Major slutter / FPS drop linked to drop of GPU usage

[Wendake]

Hey all,

 

I don't know what to do to solve my sluttering problem and I would appreciate some help because it's very annoying. Every 10-30 secondes I get 20-30 fps drops and they are linked to GPU usage dropping hard as shown below :

 

 

CPU and memory usage seems OK.

 

My specs :

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

RTX 2060

32 GB RAM
Windows and DCS installed on a SSD hard drive

Using a head tracking device.

 

Logfile : dcs.log

 

What I tried :

 

V synch ON/OFF
G Synch ON/OFF

Fullscreen mode ON/OFF

Dropping graphic setting in game
Clean-up / Repair of DCS

Clearing FXO & Metashader folders

Caping FPS to 60

Hotplug device trick

Switching to Studio drivers for my Nvidia graphic card
Pagefille Min / Max settings

 

Don't know what else to try...DCS is the only game giving a hard time to my rig and the gaming isn't very enjoyable with those huge slutters / FPS drops...

 

Thanks !

 

[speed-of-heat]

do you have an OC running on your GPU ?

[Wendake]

No I don't have any OC running on the GPU

[speed-of-heat]

what are your nvidia settings ? and how have you set power management for your PC ? Any Mods installled ? Any Exports (for display or stream deck or the like ) 

Edited December 26, 2020 by speed-of-heat

[Wendake]

Nvidia settings are like Spudnocker video : 
 

 

So power management is set to : Prefer maximum performance

 

When using these settings I get a GPU usage of 99% instead is are a little bit improved (10 fps drops instead of 20-30 and GPU usage doesn't drop as much as in default settings).

No mods installed and no exports.

 

Thanks for taking time helping me

 

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Wendake

[speed-of-heat]

try my settings for the 1080ti in the sig block its mostly aimed at VR, if not then you might want to check if you are getting a CPU drop at the same time it wont be as dramatic because DCS uses so few cores but it could be something like RGB software running in the background ? 

[Taz1004]

Issue may not be your GPU.  Something else may be causing the pause and your GPU just has nothing to do during that pause.

Any antivirus?

 

You can keep an eye on your task manager, sort it by CPU usage, and when that spike happens, see what process comes up to top.

[Glide]

Have you tried disabling shader cache in the AMD control panel?  It will increase load times for missions. 

[TAW_Mago]

Hi @speed-of-heat I just stumbled accross this, searching for a solution for a problem I have since I got a new computer. 
Above you were asking if his CPU and GPU drop at the same time. That is exactly what happens to me every very few seconds. Nobody could tell me what is happening so far but since you specifically asked for this my hopes grow again. Could you tell me what solution you were aiming for there? 
It happens for me both on screen and in VR (much more severe). Due to this I´m grounded for month´s now.... 
Strange thing is, I deleted, downloaded and reinstalled DCS again and it worked perfectly in VR for hours until I turned it off and next day on again. Didn´t change a thing but it was back to old behavior. I hope you can tell me what is happening because I´m quite frustrated after trying all kinds of things. 

Cheers

Specs:
1080ti
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
32GB RAM 3200MHz
X570 Mobo

[fbfan64]

It seems there are many different sources for stutters and just as many different solutions.  Anyway, here's what worked for me.  In my case, when there was a large stutter, there was an associated drop in both CPU and GPU.  At the same time, there was a spike in disk activity to my HDD (not SSDD).  I found a combination of three things to fix it in my case.  I saw improvements after each step, but the stutters didn't go away until I had done all three.

 

By the way, I didn't come up with anything new.  All of these fixes can be found in these forums.

 

1. I didn't have DCS set as an exclusion in my antivirus (Windows Defender).  Add the DCS install folder and the DCS saved games folder to the exclusion list for your anti-virus.

2. I have DCS installed on and running from a fast SSDD, but Windows is still on my old slower HDD.  DCS writes tracks (and maybe other stuff) to your saved games folder.  I moved my saved games folder to the SSDD.

