Question Random second Freezes/FPS drops/stutter in games running in borderless or fullscreen mode
Question Random second Freezes/FPS drops/stutter in games running in borderless or fullscreen mode
Problem
Hello, I’m facing a sudden issue with my games’ FPS and I’m running out of ideas. I hope you can assist me. The situation is this: whenever I play in Borderless or Fullscreen, the game experiences random freezes, FPS drops, or stutters for just a second or less. It began when I started playing "Monster Hunter Wilds," where I initially thought it only occurred in that game because its performance is generally poor. I assumed I was unlucky with my system, as freezes appear randomly—showing a drop from 60 fps to 50 fps, or appearing as a freeze/slow motion on screen when using frame generation. Eventually, playing "The Witcher 3" worked smoothly in fullscreen, but now it’s the same problem. I’ve tried various solutions and tested several other games, yet the issue persists.
Things I attempted:
- Turned off unused monitors
- Set refresh rate to the same value on all displays
- Disabled VSync and FreeSync/Premium FreeSync
- Applied AMD Adrenaline settings like fluid motion frames or enhanced sync
- Set resolution to 1080p on all monitors
- Closed non-essential background apps (e.g., Razer Synapse, Xbox GameBar)
- Disabled GPU overdrive
- Capped framerates in both game and Windows to lower rates (e.g., 60 or 120)
- Used Borderless gaming software to switch from windowed to borderless mode
- Turned off hardware acceleration for the GPU in Windows
- Updated Windows and GPU drivers
- Monitored CPU and GPU usage, which stayed within normal ranges (around 60% for Monster Hunter)
- Enabled borderless gaming software
- Disabled system updates
Games tested:
Issues occurring:
- League of Legends
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Witcher 3
- Subnautica
- Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
- Overwatch 2 (BattlEye)
Helpful or workaround moments:
- Playing Monster Hunter Wilds in windowed mode avoided the issue
- Setting refresh rate to 120Hz in Windows resolved it for Witcher 3 only
- The problem disappeared when watching videos on YouTube or using a browser
- Specific actions taken in Monster Hunter before realizing the issue affected all games
Things I did specifically in Monster Hunter before noticing the problem:
Installed Reframework, updated DirectStorage DLL, disabled Lens (visual preference), Persistent buff removal, installed DLLs swapper and updated all DLL versions for Monster Hunter Wilds, enabled DLSG to FSr3 mod, used Reshade with Profile from "MH Wilds Unfogged SDR" Mod, and used the lowest settings without success.
Other issues encountered:
- Dropping performance when dragging the window into windowed mode on another monitor (frames fell to 70 instead of stable 120)
- Performance dropped significantly when switching monitors from windowed to fullscreen in Monster Hunter
Setup details:
OS: Windows 11 24H2
Motherboard: MSI Tomahawk Wifi AMD B650 So.AM5 ATX
CPU: Ryzen 7800X3D
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900XT 20GB (Speedster Merc 310)
RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) Trident Z5 NEO Expo RGB DDR5-6000 DIMM CL30-38-38-96 Dual Kit
NVMe SSD: 2TB WD Black SN850X M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3d-NAND TLC
PSU: 850 Watt Corsair RMx Series Modular 80+Gold Black Label
Main Monitor: AOC Q27G3XMN 1440p VA 180Hz
Side Monitor: AOC 27G2G4 1080p IPS 144Hz (set to 120Hz causing pixel lines)
Side Monitor Vertical: AOC 27G2G4 1080p IPS 144Hz (set to 120Hz for same issue)
Games tested:
- League of Legends
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Witcher 3
- Subnautica
- Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
- Overwatch 2 (BattlEye)
Help is greatly appreciated. I’m uncertain what to do next, but reinstalling Windows seems like a possibility. Before that, I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions.
For relevance, what BIOS version do you have for your motherboard? Use DDU to delete all GPU drivers (intel, Nvidia, AMD) in Safe Mode, then manually add the newest GPU driver from AMD's support site via an elevated command, such as right-clicking the installer and selecting Run as Administrator.
Out of curiosity, how old is the PSU in your build?
Thank you for the response! The version I use isn't very current, but I didn't realize it needed updating since my system was stable. It's running Version: E7D75AMS.174, which was installed on January 8th, 2023. I tried using DDU, but it didn't help. The PSU is about a year old and all the components were brand new when I built it—no parts came from an older system or were used. Something changed before I did the DDU process, though I don't know why. I recently played Witcher 3 again, and now everything works smoothly at Borderless with 144 fps capping and 180hz on my monitor. I didn't make any changes except that, but the problem still occurs in Monster Hunter (I didn't check others).
I have attempted to unplug the other two monitors, which are the 1080 monitors connected to the GPU. Now the problem seems to be resolved. It's helpful to understand where the issue originates, but I'm unsure about the cause since all displays are linked through a dp port. The only variation is that the two 1080p monitors use a third-party dp cable, whereas the factory cable was sufficient for the past five years. I tried different plug configurations and noticed:
- When three dp cables are connected or all monitors are plugged in, the issue occurs consistently.
- If two dp cables are used (main monitor 1440p with one other plugged in), it's like a coin flip—sometimes the problem appears, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does, it often resolves by rebooting or adjusting settings.
- When only the main 1440p monitor is connected, the issue disappears.
I’m unsure what this means and will consider switching one dp cable for HDMI if it helps, but I have no further guidance.