Consistent lag spikes occur frequently across multiple games; no discernible cause has been identified.
Consistent lag spikes occur frequently across multiple games; no discernible cause has been identified.
I have experienced persistent lag spikes in numerous games and within Facebook browser usage. Restarting often provides temporary relief, while other applications remain unresponsive.
My hardware specifications are as follows: i7-4790 processor, GTX 1080 graphics card, 12GB RAM.
The affected games include Rainbow 6 Siege (restart fix), StarCraft 2 (restart sometimes fixes), and Dota 2 (consistent lag spikes at set intervals). Notably, my custom-written game engine, also utilizing SDL2 for rendering, exhibits identical lag spike behavior as Dota 2. Despite debugging with the full MSVC debugger, no issues are identified, and the engine performs optimally on other systems. The consistent SDL2-based spikes observed in both Dota 2 and my engine suggest a shared underlying cause.
A frametime graph from my SDL2-based engine demonstrating this behavior is available at https://emalm.ml/?p=DThCF.
I am open to providing additional details for troubleshooting.
Utilize Malwarebytes for system scanning. Refer to: https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/. It does not involve installation.
Was your GPU overclocked? An excessive overclock can lead to random lag spikes if it becomes unstable. Additionally, if your RAM is fully utilized or your VRAM exhausts, the system may resort to using RAM as a substitute.
My GPU has no custom overclocking aside from NVIDIA Turbo Boost.
Regarding paging, it’s a potential issue, but when running my own game engine, overall RAM usage is low and I see no evidence of paging; memory access times are consistently low, and the problem persists even in a low-RAM environment such as 4-5GB used from 12GB with my game utilizing only a few hundred MB.
CPU and GPU temperatures remain at acceptable levels: 80°C on the GPU under heavy load and in the low 70s for the CPU, although I acknowledge my CPU is aging; games like Dota 2, StarCraft 2, and my basic 2D game engine should not exhibit lag even with an older CPU.
Remove drivers using DDU in safe mode first. Check BIOS settings for thermal throttling at 70 degrees. Set NVIDIA panel power management to prefer maximum performance and Windows power plan to high/ultimate performance. Uninstall unused control software that may alter the power plan. Scan with an antivirus or Malwarebytes, including checking for bitcoin mining viruses. Verify all settings and uninstall unnecessary software. Those temperatures are excessively high for the hardware; a 2080 Ti OCed to its limit and an i9 9900k typically reach no more than 60 degrees. Consider disk failure – failing HDDs/SSDs can cause random stutters, freezes, unexplained performance issues, or BSODs.