Frame drops & Stutter

SteeloMusic

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Feb 28, 2016
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Goodday you all,

Recently i upgraded my full PC and am now running:
Asus Turbo GTX 1060 6GB
Core i5-6400 @ 2.7ghz (3.2 boost clock)
8GB ddr4 @ 2400mhz
No SSD
MSI B150M Bazooka Motherboard
1TB HDD @ 7200 RPM

My issue: Average fps in most AAA titles is around a 130 - 200 ( depending on the settings )

What i notice is when moving around or just looking around i get these "frame skipping" not a drop not lag, but literally it skips multiple frames, it does not happen all the time but lets take 3 examples:

Battlefield 1: Ultra settings ( average fps 100 ) frame drops to 50 if i am lucky and sometimes it can even drop to 20-30, some frame skipping
Low settings: (average fps 120) frame drops to 60-70, frame skipping.

GTA V: No fps drops, low or ultra settings same average fps of 110 ( wich suprises me actually ) but when driving around fast through towns, frame skipping and barely but some moments a frame drop to around 30-40.

Battlefront 2 Closed Alpha:
Average fps of 90 on ultra settings, no fps drops, no frame skipping, but yet it feels sluggish and like i drop frames even though the numbers don't seem to show it.

Additional info: i know my CPU is the weakest of skylakes i5 series but multiple forum threads show that even the 6400 can not bottleneck my 1060.
HWMonitor shows: During these frame drops, i notice that my GPU is not running at 100%, sometimes it dips into lower 30% GPU but it never is above 90% GPU Usage, ( i can fix that by upping the resolution scale so my GPU does not go down in power by itself, but then the frames start dropping because my CPU will be constantly at 100% so on the long run it will overload )

also good to know: ( WHEN NOT STREAMING ) my average fps stays the same between every resolution scale, 100%, 200%, 80%, 70% FPS does not go up, or down.

Hope this explains most of it.. and that there is anyone that can help me fix this magical mystery.

Greetings,

Steelo.
 
Solution
Yeah that would be ideal if you can afford it. I'd start with the PSU in case it is your issue alone...if you still stutter then get the new CPU

atomicWAR

Glorious
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BF1 is actually known for bottlenecking even the newest i5s though mainly in large 64 player maps, though some folks claim it bottlenecks them in general and others not at all. Point being your not completely clear of bottlenecking. I answer a post like yours about once a day for BF1 and an i5 bottlenecking it. Point being I have seen the threads and even the bottlenecking thread showing who is and isn't having bottlenecking trouble for each GPU to the CPU. While helpful it is also very subjective, which even the thread says it is. Point being I would not be so quick to assume your not bottlenecking. What is your CPU usage on low? on high? BF1 in multiplayer uses more threads and CPU resources the more players are in a match so one small game may be fine but a larger one or one with more going on might not be fine. When I read you HWmonitor results they also point to a bottleneck. Your GPU usage is dropping the closer to 100% you get on your CPU...Also when not streaming you say you get the same FPS with every resolution scale...another sign of a bottleneck.
 

SteeloMusic

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if i lock my FPS to 60 in bf1 it does not get close to 100%, but when selecting 144 ( as my monitor is 144hz ) in bf1 it will always be 100% CPU load, and my GPU will be around the 60-90 range.. but does this mean that CPU intensive games will bottleneck my system ? Cause the weird thing is with bf1.. the frames skipping don't start untill like 2 hours into the game already
 

atomicWAR

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Yeah if you vsync/lock at 60FPS then I wouldn't expect you to be hitting 100% except in extreme circumstances like 64 player servers or a lot of on screne action. Yes CPU intensive games will bottleneck you. You lucky though there aren't to many yet...BF1, Watch dogs 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Witcher 3 are a few that could (doesn't mean they will just that they can). As for the frame skipping 2 hours in that could be a few things. A memory leak (check memory usage) or even an early sign your PSU is dying. When under load for a long time is the first place PSU show there weakness. At which point you start receiving unstable power which then screws with your frame rate. what PSU are you running and how old is it?
 

SteeloMusic

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Xilence Performance C series 500W, Bought it about a year ago ( it has this sort of energy saving build in automatically that it runs at 350W but when needed give you the extra power for 500W ).. as far as i can tell now.. buy a i7 7700 and a new 600W PSU ?
 

SteeloMusic

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Alright thanks man ! will try