Having lag spikes in any game I play no matter what the settings are.

ColeLeveling · Jun 30, 2016

Hello, thank you for giving your valuable time to help me with my issue. My issue is that no matter what game I play and what settings I have them on my fps always seems to spike. I have checked all of my temperatures to make sure that I am not thermal throttling. My temperatures are pretty cool for running games at 1080p.

My specifications are:
CPU: AMD FX 8320 @3.5Ghz
GPU Asus GTX 660 Direct CU II OC
RAM: 8GB Corsiar @800mhz (idk if the low mhz is what is causing the issue)
MOBO: Asrock 960GM/U3S3 FX
Monitor: Samsung 1080p
Monitor: Samsung 720p

I can give an example of what I am talking about.
When I am playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 at ultra settings I will be getting close to 90 frames. But every now and then it will drop to about 20-30. Also if I change the settings to High I will get 120 frames and will drop to about 40. If I am running medium I have about 140 frames and it will drop to around 50. It happens no matter what settings I put any game on.

What I have tried.
Some people tell me to unplug my second monitor but it still will not help my issue. People tell me to dust out my computer will a can of compressed air but that does not help one bit. I have tried looking in the BIOS and watching tutorials to see what others did, I just didn't bother because I didn't know what half of the things were.

How long this has been happening.
This has been happening for about 2 years now, so ever since I built my computer this has been happening.

What are my temperatures while gaming.
CPU: 60C
GPU: 55-60C
Those are the only things that actually get hot during gaming. everything else stays around the same.

If you have any suggestions I will be more than happy to reply so that we can try and figure something out. Thank you!

Bakua · Jun 30, 2016

Have you monitored your CPU/GPU usage during gameplay? And have you used an anti-virus program to look for virus/trojan/malware? (Such as Malwarebytes)

ColeLeveling · Jun 30, 2016

Bakua :

I have monitored my cpu usage but I have not monitored my gpu usage.
My cpu usage varies between games (of course) but during cpu heavy games it wont reach above 50% I also noticed that when I had these spikes my cpu usage went down? Isn't it supposed to go up if it spikes?
My CPU usage idles around 5% at idle
I do not know how to monitor my GPU but I will try and find something to look at it
I have AVG but I don't use it very often cause I don't download a lot of things.

Bakua · Jun 30, 2016

You have your PC settings set to 'high performance' instead of 'power-saver'? Use Open Hardware Monitor:

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

Usually CPU usage spikes down if the usage/temps are too high, but that's not the case here.

ColeLeveling · Jun 30, 2016

Bakua :

My pc is on high performance and I am running Arma 3 while doing this test for my gpu
GPU Core got up to 99.0%
GPU memory controller got up to 37%
GPU video engine 0%
GPU Memory got up to 69.8%

ColeLeveling · Jun 30, 2016

Bakua :

From what Open Hardware Monitor is telling me, it shows that my cpu temperature is at 39.6 while playing arma 3

Bakua · Jun 30, 2016

Those are some low temps, especially while playing Arma III (a game that uses more CPU). Try playing games with only 1 monitor, it can cause stuttering/spikes. Also, check your disk usage (can do this using Task Manager, dunno if OHM shows this)

ColeLeveling · Jun 30, 2016

Bakua :

So I unplugged my second monitor and the game did run a lot more smooth but yet there are still spikes while playing
My disc usage is hitting 95-100%

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

It showed that Nvidia backend was at the top for disc usage. Incase you wanted to know

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

I think that Nvidia backend thing stopped because it isn't hitting that much disc usage anymore

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

After the Beckend stopped, did your games stop spiking?

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

No It is still going on even after the backend has stopped.

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

Well, it's not the usage, the temps, HDD, monitors, last thing I would try (as a last resort?) is a clean install of your OS.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

And if a clean install doesn't work? am I basically out of luck until I build a new pc?

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

I would say that would be the case, I'm going to tell you that I have no idea what the cause could be. To me, it just sounds like something's not doing its job correctly, meaning a defect somewhere. If you can, just swap out parts until you can label the problem. It's a tedious process, but it can help narrow down.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

damn, well I kinda knew there was a problem with the system because when I booted the pc up and started playing games I would have to restart my pc cause the game would have a spike then it would stay at that fps and not go up. But anyways man thanks for your time and your suggestions. Although you couldn't find a fix to the problem i can maybe use what you told me in the future.

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

I would v-sync it in the mean time (if you haven't already), probably already tried that, but....

Anyways, sorry I couldn't fix your problem, best of luck to you.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

Could it be possible that these spikes were because of my ram running at 800mhz? or because my "System Compressed Memory" is using a lot of my memory all the time?

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

Is your RAM at a higher latency than 800Mhz? If so, go to your BIOS and enable XMP. It shouldn't hinder performance like that, but it's worth a shot. Could be the RAM's simply just not keeping up with everything else.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

I don't exactly know what latency the sticks are but I am going to do what you said and give it a shot.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

Hey can you maybe tell me where that is in the BIOS and I am sorry about that down vote on your last post. I didn't mean to do that. I was on my phone trying to reply and I couldn't find it and I accidentally press it.

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

I don't worry about downvotes, it happens. Check under the overclocking profile, should be labeled/listed there.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

Alright man, appreciate it.

ColeLeveling · Jul 1, 2016

Bakua :

It doesn't seem to be there, but either way you said that it probably won't make much of a difference. I appreciate you help and your time. If you ever come across someone that somehow fixed a problem like this, could you maybe point them my way?

Bakua · Jul 1, 2016

If I find a solution/think of something, I'll let you know. Hopefully on of the other members have an idea, have a good day

Having lag spikes in any game I play no matter what the settings are.

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