Stuttering in games despite high FPS

[Kickthebaby102]

Recently i've been playing the non steam version of GTA IV and it plays perfectly if I have the graphics settings on medium, but when I put them on high or very high, I start to experience a LOT of stuttering, to the point where it is unplayable, though keeping a high framrate otherwise. This has been happening on every game with demanding graphics, although my card should be able to run it.
From my experience, the higher the game's graphics, the worse the stutters are.
I have a Nvidia GTX 970 gpu, 8 gb of RAM, Intel Core i5 - 4440 CPU @ 3.10 GHz.
My Nvidia card has the latest drivers.
My OS is Windows 8.1 64 bit
I'm using a TV for my display, not a monitor, but I don't see this being a TV issue since it the problem only occurs in games with higher graphics.
Please somebody help me, i've been basically complaining to all of my friends about this because everywhere I look online doesn't help me.

 

[CRO5513Y]

VRAM issues would be my bet judging from your issues. Are you familiar with the 970 having 3.5GB of fast GDDR5 RAM and the other 0.5GB being much slower, there was a lot of controversy surrounding this at the time. Basically once you get over 3.5GB usage it can often experience rough frame drops and stuttering. Note this might not be the issue you are having but it is definitely something people have had in the past, it is also probably likely considering it only happens at higher settings which is where you would most likely be using more VRAM on higher textures and such. Take a look here for more info > http://www.pcgamer.com/why-nvidias-gtx-970-slows-down-using-more-than-35gb-vram/

On a side note, you don't mean screen tearing by any chance? it is experienced when running framerates above the refresh rate of the screen. Try running V-Sync on and see if it still occurs (it will lock your FPS at 60). Hope this helps