Screen and Sound "Stutters"

[Deke_15]

I've been having this issue for a while now (since about the new year).

During general use and even heavy gameplay the card works just fine.
What happens is that sometimes after playing for a few consecutive hours, when I quit the game and return to the desktop I get this stuttering at a rate of about once per second. This also happens I've noticed (with about the same frequency) when I go out for a few hours and my computer drops into standby. When I first wake it up it runs fine for a few minutes then the stuttering begins.

A simple restart of the system immediately fixes things.

This happens with stock settings on both cpu and gpu (though I have overclocked my cpu before this popped up and I've started to diagnose).
Heat it not an issue.
I've used a number of driver sets for diagnosis (about 5 though I can't recall which. I did however uninstall each, restart, and install the new).

Anybody have any ideas on things I can try or information I need for a diagnosis?

 

[EXT64]

First, could you list some system specs (such as GPU, CPU, OS, etc.)

 

[Deke_15]

Sorry, I'm used to posting on forums that have it listed on my accounts.

I've got an i7-860, GA-P55M-UD4, nVidia GT220 from EVGA, win7 Pro

anything else I can get for you?

 

[EXT64]

So, the stuttering keeps happening, even if you wait several minutes?

What are your Hard Drive (look at the light) and ram/processor (task manager) usage during these stutters?

 

[Deke_15]

I haven't waited more than about 5-10 minutes before I restart since I know that fixes it each time temporarily.

I'll take a look at what the hard drive and ram are doing but the processor seems to act normally based on the task manager and other tools I've been looking at.

 

[EXT64]

Well, ram usage specifically (that should be in the performance tab in Task manager).

 

[welshmousepk]

can you descirbe this stuttering in a little more detail?

is it input lag? or an actual visual artifact?

it sounds like it could be an issue with the refresh rate, which sometimes happens after a resolution change (not sure if you are gaming at your native res or not)

the most immediate recommendation is that when the problem occurs, go into the driver control panel and change a visual setting such as color depth or screen resolution, just to force a change, then immediately change it back (or just hit no when it asks if you want to keep the changes) and see if the problem has gone.

i suspect this will temporarily solve the issue without needing a restart. but of course thats not a permanent solution.

 

[Deke_15]

RAM usage seems to be in line with where it normally is. No background programs seemed to have crash.

I wouldn't describe it as an artifact, the picture "looks" correct, it is just delayed.
Best way to describe it I guess is when I swirl the mouse pointer in a circle it pauses midway around. I can't quite tell if the pointer is still moving in the OS while the screen pauses as it's simply too distracting.

 

[Deke_15]

Oh, I've also messed around with switching rezos and refresh rates when it occurs but there is no immediate change.

 

[welshmousepk]

from what you describe, it sounds like a HDD issue. as if the cache is backing up and causing the system to lag.

does your HDD light blink when this occurs?

what kind of HDD do you actually have?

 

[Deke_15]

The light flickers, but faintly. It tends to be much brighter in general computing I've noticed.

The drive shows up in the Device Manager as a "Hitachi HDP72050GLA360 ATA Device"

 

[Hiniberus]

Well then as welsh said, it could be a problem with the HDD. Though have you made sure though that it's not being accessed for any other reason? Say like if you were to have all programs closed and the computer doing nothing, does it still flicker?

If so, then perhaps it would be best to create a backup while you can and get a new HDD then.

 

[welshmousepk]

sounds for sure like the HDD slowing down the system then. strange that it happens most in general computing, which implies you have something going on in the background that shouldn't be.

open task manager and have a look if there are any programs using alot of CPU cycles or RAM.

there is the possibility that the HDD is just bad though, but it may be something else.

 

[Deke_15]

Task/process managers don't seem to show any dramatic drain on resources. I'm planning after the holiday to install Win7 on my secondary HDD just to test.