Stutter l Trailing l Twitching l Screen tearing l GTX 970

BRY4N

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Sep 27, 2014
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Hey guys,
I have been having this "microstutter/screentearing" issue for quite a while now and I was wondering what could be the cause of it. I dont remember experiencing any screen tearing, stuttering or any of these issues at all like 2 years ago. I notice it the most when playing CS:GO and Battlefield 1 has recently become literaly unplayable for me as the frame rate hovers around 40-60 fps and stuttering gets even worse it seems. Many times I was trying to fix it in many ways but I never got rid of it. I play a lot of FPS games so the "smooth" gameplay is a big deal for me. Now hear me out, I have a fairly old HP pc, which I bought around the end of 2012 and because I will be buying a new one in like a month or so, I would like to sort this issue out, because I will be keeping both my monitor and my graphics card as the gpu market is now flooded with overpriced gpus, plus I want to wait for Volta. The pc that I was talking about was kind of like an office pc and I didnt change any components except the graphics card and the HDD. The computer is an HP Elite 7500 Microtower.

My pc specs are:

i5 3570 non-k
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
8gb ddr3 ram
HP motherboard
WD Blue 1TB
WD Black 1TB
PSU: Fortron Hyper S 700- I forgot to mention that I will be keeping the PSU as well if it doesnt prove faulty. Before I put this PSU in my computer there was a stock 350W PSU

My monitor: 27" Acer XB270Hbmjdprz Gaming



I read many threads reporting similar issues and an alarming number of the threads that I read included the GTX 970. Like a week ago I changed the video cable from display port to dvi and it seems to have made it a bit better. I think that the problem I have with BF1 is caused by my CPU, since its so CPU intensive, plus my CPU seems to be running at 95-100% on all cores when playing BF1 but before I was able to run it at around 70-100 fps. Another worrying fact that I noticed is that my GPU seems to be running at 60 degrees celsius when idle, but that may be due to the automatic fan mode which makes the fans stop spinning when the gpu is idle. What do you think is the most probable cause of the "stuttering/screen tearing" issue?

Thanks in advance and Im looking forwards to hear it from you guys. Remember that any clue could be helpful to me. P.S. I can find the stock components names if needed.


EDIT: The stutter is still there even when Im playing with like 200-300 fps on CS:GO


 

Karadjgne

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Gpu in fanless or eco mode doesn't run the fans until the gpu hits @65°C, at which point it kicks on the fans at high rpm to lower temps. In gaming, if you consistently hit @ 65°C it gets annoying, so I have that turned off on my 970 and run a custom fan curve.

If you are seeing 60° at idle in eco mode, clean the gpu. Your heatsink is more than likely saturated with dust/debris. There's 2 sides to a gpu, the vram/VRM's and the processor. Only the processor has a temp, so even if it's only showing 60, its possible your vram/VRM's are closer to 90 and the card is throttling down or having vram issues, causing the problems.

Also, with the Win10CE updates, there's been issues with legacy mobo drivers, specifically the audio and LAN drivers, so make sure the mobo stuff is kept upto date or that can have issues in game.

BF1 is optimized for 8 thread usage, there's multiple threads on 4 core cpus seeing 100% usage, it's a common issue. I believe there are some patches that have fixed this to some degree. What you can do is lower cpu bound settings such as viewing distance, grass details, move physX to gpu etc which alleviates some of the load on the cpu, which will increase fps ability.
 

BRY4N

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Sep 27, 2014
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Thank you, I will definetly try to clean up the heatsink. Also I would like to ask, do you think its possible that the gpu is damaged or just passing away? I havent even tried to overclock it, neither fiddle with any of the settings in afterburner. Could the stuttering be caused by my CPU, even if its not fully utilised? Can the monitor be the source of stuttering, even if it was perfectly fine a while ago? Or could the RAM or HDD be at fault?
 

Karadjgne

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Ambassador
There's many causes, but the monitor isn't one if them. It usually a combination of cpu, gpu and settings. The cpu is strong enough, as is the gpu, so settings, adaptive v-sync, even GeForce Experience can all play a role. Many ppl are stuck on high fps, personally I'm happy with anything above 60 that plays smooth and looks good.