Is the CPU to blame for stuttering in games?
Is the CPU to blame for stuttering in games?
Original post on TechPowerUp
5 months ago I built a "mid-range" PC:
Motherboard
: Gigabyte Aorus Elite B550m.(Bios version is the latest FFc. I believe it's beta because naming ends with lowercase symbol, if it's true then they haven't released stable version for this board since march.)
GPU
: Powercolor 6750 XT.
CPU
: Ryzen 5 5600.
RAM
: Kingston Fury Renegade 32gb XMP #1 - 3600MT/s 16-20-20-20-39-85 1.35V achievable with geardown only. XMP#2 3000MT/s 15-17-17--17-35-65 1.35V(Not on QVL list, though I doubt it's the reason).
SSDs
: Samsung 980 Pro Gen 4x4 500gb(100% life), WD SN 550 Gen 3x2 500gb(95% life) and old SATA Kingston SA400(85% life). All updated to latest firmware.
PSU
: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 750W.
Display
: LG 75Hz 1080p with Freesync(not premium).
OS
: tried only Windows 10 LTSC 2021IoT.
Since the day I built it I've experienced stuttering problems in almost every game:
Red Dead Redemption 2: tried both DirectX12 and Vulkan(on Vulkan stutters still present, although they're less in ms), on max settings I get 60-85 fps depending on location, but it constantly stutters whenever I travel across the map, when the game loads a lot of assets, even with Vsync on. Also I've noticed it gets completly unplayble when I start chaos on streets of cities, villages, when NPCs around start to take a lot of action. Upon lowering settings seems like it gets better and traversal stutters decrease in quantity, but I can't grasp why on max settings with Vsync On when gpu is maxed at 90-95% usage and cpu at 50-60% there seems to be no apparent bottleneck but still it freezes so bad.
Dead Space Remake: this one absolutely unplayble, though I'm not sure maybe game is unoptimized garbage and there is no fault at my side. I tried max settings ~90-100fps, lowest settings, Vsync on/off, and still stutters are unbearable, aren't related to shader compilation, because they always appear at the same spots whenever I traverse between rooms.
Escape From Tarkov: DX11 game, maybe gpu driver with DXNAVI at fault or game is too cpu heavy, stutters a lot, again, when I traverse a map.
CS2: DX11, first time I tried I was surprised that system couldn't handle this game with smooth framerate on 4:3 1280x1040, 0.1% is horrible though I haven't played it since driver 24.8.1, maybe something changed. To me seemed like stutters were related to shader compilation e.g. when grenade exploded, someone got killed, etc.
Hogwarts Legacy: tried on medium and max settings, stutters when going from different locations.
Valorant: DX11, saw a lot of discussions about how unoptimized this game is on radeon gpus, maybe not my fault.
Kingdom Come Deliverance: DX11, stutters when I load into a save, takes about 10 seconds for them to stop and seems like it gets stable, but then occassionaly stutters when I travel across the map, though Vsync On helps greatly with frametime graph.
Baldur's Gate 3: tried DirectX11 and Vulkan, micro-stutters when I travel across the game world. For some reason turning Vsync On(2 and 3 buffering) increases amount of stutters by great margin.
Star Wars Jedi:Fallen Order: DX11, almost unplayable because of stutters that happen all the time, maybe both compilation and traversal, but it's UE4 title, maybe bad compatibility with radeon gpus.
Cyberpunk 2077: seems like it's very well optimized, tried only with raytracing and FSR, had 1-2 stutters for 5 hours playthrough when entering new areas with huge amount of npcs.
THE FINALS: also seems very well optimized, have few stutters(1-2) each 1-2 games, sometimes I don't have them for 3-4 games in a row.
Watch Dogs 2: DX11, unplayable, constant traversal stutters.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt remastered: tried only DirectX12 with raytracing, stuttered once every 10-15 minutes, couldn't understand if it's traversal or shader problem.
Satisfactory: DX12, UE4, stutters a lot during movement through the map.
Ready or Not: stutters a lot and probably due to shader compilation when someone joins the server, kills npc, grenade explodes, etc. Tried highest and lowest settings, no difference.
