Build Advice New powerful mini ITX config Stuttering a lot in games

Hello guys, so 2013 is my year of mini ITX gaming pc. I made a new config with the following spec:

MB: New coming Asus Maximus VI Impact
CPU: Intel i5 4670K
GPU: MSI TF GTX 760 OC
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8G 1600
CPU cooler: Corsair H80i
PSU: Seasonic X serie 650
SSD: Samsung Pro 840 128G
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1T
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy white

So the installation was not easy, but I finally managed to install all carefully. I made a super clean windows 7 ultimate 64 bit installation and installed all driver correctly.

The cpu doesn't seem to be hot, since the temperature is around 28°C idle, and 35-40°C playing ultra settings games like Batman arkham city, diablo 3 and starcraft 2. The only problem is this annoying stuttering. It happens in Diablo 3 and arkham city. The game suffer from micro freeze every 20-30 sec, and this is very annoying for my gaming experience. The graphic settings are all maxed off in both game.

So what do you think about this issue and which component could be the source of the problem? Thank you very much in advance. Regards.

 

Hmm. Have you tried lowering the settings slightly to see if the stuttering stops? Also, have you installed the latest drivers for your graphics card? If you have and it still seems to be stuttering, just try a set of older drivers. Some older drivers can be more stable.

 

What about the gpu temperature?
Also agree on the drivers, try and older version.

 

What res are you trying to game at?

Have you tried to stress test the gpu at all yet? Run something like Furmark to get an idea as to what sort of temps your card is running up to.

 

Hi thank you for your replies. Yes i installed the latest driver of 760 GTX, the 320.46 i think from nvidia siteweb. I played at 1080p, with every setting maxed out. I thought that which such as a powerful card, i can at least run games like starcraft or diablo with max detail. If i cannot, i would be disappointed with this card.

I made yesterday a benchmark test with Heaven 4.0, and the score was a little poor since i had better score with my 7870 last year. Here is the score of the testUnigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0

FPS:
30.9
Score:
780
Min FPS:
16.8
Max FPS:
71.3
System

Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7600) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz (3405MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 9.18.13.2049 (2048MB) x1
Settings

Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme

 

I'm playing Diablo3 on the system in my signature. No stuttering on max settings whatsoever.

Might be, that the components you chose don't like each other too much... that's why I'm staying with Gigabyte (board+GPU) and Kingston RAM for the last few years. Didn't had any problems there for the last 10 years with that combination.

My guess would be either the RAM doesn't go too well with your board or that the GPU has a little itch.

 

Test your SSD to see if there's an issue.
Try a force-update of DirectX from Microsoft.

 

That Heaven 4.0 score is way too low for your rig. Something definitely not right there.

 

Older drivers. Smash the **** out of the gpu using firmark for a burn in test and see what happens. Try 760 in some one else's rig. Use less aa. Make sure to look out for BIOS updates for brand new mobo...

 

Sounds like the GPU is throttling. I'd say either that or the CPU (to which a re-seat of the heatsink would have been worth a go), but the temps look fine for that.
Try MSI Afterburner and downclock the card a little... or monitor the graphs and see if they dip after you notice the stuttering.

 

I checked through my results and I scored this with one 670 and a 8320.



That was set to Extreme HD with 8xAA. So his score isn't a million miles from where it should be.

Ed. My card is overclocked quite aggresively out of the box. It boosts to 1100 mhz IIRC.

Ed 2. Even though it says I have X2 cards one is disabled. Here was the run with SLI running.

 

Hi, I thought that the GTX 760 should perform same as the old gtx 670. Here is my clock and the temperature after 2 hours of diablo 3 with highest detail.

 

The 760 will not perform the same as a 670 unless you overclock it much farther in MHZ terms.

The 760 is a cut down 670 as Nvidia wanted to make the cap between it and the 770 bigger than before.

What I mean is with the 670 and 680 the 680 wasn't even worth having as there was so little in it. So they boosted up the 680 to make the 770 and cut down the 670 to make the 760 so that it wouldn't hurt the 770 sales.

Nvidia and AMD do that stuff all the time. The 7950 can clock up and go as fast as the 7970 too. It's only recently where the prices have dropped that the top end counterparts are worth having tbh.

Your stuttering could be down to drivers. Older games for me with modern drivers have issues. Fallout 3 for example. If I enable SLI the screen strobes.

 

You really need to be running Realtemp and such before you start playing. The stats are not retroactive.
From what I can see, you've had Realtemp running for 16 seconds - afterburner a little longer.
For all we know from that screenshot your CPU could be hitting max temp and throttling... which would certainly cause a problem like you are having.

Grab Intel Burn Test to stress your CPU.

Also get Furmark to test your GPU.

I wouldn't advise testing both at once. One after the other with screenshots before you start each test and after you end each would be a good idea.

If you aren't sure how to use the linked tools, please ask.

 

I hate to go there, because there be dragons, but a BIOS update might be the next port of call.

Asus are up to BIOS version 0404; flash that in, if you're brave enough. This is exactly the kind of new-hardware elusive ******** symptom I would expect to be resolved by a BIOS update (my mum had similarly elusive symptoms in her Clarkdale build - which was fairly new hardware at the time - until she had someone do a BIOS flash.)

 

Hi thank you very much. Good advice. I will try them. Which settings do you think i should go with Furmark? Everything max? Thank you

 

Honestly, the default settings will be fine.
I'm still mostly interested in what your CPU is doing, though

 

I had a similar issue when I had power settings (EIST, C1E etc.) enabled on my 4770K and when I was benchmarking a GTX770 and a HD7950. The scores were very erratic and it made sense as the CPU dropped into a low power state when it was a more graphically intensive part, but that obviously hinders the GPU when that happens.

It may be worth turning off the power saving settings and seeing if the issue remains.

 

Here you go. Before cpu test->after->before gpu test->after











Also by the way, I updated my bios from older version to the new Asus Maximus VI Impact 0404