Windows 7 Keep getting stutters in games

[redwing634]

I have a very new system in terms of hardware (6950 graphics, Core i5 processor, 8GB DDR3 RAM, etc), yet I get consistent stuttering in games. By stutter, I mean a 3-5 second freeze, that happens every few minutes. These only started up about 2 months ago (have had the computer for about 8 months).

The odd thing though, is that when I leave the computer on for a long time, and have run a number of programs/games already, the stuttering disappears. It only really shows up after I freshly restart the computer. When I put the computer to sleep (even for many many hours) instead of shutting it down, I don't have the stuttering when I bring it back awake, like I would if I had shut it down/ started it up.

Any idea what could be causing this?

 

[Jimbo22]

This could be any number of things...from drivers to software conflicts to virus, malware and spyware infections or just an over cluttered hard drive. I would start with by checking your system for infections, if any is found clean and remove. Then I would check for any MS updates, following up with any software/hardware updates including drivers for hardware, especially for your GPU. Then defrag hard drive. Then we can go from there.

 

[redwing634]

This could be any number of things...from drivers to software conflicts to virus, malware and spyware infections or just an over cluttered hard drive

I should've commented on these things in the OP. Drivers are all up to date, and I've swept for spyware/malware with nothing found. This is a rather new computer so I don't have much on it aside from the basics + games. More than enough hard drive space as well.

. I would start with by checking your system for infections, if any is found clean and remove. Then I would check for any MS updates, following up with any software/hardware updates including drivers for hardware, especially for your GPU. Then defrag hard drive. Then we can go from there.

Unfortunately I've done everything you've suggested and none of it worked. Drivers are all current, Windows updates are all current, and hard drive has been defrag'd.

 

[Pauli]

A simple thing could be that your pc hasn't started "all the way", but there are still parts to be started = a lag. What I mean is, if you immediately start a game after the desktop has appeared, parts of your system may still be on their way to start. Don't know, but give it some, say, 5 minutes, before you start a game.

I warned you: a simple thing, this was.

 

[redwing634]

A simple thing could be that your pc hasn't started "all the way", but there are still parts to be started = a lag. What I mean is, if you immediately start a game after the desktop has appeared, parts of your system may still be on their way to start. Don't know, but give it some, say, 5 minutes, before you start a game.

I warned you: a simple thing, this was.

That does make sense, but after like 30-60minutes its still having the stutter, which seems silly. I have my OS on 120GB SSD, and my games on a 1TB hard drive. If that matters.

 

[Pauli]

redwing, it certainly matters. I went over to SSD, and starting my computer it only takes 20 seconds for the whole system to be ready. Have to look into the matter, sorry if I "bothered" you. Cheers, m8.

 

[Highwayman]

I'd then thinking along the lines of more physical issues, like a physical error check on HD with all options ticked (1tb would take about 3 hours to do this test on reboot), also look as heat issues with cpu /gpu, see if they need cleaning out with compressed air, run some monitoring tools to see if heat is causing spikes.

Another common mistake is running the game with too high settings for the GPU, use a tool like MSI free Afterburner to monitor the GPU memory use etc to see if you are bottlenecking due to having AA enabled in game or textures to high etc.

I'd also suggest turning off sleep and hibernate features... you don't need them at all with a SSD, and prehaps create a custom power management profile for gaming that sets all resource to maximum without any power throttling, and if that doesnt work disable the system page file (again this should really be off anyway if you have a SSD OS drive), with 8gb it's never likely to be needed and can cause freeze ups in games.

 

[redwing634]

I'd also suggest turning off sleep and hibernate features... you don't need them at all with a SSD, and prehaps create a custom power management profile for gaming that sets all resource to maximum without any power throttling, and if that doesnt work disable the system page file (again this should really be off anyway if you have a SSD OS drive), with 8gb it's never likely to be needed and can cause freeze ups in games.

See I've been actively utilizing the sleep feature to keep the stuttering issue from coming back up. If I put the PC to sleep instead of shutting it down, I dont get the issue. This isn't actually BAD for the SSD.. right? (putting it to sleep all the time instead of shutting down)