PC Graphics

[Depco164]

I recently purchased an XFX Merc 319 RX7800XT. Since installing this card I have experienced stuttering when a 2nd monitor/TV or VR headset is attached to the computer. The 2nd display is a Toshiba 1080P television I use to display my VR headset's view for people who are over. Prior to purchasing this card I was using an Nvidia GTX1070. The entire system was running well and I did not have any of these stuttering experiences.

My Specs:

Ryzen 5 5600X

XFX RX7800XT

ASRock B450M Motherboard

32GB G Skill RipJaws 3200 RAM

750W Thermaltake Power Supply

1TB m.2 nVME SSD (2TB HD for data storage)

MSI G271 1080P 144 Hz monitor (Display Port Connection)

Toshiba 1080P television (Display Port Connection)

When installing the new GPU I completed a DDU uninstall of the Nvidia drivers. I installed the latest AMD Adrenalin drivers (at the time 23.12.1, now updated to 24.1.1). All my games had a very noticeable stutter/freeze I initially chalked up to the various game shaders being loaded and saved as I played. Unfortunately, the stutters never went away. After some research I discovered that disconnecting the 2nd display helped some people with this issue. Lo and behold, when I disconnected my second monitor the stutters went away nearly completely. Reconnecting the 2nd display resulted in the return of the stutters.

I decided I would run without the 2nd display and the issue seemed like it was fixed. Until I tried to run VR on my Quest 2 over airlink. I have not tested the wired connection as I don't have the questlink cable. Upon connecting the headset to the computer I was again greeted with long freezes of the VR display. The freezes occur between 5-30 seconds apart and can last for 1-10 seconds each. When I compare what I am seeing in the headset to what is being displayed on my monitor I notice that the monitor is correctly displaying all the movement and actions, while my HMD is frozen. While the freezing is significantly more pronounced in the VR Headset, it occurs any time a 2nd display is connected to the GPU.

This makes me feel that the card does not like rendering more than one screen. The HMD has 2 screens in and of itself.

I have also noted that the GPU never is maxed out in any game I play, often barley getting to 50% utilization. I have tested Starfield, rF2, Ghosts of Tabor, and DayZ. The temps are always very cool as well. I have not yet explored power draw. Also I noted that on DayZ the Fluid Motion Frames sometimes would work and other times it would say my game's settings did not support the FMF option. I did not change any settings in game. 

Any advice to help put this issue to rest? I would like to get back to running VR again and having a 2nd monitor.

[Depco164]

Correction*

The 2nd display is connected via HDMI

[Fidelity]

Im having a similar issue with unreal engine games... my screen sometimes showes a blue artifact, kinda like a ball that appears and then dissapears. Also with other unreal game, there is also this issue, and there is also white screen tearing.

[Depco164]

I have not seen any artifacting or screen tearing, just the stutters and screen freezes.

[Depco164]

After some more research on the Oculus software it appears there is a known bug with their software. The fix is to uninstall the Oculus software and reinstall. I did this and initially found the stutter to have completely gone away in VR. However, after an hour or so it returned. After some more research I was supposed to uninstall with windows in safe mode and delete all oculus files, including all the files in the Appdata folder. I did this but have not yet been able to test.

Just an update.

[Depco164 · Accepted solution]

***2 Month Update***

I was having very few problems once I reinstalled the Oculus software as outlined above. However, after a video card driver update I noticed I again began having the freezing issues. I dont recall which update it was though. I again uninstalled the Oculus software in safe mode, making sure to get rid of all oculus software in the Appdata folder.  Once I reinstalled the Oculus software (from a fresh DL of the installer) it was smooth sailing again.

I suspect that I will have to do this after Driver updates, so I may just avoid driver updates unless there is a specific reason, or game that necessitates the update.

[bigbadamduser]

Had the same issue and almost same specs.

My fix:

Open the taskmanager, terminate all "AMD SOFTWARE" and "RADEON SETTINGS" tasks.

Afterwards, without rebooting, right-click on the Desktop and start the AMD Software again.

No more stuttering.

You have to scroll down a bit in the Taskmanager to find them all. Some start with "AMD Software" and some start with "Radeon Settings". I dont know whats the issue, but I assume Radeon Settings CPU Metrics and Desktop Overlay things cause something.
I hope I can relief some of you