Why do games sometimes freeze for a second very randomly

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killastrra

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May 30, 2016
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Some games for example Battlefield 1 and Gta v sometimes crashes for a second. rarely but still got me worried as i just upgraded my pc. I feel like the gameplay is stuttery even tho i have 100+ fps but that may just be me not having a 144hz monitor but do let me know if stuttery gameplay at that fps is normal.

My rig is

Gtx 1080 Evga SC
Corsair CX 750w Psu
Z170x Gigabyte Gaming 3
I7-6770k Turbo 4.2ghz
Asus 27" 1080p 60hz monitor
16GB G.skill ripjaw 3000hz Ram
 
Solution
Solandri
The most frequent causes I've seen are:

  • ■ Hard drive set to go to sleep. If Windows needs something off the HDD, it'll freeze while it waits for the HDD to spin up. Usually causes about a 1-2 sec freeze.
    ■ Pagefile on a HDD. Windows seems to consider pagefile access highest priority (it's considered an extension of memory). If it needs to access the pagefile and the HDD has to wait for a split second for the sector to spin under the read/write heads, Windows will freeze for that split second. I've seen a lot of people get a SSD but put the pagefile on the HDD because they don't want to "wear out" their SSD. That was a concern in the old days with 32GB SSDs, but you don't need to worry about it anymore with huge modern SSDs...
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aquielisunari

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Mar 31, 2011
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There are more than a few possibilities.

One-100 different reasons? People are still having issues with both of those games. As driver updates are released those issues should fade. THIS LATE AFTER RELEASE? Yes.

Hitching. No, not marriage. It would seem that you have an SSD in play with a rig of this caliber. Is BF1 on your SSD? If it's not your HDD could be holding up the show.

Turn on vsync. Your monitor is capable of displaying 60FPS. Any FPS past that just contributes to screen tearing or other possibilities. Your GPU is sending info faster to your TV than it can process.

Agreed. Buy a 144 or 120Hz monitor/TV.
 
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killastrra

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May 30, 2016
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Hello. Thanks for the answer. The issue could only really be PSU or the Gtx 1080 related as there the only things I have not replaced. Temps are not a issue. Now I dont know which it could be. Had the card for about half a year and the Psu for about 8 months. Neither I would of thought would of been the problem.

It is the Green CX 750w. I would of thought it would be safe to use since it was about 70 pounds. not the cheapest of them all but yes i agree they are the lowest quality from the Corsair type.

My issues consist of sometimes a straight black vertical line on my screen. instantly dissapears but very annoying to see when i do see it. Constant stuttering. GPU usage never really at 99% and when it is its at the beginning of gaming and then the same map later on i would notice its 20fps lower and 20% lower gpu usage and never recovers until I restart the game or PC.

How would I be able to identify what is the cause between them?




 
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aquielisunari

Judicious
Mar 31, 2011
6,499
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That means your games are on your SSD?
 
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killastrra

Commendable
May 30, 2016
175
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1,680
Yes, i only use SSD's games are on the samsung 850 evo



 
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K

killastrra

Commendable
May 30, 2016
175
0
1,680
Yes, i only use SSD's games are on the samsung 850 evo



 
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Solandri

Solandri

Illustrious
Jan 4, 2012
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The most frequent causes I've seen are:

  • ■ Hard drive set to go to sleep. If Windows needs something off the HDD, it'll freeze while it waits for the HDD to spin up. Usually causes about a 1-2 sec freeze.
    ■ Pagefile on a HDD. Windows seems to consider pagefile access highest priority (it's considered an extension of memory). If it needs to access the pagefile and the HDD has to wait for a split second for the sector to spin under the read/write heads, Windows will freeze for that split second. I've seen a lot of people get a SSD but put the pagefile on the HDD because they don't want to "wear out" their SSD. That was a concern in the old days with 32GB SSDs, but you don't need to worry about it anymore with huge modern SSDs. Just put the pagefile on the SSD.
    ■ Exceeded the video card's VRAM. This has become rare with today's ginormous 4GB and 8GB VRAM cards. But it's still possible to exceed it with 4k textures. When you exceed it and the game needs a texture which is not in VRAM, it needs to pull it from regular memory or even off the SSD/HDD. There will be a stutter while it does this, especially if there's only the full-size texture and the computer has to generate the lower-quality MIP-mapped textures befor loading into VRAM. Since the vast majority of VRAM is used by textures, try switching to lower quality textures and see if the stutters go away.
    ■ Missing/bad motherboard drivers, particularly chipset drivers. If you don't install them, Windows ends up using generic Microsoft drivers which drops some hardware functions to slower compatibility mode. If Windows has to wait for these functions or a function fails and Windows has to wait for its timeout, you'll experience a short freeze.
    ■ Bad video drivers, especially after upgrading the GPU. Same reason as above. This is particularly true when upgrading from, say, one nvidia card to another. People figure since it's still an nvidia card, they don't need to reinstall the drivers. Not true. Each video card has different hardware features. The driver installation process turns on/off different features and software emulation depending on the exact video card you have installed.
    ■ Various power saving options. In particular, Windows defaults to putting most ethernet and wifi cards into the equivalent of "balanced" power mode (go into power saving mode when not in use). This can cause a split second stutter when Windows decides it needs to access the network and has to wait for the card to wake up. You need to go into the device's driver options and turn these power save features off (unless it's a laptop and you regular use it without network access, in which case you need to decide whether battery life or smooth gaming is more important).
 
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