PC Graphics

[Timidt]

Hey there,

I've been having heavy performance issues with moderatly demanding games and I'm at this point I'm at a loss as to how I should proceed. I've included a video ->here, but basically, the game will run smoothely for the first 10 seconds after launch at which point I will start getting these stutters. The framerate will drop to 3-10fps for half a second after which the game goes back to running smoothely for a bit.

The first culprit with these things always seems to be the drivers so I went ahead and updated to the newest version and flashed the BIOS while I was at it. As this didn't fix things I used this software called DDU to uninstall all graphics drivers cleanly and install them again, but to my great dismay, the lag was now WAY WORSE than before. I got so frustrated that I formatted my SSD and did a new windows installation - and I kid you not - the problem is now even worse than before and I have no idea how thats possible.

In the past I've had a similiar problem while playing the Witcher 3 which I was able to solve by playing around with the AMD Driver settings, but no luck this time.

I'm looking for any hints as to what might be causing this issue - my fooling around with bios and drivers affecting the problem seems to imply that it's software related, but what do I know. All help is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Windows 10 on a b450 tomahawk max motherboard, if any other information is required I will provide it gladly.

[Earnhardt]

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[RPX100]

@Timidt hello there. I am gonna provide some basic tips to try and figure this out with you.
The way you describe your problem sounds like a temperature/overheating issue to me.
This would easily explain the performance drops followed by short smooth performance.

Open TaskManager, switch to advanced view and select the "performance"-tab.
Now open up your game and play until the problem appears.

Check CPU/GPU temps in TaskManager and in Radeon Software.
Also check the "processes"-tab to see if anything spikes CPU-load.

Please answer these questions for me - while gaming:

1) Are your CPU temps below 80°C?

2) are your GPU hot spot temps below 90°C?

3) are your GPU core/mem/VRM temps below 75°C?

If you are seeing anything above 90°C or even 100°C, then there is your problem.
This is mostly caused by old/dried up thermal paste between cooler and chip.

[Timidt]

Thanks for reaching out.

I checked the temperatures and they're all at a steady 60°C, so that's good I guess?

Two intersting things I noticed though: If i go into windowed mode (same resolution BTW) I get only 10% of the stuttering I get in fullscreen. Also, the GPU-load will DIP whenever the stutter happens, so take from that what you will.

Oh, system info:

- Radeon RX 5700 XT

- Windows 10, Build 19044.1586

- Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.3.2

- Dell SE2219H Display, 1920x1080 @60Hz HDMI (maybe I should try DP)

- Ryzen 5 3600x

- msi tomahawk b450 max BIOS 7C02v3C

- 650 Watt Corsair CX650M  80+ Bronze

- 2+8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200MHz CL 16-18-18-32

[RPX100]

@Timidt hello again and thanks for checking the temps and providing additional details!

Temps around 60°C are ideal, yes. So we can ignore temps for now. 

--
GPU load dropping might be caused by other software that needs intensive CPU time/calculations.
> try to keep open Windows TaskManager and sort by CPU load to see if anything comes up.

next step would be to eliminate other software that can interfere (close them for testing):
- mouse/keyboard software (razer/logitech/corsair, etc.)
- LED / light control software (iCue, Chroma, etc.)
- anti virus / firewall software (disable or set to game mode)
- monitoring software (GPU-Z, MSI Afterburner, Riva Tuner, CPU-Z, HWInfo, HW Monitor, RealTemp, etc.)
- close everything that is not needed for the game itself
- anything that could be trying to render overlays on 3D apps (discord, team speak, overwolf, etc.)

It could also help to disconnect all USB devices except mouse/keyboard (for testing).
Make sure to disconnect/disable Bluetooth devices (for testing).

- Try to enable/disable Windows Gaming Mode.
- Check your selected energy profile:
current recommendation from AMD is the default "balanced" plan (for Ryzen 3000) 
you can of course also try the default "high performance plan" or "AMD Ryzen Balanced" plan.

[Timidt · Accepted solution]

I found an acceptable fix for my problem, posting this for posterity.

I ended up playing around with tunings in the AMD Adrenaline Control Center and found "minimal GPU frequency" and "maximum power supply" settings, cranked those all the way.

There is still stutter occasionally, but it is only 2% as frequent as before. I suspect aggressive power saving might be the issue, as I read about this on different forums.

Still crazy to me that this kind of issue remains unfixed in this graphics card, it doesn't seem like it's that hard to do right.

After my experience this far, I won't be buying AMD graphics again in the near future and I advise anyone against doing so, as well. On paper you're getting a very good bang for your buck, but hassles like this one instantly outweigh any "theoretical" edge in performance.