Detroit Become Human: a lot of stuttering when traversing the world, sometimes just when moving player camera.
Control: DX12 with ray-tracing, stuttering when moving through locations, also sometimes during action scenes, when shooting, throwing objects, etc.
I think I tried almost every thing except changing CPU,GPU, motherboard:
-Tried different display, tried Freesync on/off.
-Tried different PSU and RAM sticks(Not QVL also).
-Tried removing SATA SSD.
-Removed USB 2.0 and 3.0 header, basically no front panel.
-Re-fitted CPU, GPU, RAM sticks, SSDs.
-Powered GPU with 2nd separate PCIe cable.
-Once I took whole motherboard out of the case, checked everything was properly fitted and powered and tried testing system like that.
-Tried enabling/disabling TPM, SMT, ReBAR, PBO in BIOS, MPO, set shader cache to "On" in Windows.
-Tried overclocking CPU, GPU, RAM.(Set it to 3800MT/s 16-19-19-19-36-55, Infinity Fabric to 1900, also tightened up secondary timings, boosted voltage to 1.5).
-Tried underclocking GPU and also setting min core clock to max-100Mhz.
-Tried different GPU drivers, even from 2023.
-Monitored thermals, cpu max is ~60°C, while GPU ~65-66°C for core/edge( I don't know where sensor is) and 95-96°C for hotspot. Yeah, delta is abnormally high, but I figured it's ok for amd gpus and still within normal thermal range. Other sensors from motherboard don't exceed 50-55°C.
-Re-installed Windows ~10 times, once tried with disabling different background services, with no Windows Defender, disabling cpu mitigations for games, setting battery power plan to "Ultra performance, high performance", all to no visible performance gain/difference.
So I'm out of ideas, maybe faulty CPU/GPU/motheboard; bad GPU drivers; buggy BIOS; GPU not properly reporting sensor data and actually hotspot is much bigger; GPU droping clock speed even if I can't observe it through HWInfo; improper voltages set automatically by BIOS and many other things...
Those pictures made with HwInfo(Polling rate 100ms)
I tried disabling C-States in BIOS, but it changed nothing, seems like CPU is really the bottleneck, though I can't be sure, even some old games sometime exhibit same stuttering...
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
I’m using a Gigabyte Aorus Elite B550m motherboard. The BIOS is the latest FFc version; it looks like a beta release since the naming suggests it hasn’t been officially stable since March.
I checked the PCB version to see if there are any pending BIOS updates for this board.
I reinstalled Windows multiple times—about ten times in total—trying various settings like disabling background services, turning off Windows Defender, disabling CPU mitigations for games, and setting the battery power plan to "Ultra performance, high performance." None of these changes improved performance noticeably.
Did you recreate the bootable USB installer just to check for corruption? Did you install the OS in offline mode without a web browser, then manually install drivers via an elevated command (Right-click installer > Run as Administrator)?
I’ve tried different PSUs and RAM sticks—excluding QVL.
Could you clarify what you’re experiencing?
I’ve experimented with various GPU drivers, even those from 2023.
With DDU before each driver update, did the CPU speed change?
It seems the CPU might be the main bottleneck. You could try sourcing a compatible X3D SKU from the 5000 series from someone nearby or online and test it on your board to rule out hardware issues. Alternatively, you might want to check G.Skill’s RAM kits that were marketed for the AM4 platform, but after the last BIOS release (AM5 was coming up), many RAM options became available.
Did you recreate the bootable USB installer to check for any issues? Did you set up the OS in offline mode (without accessing www) and then manually install all drivers using an elevated command, such as right-clicking the installer and selecting Run as Administrator?
I used Rufus multiple times to burn the ISO onto my flash drive. Yes, I installed it offline, and I also installed chipset and GPU drivers manually in an elevated command.
You don’t have to click “Run as administrator” manually; every driver installation requires elevated privileges, which are pre-set in the installers.
I experimented with various power supplies and RAM sticks (not QVL either).
Could you explain this further?
