding mouse, the stuttering you explained above, is not related to capping FPS, or mouse 'lag'. I think it's the GPU driver causing it. Have you tried what I said above? And, have you tried disabling all your start up programs, and rebooting your PC, and try again?

Regarding what DubbleClick said above. How is that possible? The mouse input might be lower, but were talking ms here. How is that even possible, to feel the difference? A lot of tests on YouTube that is related to different kinds of input and latency, are most likely shot or edited to run in slow motion, sometimes very slow.

 

cemerian

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he is right, all of those people who say you need 300+ fps have no idea of what technical limitations are imposed, if the monitor is 144hz then 144fps is the max that it will do without tearing, if you go beyond the refresh of your monitor only thing you are doing is introducing extra tearing, it is impossible for any monitor(without overclocking it) to show you more fps that it's rated refresh rate, just goes to shows how little knowledge the players actually have
 

DubbleClick

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Neither us have mentioned that there will be a visual difference. There is one for mouse input though, that's for sure. The visualization of cs:go is possibly related to the input checks, I don't know, I can just confirm that doing the same mouse movement once with 150 and then with 300 fps will yield different results.
 

Ezenemy

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Hello, hi again. Still having these issues. My FPS is around 180-220. The suttering is still happening. Should I reformat? I don't know what to do. My temps are fine, my RAM/CPU usage is around 40-60% which is normal. I don't care if I "don't need over 144 FPS", this isn't true, there is a difference as DubbleClick has said, on top of that, I got 250-300 FPS with my 680 4GB and 2770k, now I have a 4790k and 980, which alone I spent $1200 on.

I honestly don't know what to do. Is my GPU faulty?
 
Unlikely, it's very hard to pin down the cause via forum, techs should take a look at it in person. Typically you just monitor the GPU usage and look for any spikes which drops your FPS in game. It's usually also the graphics driver causing it. Since you used to have a 680, which runs on a different architecture than your 980, you probably never uninstalled your 680 drivers, before installing your new card and it's drivers. In 99% of cases when you switch motherboard socket, you have to reinstall Windows, so it's probably safe to rule out drivers. Have you checked if you're using BETA drivers? They tend to be unstable sometimes.
 

Ezenemy

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I am not using any beta drivers. I've reinstalled Windows probably 13 times since switching from my 680 to my 980. I still don't think it's a GPU issue as CS:GO/PoE are CPU heavy games, and I get awesome FPS in games like GTA5/Witcher 3 on max. I know enough about computers and hardware, probably more than the bum at my local PC shop who will defrag my computer for $299.
 

teknobug

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GPU's get very hot when doing very high FPS, I remember when Planetside 2 first came out the menu was doing 800fps or something which was cooking my GPU, the stuttering could be the effects of throttling so check the CPU, motherboard and GPU temps.
 

Ezenemy

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CPU is around 30-45, and GPU is 50-65. both are very low temps.

Not just source games, PoE as well, and it doesn't happen in other source games.
 


There actually is some science to it. I'll try to explain for you.

When the monitor refreshes the screen, it starts at the top, and works it way down, and it takes a fair amount of time. Most of the time between refreshes is spent working its way down the screen updating the pixels. When v-sync is off, the GPU can continue to update that buffer, so as display continues to update down the screen, the image in the buffer can change to a new frame. This allows for newer, more updated information to be displayed as you work your way down the screen. At any given time, with 300 FPS on a 144hz monitor, you'll see 3-4 partial frames. Those partial frames can make things feel a little more responsive.
 
LCD's update it's pixels all at the same time, still pararell. There is no way going above refresh rate in FPS would help, because it's a set static number. You don't notice screen tearing if you push 144 FPS or more on a 144 Hz LCD. None of that makes any sense to me. Would you mind linking me to a source?

And just to make what I said clear, by sequental you're not referring to framepacking are you (3D)? I've never seen that on an LCD unless it was designed for 3D.

So right now this makes even less sense TO ME, perhaps there's something I'm missing.

However, as far as GPU buffers, it doesn't scan either, it literally converts data so that the display can update it's pixels all at once. When this happens, that's before we see the pixels update on screen.

What am I missing?
 


Sorry, but due to the way CRT's have always updated their images, LCD's were designed to mimic the same behavior. The slow rolling image update still happens on LCD's. You can easily test your theory by using a FPS limiter at 62 on a 60 Hz monitor. You can easily see the line on the screen when there is motion.

Another easy way to see this is to create a custom resolution. You can do this from inside the Nvidia control panel, or 3rd party programs with AMD. You'll see, even with a LCD screen, they create horizontal refresh rates for each line. This is because it's not done instantly, but line by line. There is also a vertical refresh rate that is the addition of all the horizontal lines within the resolution you create.

This is a hard topic to search for, but here is one that explains it at least some: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing
Tearing can occur with most common display technologies and video cards, and is most noticeable in horizontally-moving visuals, such as in slow camera pans in a movie, or classic side-scrolling video games.

Screen tearing is less noticeable when more than two frames finish rendering during the same refresh interval, since this means the screen has several narrower tears instead of a single wider one.

That's the result of having much higher FPS than your refresh rate. If that was below the refresh rate, it would only have 1 tear.