Broad stuttering issue following Nvidia driver installation

Kcw84

Prominent
Jun 17, 2017
2
0
510
For anyone who can help, I very much appreciate your time!

My system specs below:

- Intel core i7 6700k
- Asus ROG Strix Z270E motherboard
- 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair DDR4-3000 Dominator Platinum Series RAM
- Zotac Geforce 1080 ti AMP! Extreme edition
- Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M2 SSD
- EVGA Supernova NEX750G 750-watt PSU

Everything was working perfectly until three days ago, when Geforce Experience prompted me to install updated drivers. This led to the 382.53 drivers being installed. I soon began experiencing micro-stuttering both in Windows generally, and within games. It is especially noticeable through audio; any audio playing suddenly seems to slow down significantly for about one second, while assuming a metallic/robotic tone. At the same time, whatever is happening on-screen also stutters (i.e. in game, my screen will freeze for half a second).

I've tried all the usual remedies (DDU, driver reinstall, uninstalling HD audio). None of this helped. I also downloaded the Zotac GPU manager to check my GPU temperature, but it never seemed to be going above 35 degrees (my computer is located in a cool basement office).

Since none of these remedies resolved the issue, I clean-installed Windows 10, keeping my computer disconnected from the internet to prevent automatic driver updates. However, as soon as I installed Geforce drivers (I used 378.78 to be safe), I began experiencing the same issue again.

I am beginning to wonder if the problem is caused by a hardware issue (with my GPU being the most obvious culprit). Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Now your making a lot more sense. Your GPU has nothing to deal with the problem at all. It's the sound card that is causing the problem.
Your power supply is great quality so I highly doubt that's the problem either. If you were using sound out of the sound card, then yes. Your sound card appears to be the problem (something likely bad happened to it over time, or a capacitor on it blew, or something else internal just went bad with it)

I'd recommend googling it to see if you can find similiar issues with that specific sound card, but if you don't experience any issues with on board motherboard audio, then yea. All that's causing the problem that you are experiencing is the sound card and it...

Nighterlev

Honorable
Nov 1, 2015
135
1
10,765
Try using audio directly through the Motherboard and not the GPU's HDMI connector. If that audio "hiss/metallic issue" is still there, then yes. It is 100% a hardware issue and likely isn't a software issue.

The 1080ti could very well be the culprit of the problems your experiencing (considering you did a clean install etc) Do you have any other GPU's that you could try out and see if the problems remain?
I replied to another guy who was having a similar problem with is GTX 1060 but it was much, much worse. He eventually got a RMA on it and that seemed to fix the problems as with most people that experience this Micro stutter and such.

So really, honestly the only way to actually fix this problem is to RMA it. That's your best bet, other then that I can't really help you much if you've already tried all the options like re-installing drivers, refreshing Win10 completely etc.
 

Kcw84

Prominent
Jun 17, 2017
2
0
510
Thanks for your response. I didn't mention this, but my audio was plugged into the motherboard audio card (not the GPU HDMI).

I did a few things: first, I used an old GTX 960 I had lying around, and the sound issue remains, so that rules out my 1080 ti being the problem. I also disabled my motherboard sound and used a PCIe Asus Xonar DSX sound card; however, the problem persisted. Finally, I took out my RAM and used an old 4GB DDR4-2166 stick, which also did not resolve the issue.

So at this point, I'm wondering if the problem is one, or some combination of: 1) the motherboard, 2) my CPU, 3) my PSU, or 4) my M2 drive. The problem is that none of these are at all easy to replace/test.
 

Nighterlev

Honorable
Nov 1, 2015
135
1
10,765
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Now your making a lot more sense. Your GPU has nothing to deal with the problem at all. It's the sound card that is causing the problem.
Your power supply is great quality so I highly doubt that's the problem either. If you were using sound out of the sound card, then yes. Your sound card appears to be the problem (something likely bad happened to it over time, or a capacitor on it blew, or something else internal just went bad with it)

I'd recommend googling it to see if you can find similiar issues with that specific sound card, but if you don't experience any issues with on board motherboard audio, then yea. All that's causing the problem that you are experiencing is the sound card and it needs to be replaced basically.

It could also be perhaps a problem with the M.2 drive, have you recently changed the settings for your sound any? Go to the volume, right click it, click on recording devices and check each and every setting you can find.
 
Solution