3. DCS writes stuff to the windows TEMP and/or TMP folder.  I set up a folder on my SSDD to use for this and changed my environment variables for TEMP and TMP to point to the new location.

 

It's only been a day or two, but no stutters yet.  I can't remember when I was able to go that long without stutters, so I may have solved my issue.  I hope this helps for you.

 

[speed-of-heat]

12 hours ago, TAW_Mago said:

Hi @speed-of-heat I just stumbled accross this, searching for a solution for a problem I have since I got a new computer. 
Above you were asking if his CPU and GPU drop at the same time. That is exactly what happens to me every very few seconds. Nobody could tell me what is happening so far but since you specifically asked for this my hopes grow again. Could you tell me what solution you were aiming for there? 
It happens for me both on screen and in VR (much more severe). Due to this I´m grounded for month´s now.... 
Strange thing is, I deleted, downloaded and reinstalled DCS again and it worked perfectly in VR for hours until I turned it off and next day on again. Didn´t change a thing but it was back to old behavior. I hope you can tell me what is happening because I´m quite frustrated after trying all kinds of things. 

Cheers

Specs:
1080ti
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
32GB RAM 3200MHz
X570 Mobo

The problem is likely to be software or service running in the background, likely impacting the cpu, monitoring the task manager and seeing which program is taking over the cpu at the time you see a perf drop is the only way I know, and thenfinding a way to disable that application/service... do it one at a time and you need to be comfortable that you may need to do a windows recovery at some point.

 

in my experience I found the rgb software was taking up a significant chunk of cpu time, ymmv.

 

as @fbfan64says, there are some hygiene steps you can do first as well, and I would recommend them.

[TAW_Mago]

Thx a lot for the response guys!

About the suggestions of @fbfan64:

1. I got both Windows and DCS installed on SSD´s but separate ones. Should I still move the directories to the same SSD as DCS?
2. I´ve added the folders and .exe files to all kinds of exception lists I could find on my norton antiVirus (not sure if there is another place to find such lists in windows). 

3. Since my windows is installed on an SSD as mention above I guess I can leave this out or should I move them as asked in answer #1. above?

 

@speed-of-heat 

1. What rgb software did you use? I use armoury crate/aura sync for the tower and AMD Cooler Master for the CPU cooler RGB. Should I delete that stuff? I guess I´ll try.

2. I already did monitor the task manager and there were several movements. Hard to tell. One which caught my eye repeatedly was a task named "dwm" which apparently stands for 'desktop window manager'. I tried to close it but it is a task which windows cannot operate without. 

3. I could reinstall windows if that promises success but I´m not sure how to "recover" it.

 

Again thank you guys for taking your time! I´ll go out for a walk. This stuff is waaayyy too frustrating xO

[speed-of-heat]

I was using Corsair Icue , but basically anything that regularly polls some other bit of hardware... 

[fbfan64]

6 hours ago, TAW_Mago said:

Thx a lot for the response guys!

About the suggestions of @fbfan64:

1. I got both Windows and DCS installed on SSD´s but separate ones. Should I still move the directories to the same SSD as DCS?
2. I´ve added the folders and .exe files to all kinds of exception lists I could find on my norton antiVirus (not sure if there is another place to find such lists in windows). 

3. Since my windows is installed on an SSD as mention above I guess I can leave this out or should I move them as asked in answer #1. above?

 

I think the reason it fixed it for me was moving from a slow HDD to a fast SSDD.  I suspect moving it from one SSDD to another won't make an appreciable difference.  I think since you already have everything on SSDD the only thing that may help from my list is adding them to the antivirus exclusion list.  Even if you don't see a positive impact from that, I've seen it recommended a few times that it's good to leave it that way anyway. 

Sorry my tips were not of more help, but it looks like you have a different variant of the problem then I had.