I switched power supplies from different manufacturers. I thought perhaps the GPU’s BIOS might adjust itself if there was a power issue, but that wasn’t the case.
The RAM kits I currently use and those I tested aren’t listed on the official QVL for the motherboard, though their documentation states they can’t test everything. Since my memory isn’t reliable, it shouldn’t cause problems.
I tried different GPU drivers, even from 2023.
Did you use DDU before each driver update, adjusting settings up or down?
I used the official tool “AMD Cleanup” downloaded from their website, which performs essentially the same task. I saw on forums that DDU sometimes corrupts files, so I opted for the AMD software instead.
I moved through versions from 24.10.1 to 24.2.1 to 23.10.1, turned off DXNavi and enabled Shader Cache globally, but it didn’t resolve the issue significantly—mainly I noticed stutters that persisted.
Unfortunately, most of my friends have relocated to other cities, and I’m unable to acquire another CPU.
Stuttering happens because a key resource is temporarily missing. Often it’s the CPU, but sometimes it’s due to low RAM or interference from apps with higher priority.
You have 32GB of RAM, which is usually sufficient.
Are you running multiple tasks?
Open other applications like Discord, performance monitors, etc.
Try closing apps that check for maintenance updates, such as graphics drivers or motherboard AORUS software.
Scan for malware using Malwarebytes.
Review your installed programs list for unfamiliar entries.
In Task Manager, look at the startup list in the CPU graph and select Logical Processor view.
This will give you clearer insight into how your system operates.
50% CPU usage isn’t very high if you’re only using half of your processing threads.
Your main thread might be running at full capacity.
Could there be a chance of thermal throttling?
Did you reset the CMOS after updating the bios? If not, please do so and inform us. It seems to match the recognized stuttering issue with some older AMD Agesa bios. This problem was addressed in the latest pre-beta bios, so a clear CMOS update should resolve it.
A sudden increase in storage usage can significantly reduce CPU performance for a similar duration to a brief lag. Check if the games are stored on the same disk as the operating system. If they are, consider launching them from a different drive with no active applications.
I don’t multitask; only one app is running at startup, which is already turned off. All AMD-GPU related scheduled tasks are also disabled. The only software besides the chipset and GPU drivers is Steelseries GG, Steam, and Tarkov launcher—nothing else. I never install unknown executables or MSI files, so there’s no need to install antivirus programs.
No thermal throttling, as mentioned before, the CPU never exceeds 60°C, and other sensors on the motherboard stay below 55°C. The only part near the thermal limit is the GPU Hotspot, which usually reaches around 95°C but can peak up to 100°C—this is typical for a 250W AMD GPU.
I once tightened secondary timings using a screwdriver and experienced multiple shutdowns from the PC case. I’m unsure if this was damaging, as such stutters have occurred since the PC’s assembly, so I doubt it.
I’ve installed many games on my Gen 3 M.2 and SATA SSDs, but not on Gen 4 M.2 where the OS is located. Thanks for your advice—it’s strange, seems like the CPU might be the bottleneck, though I’m not certain. I followed recommendations from YouTube and other sources about pairing a 6750XT and R5 5600, thinking it would work fine. Maybe I just had bad luck with the hardware, as the issues persist even after changes. It could be a faulty motherboard or the CPU simply can’t keep up in older games; perhaps I’ll have to buy a new CPU in the future.
By the way, you can view screenshots from the games I posted—I noticed they all show similar stutter behavior: CPU usage spikes, C0 residency increases, GPU wait times rise, and the GPU core clock drops to near zero. This strongly suggests a CPU bottleneck. I’m not sure if it’s due to faulty drivers or if the CPU struggles with certain tasks.
Also, could removing my Gen 3 M.2 and SATA SSDs and reinstalling Windows 10 on a Gen 4 system affect PCI lanes or cause incompatibility issues between drives?
For a brief check, execute the CPU-Z benchmark on your R5-5600
You should observe approximately 638
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/2fuyzy
The latency monitor can identify a process responsible for microstutters, if present. If nothing is detected, it likely points to a CPU bottleneck or another problem. Here is the download link for Latencymon.