AMD RX480 Strix GTA V Stuttering FPS

RM_Forshaw

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May 8, 2017
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Hey, so I have recently built my PC, with 24Gb of DDR3 Ram (Upgrading to DDR4 when I can afford to), a 8gb ASUS Stric RX480 and an FX 8370 8 Core 4.00GHz CPU. I am trying to solve stuttering FPS in GTA V, which can be as bad as skipping from high 40fps down to low 20fps

My settings at the moment are almost everything set to ultra except:
Grass: High
FXAA: Off
MSAA: 4X
Reflections MSAA: 4X
Particle Effects: High

The advanced Graphics are at minimum because I understand they affect performance drastically... I cannot seem to get rid of the stuttering and the game is barely playable whilst like this
 
Solution
This is mildly esoteric, but it could be that you have your RAM in the wrong channels. I think you're usually supposed to have the bigger sticks in Channel 1 and the smaller in Channel 2, and usually slots 1 and 3 are channel 1 and 2 and 4 are channel 2. From that 3dmark spec you posted, you have the smaller in channel 1 and the larger in channel 2. It's a bit of a long shot, but swap those around and see if it helps.

RM_Forshaw

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May 8, 2017
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Yeah, I have the HDMI plugged into my GPU and I have been monitering my temperatures more than I think necessary, as I recently had a few issues with air flow. My core will never exceed 50'C under load and my GPU will never go above the 68'C mark. I also used DDU last night to remove all GPU drivers and have now installed the latest driver for my GPU but no difference
 

CRO5513Y

Expert
Ambassador
What is usage looking like on the CPU? (Also just a side note, you can't upgrade to DDR4 RAM on that CPU. You will need a new Motherboard + CPU that supports it like Ryzen).

Now when you say stutter do you mean like tearing/choppiness or just simple FPS drops?
 

RM_Forshaw

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Ill have to upgrade my CPU and MOBO then haha... My CPU usage peaks at about 45-50% as far as I can see but The fps is just very unstable. like Lakkan said, every couple of seconds it will drop from 45+Fps down to around 22fps or less, before shooting straight back up... Once that happens its like I lose a few frames and then the game becomes uncontrollable. I have a Corsair GS600 PSU
 
If you have the default turbo enabled turn it off,in fact make sure all cores always run at the same clock while running this game,gtaV has real stupid coding where threads do not sync up,if your main thread runs faster then the others,because turbo boosts the core higher then the others,you get crazy stuttering.
 

Lakken

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May 4, 2017
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I had the same problem where fps when down every 2-3 seconds because my CPU usage went up.
The only fix I found was that I had too many task at running at the same time. I open the task manager and started ending 1 and 1 task.those I knew what was for.

But there was only ONE task I needed to end. I havent complety gotten rid of it yet.. It only start when I start games, which is odd, cuz this have nothing to to with games... :) But this made the microstutter on my games

Task: Microsoft (R) contatcs import tool

My CPU usally goes to around 70% usage while playing Mafia 3, Andromeda, Mad Max.
But when that task is running, it goes to 98% every few seconds..

I uploaded an YT vid that shows what I did... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdYQJKW_WTQ

 

Neur0nauT

Admirable
Do you have an SSD? If not then I would recommend getting one and install GTA onto it. This will help with load times and in game caching.

Lower the in game detail and see if the stuttering stops. If it does, then start to increase things one at a time until you see it happening again. I would start with MSAA Reflections & Grass. Could be that one of the shader effects is caching and dumping data as it renders the scene.

You could try manually disabling the windows page file or setting it to account for your large RAM capacity...Read This for more info
 

RM_Forshaw

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May 8, 2017
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I have an SSD for Windows but not enough space for games. I would rather not end task that Windows has started in case I end the wrong one and mess up my Computer. I will check what Hz my CPU runs at when on GTA V


Edit: Just turned all settings down to low and at 1080p, I still get micro stutters, my CPU is running at 4.04GHz, and it is utilised 68% ( I was mistaken on an earlier post)

The microstutters at lowest settings are still extreme (120fps down to 68fps on some) however they are less frequent.


I should mention that this most recent build of my computer is an upgrade from my old system, which had a R9 270X instead of the RX 480. All other specs were the same, and with that system I could run GTA at pretty much high at a stable 35-40fps so I am sure my CPU can handle this game. I have used DDU to get rid of all the AMD Drivers and have updated to the most recent stable release of AMD Drivers
 

Neur0nauT

Admirable


I don't think it's hardware then......I think your pagefile might be messing things up. You have a ton of RAM there....you could actually disable the Windows managed pagefile altogether (although its not recommended) a manual setting might help things.

 

RM_Forshaw

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May 8, 2017
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How would I do this please?
 

RM_Forshaw

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I disabled the Windows Page file and even set Windows to performance settings to free up some CPU memory. Still getting stutters. The game starts at 120 and then floats down to 70-80, but consistently drops to 60, making it very hard to play
 

olin9

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Feb 20, 2008
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Use HWMonitor to view your usage and temp of the GPU and CPU while playing your games. Your GPU could be getting hot if your fans do not speed up as needed. Anything above 70C would be getting warm.
 

RM_Forshaw

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My GPU never exceeds 70'C, it has 2 140mm fans blowing air along it which come on when it exceeds 60'C, it also has the CPU Cooler radiator above which pulls hot air through the top of the case
 

Carnaxus

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Apr 18, 2017
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Dontcha love people who don't read through the thread before replying? Especially the guy who literally posted right after your post saying that you'd used DDU to uninstall the AMD drivers, downloaded the latest ones, and reinstalled with...suggesting that you use DDU to uninstall the AMD drivers, download the latest ones, and reinstall them?...

Have you checked for that Contacts Import Tool like Lakken suggested?

The odd thing is I have the same CPU and more or less the nVidia equivalent of your GPU and GTA V doesn't stutter at all for me. I have 8GB more RAM, at 32GB, but since most of the posts on here have said that 8GB is the bare minimum you need for GTA V I doubt it's your RAM amount. Maybe a full system spec could shed some light on this? CPU, motherboard, GPU, RAM type and manufacturer, etc.
 

RM_Forshaw

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May 8, 2017
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Haha I know and sure:
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
RAM: Kingston Fury Hyper X 2 x 8Gb Sticks and 2 x 4Gb Sticks (all DDR3)
Processor: AMD FX8370 cooled by a Cooler Master Seidon 240V Dual Fan Water Cooler
GPU: Asus AMD RX480 Strix 8Gb
PSU: Corsair GS600
Fans: a fan in the back of the system blowing air over the CPU and RAM, the Dual Fan/Radiator CPU Colling system at the top of the case sucking hot air out the system and 2 140mm fans blowing air across my GPU


As for the Microsoft Contacts Import Tool, Ive looked whilst the game is running and that process doesnt seem to be active in Task Manager