[TAW_Mago]

All good @fbfan64! I appreciate every tip and people willing to help!  
@speed-of-heat I tried to deactivate them which didn´t help but maybe they have some background tasks I cannot identify as related to them. Will try again with them deleted. 
If that doesn´t help, would you recommend reinstalling windows or wouldn´t that change anything and not worth the time?

[speed-of-heat]

i ended up uninstalling them, you can also disable the icue services via services 

Edited February 22, 2021 by speed-of-heat

[TAW_Mago]

Update: Problem solved by resetting BIOS, and then set the following: 

PCIe to Gen3, disable CPU C-States, enable motherboard-limited PBO, not more.
I also reinstalled Windows again just to make sure. 

After 4 months this finally helped. I hope it does for everyone else!

[Flappie]

@TAW_MagoMany thanks for your feedback.

[Wendake]

Still got the stuttering problem...tried pretty much everyting :

 

V synch ON/OFF
G Synch ON/OFF

Fullscreen mode ON/OFF

Dropping graphic setting in game
Clean-up / Repair of DCS

Clearing FXO & Metashader folders

Caping FPS to 60

Hotplug device trick

Switching to Studio drivers for my Nvidia graphic card
Pagefille Min / Max settings

Also tried to disable Windows Defender while running the game & a fres reinstall of the game on my SSD. Still got 0.5 sec stutter every 15-20 sec which is not only annoying but affecting my capacity to play. I put the game on hold for a few months after posting this post and I'm sad to see that after new updates (both from DCS & graphic card drivers) I still have the same stuttering.

My set-up :

 

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

RTX 2060

32 GB RAM
Windows and DCS installed on a SSD hard drive

Using a head tracking device.

 

If anyone have an idea on how to solve this it would be awesome. DCS is the only game I play where I have this problem.

 

* EDIT * Forgot to mention that every stutter happens when my SSD usage have a small peak and my GPU usage will drop at the same time.

Edited October 16, 2021 by Wendake

[Flappie]

9 hours ago, Wendake said:

* EDIT * Forgot to mention that every stutter happens when my SSD usage have a small peak and my GPU usage will drop at the same time.

You should speed-test your SSD. It (or its cable) may be the culprit.

 

And, just in case, you might want to try this:

 

[FupDuck]

I world also recommend giving this a shot:

 

[SmeagleGoneWild]

Ive been getting them every 0.5 seconds as well with my new build. I went from an i7 7700k, 3070ti, 32gb 3000 RAM, SSD...to; Ryzen 7 5800x, 3070ti, 32gb 3000 RAM, m.2 nvme, SSD, SSHD (game is on m.2, and windows is the SSD). I cant figure out for the life of me why only DCS does this. All other games do not have a noticeable stutter. Ive tried all tips in this thread as well.

[Boosterdog]

Do you experience the stutter in every mission or just some? I only ask because some times the trigger of flags/AI etc in a mission can have a big impact (especially if you are close to limit of what youd see a a drop). Human nuture I guess, but we fixate on problems and sometimes ignore the obvious. 

Have you established that its not 1 specific mission causing you isses?  Have you run a simple blank mission with nothing in it but the aircraft that you are using? Does that behave in the same way? 

[Rebel28]

Wrong section sorry

Edited November 16, 2021 by Rebel28
Wrong section

[Fletch64]

I had DCS installed on one of two SATA SSD’s so never really thought that would be the cause of constant immersion breaking stutters, on a whim I moved DCS (Steam version) to a M.2 drive I’d acquired and voila !! end of all stutters and silky smooth performance with pretty much all DCS settings on high (to leave some headroom for heavy scenarios), checked SSD speeds to confirm performance first using this free utility..

https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Software

specs:

Ryzen 7 3700X (no OC), XFX AMD RX 5700XT III, 2 x 1920 x 1080 60hz monitors, 32gb 2666mhz RAM, tracking device + Opentrack, Win10 64..

Hope this helps…