# Stutter in all games



## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

Hello, i have finally come here for some final help, im at my complete wits end. in all my games, i have a form of stutter, in which during movement scenery etc looks like it skips, maybe frame skip (macro-stutter)? im not sure but its some kind of stutter. i've searched the web for countless hours and no luck, 
can anyone make any suggestions to fix this? im soo annoyed because of the length of this problem, 

also i have swapped out my HD6950 for my old GTX 460, the problem persists, i just installed a new WD caviar green from a samsung spinpoint F1 and the problem is still there. i recently also changed my mobo to the MSi G41, from my old G31 with 4 GB of DDR2. any help means a world to me!

Specs (as far as i know) 

GigaByte HD6950 1GB (and 1GB GTX 460 spare) 
antec truepower 650w 
MSi G41 chipset
Q8300 Quad cpu @ 2.50ghz 
Corsair 8GB DDR3 RAM 
WD Caviar Green 750GB


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## BottleSheep (Dec 28, 2011)

Have you updated your drivers? If not, then do so. 

This could also be an effect of your card overclocked too high. This once happened to me on a 5770, then I lowered my clocks. Everything went great. I don't know how that works, but I'm glad it worked for me and I hope it works for you too. Good day!


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

ive updated them, formatted with fresh install than newest drivers, and i havent overclocked my card, its a factory overclock so its definitely stable, but i will try underclocking i guess.


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## fel1x (Jan 23, 2011)

operating system?
stutter often caused by intel speed stepping, try turning it off


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

its Win7 home 64bit, intel speed stepping? where would i find that?


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## BottleSheep (Dec 28, 2011)

Is this a new system? There might be bottleneck issues because you're using a Core2Quad.. which is the last generation before Core i3,i5,or i7. GTX 460 / HD6950 is a great card, 8GB of RAM suits it. Try overclocking CPU?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

its not a new system, it only started happening about a month after i got the HD6950, it was smooth, ran great, then the stutters suddenly just came :/


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

bump, i needs help


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## fel1x (Jan 23, 2011)

start type dxdiag right click run as admin then run 64 bit diagnosis

any issues there post back

500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended

is it all connected properly?

http://www.playtool.com/pages/troubleshooting/intro.html have a read

"then the stutters suddenly just came" what have you installed since?? ie before stutters? have you defragged?

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/ top solutions then performance


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

dxdiag states no faults found, i got 650W so thats all good, im sure its connected all properly, ive swapped between my GTx 460 and HD6950 many times to test for card problems, yet they still persist.
ive defragged, reformatted ( along with fresh install), also nothing on the microsofts fix it helped :/


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

How much cpu does your task manager say is being used while you are gaming? Is this video stutter present any other time besides when you are gaming?

If this has just started out of nowhere then I recommend doing a thorough sweep of your HD with Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware as this sounds like either a critical hardware issue or an infection of some type.

The type of lag you are referring to is generally caused by an overworked cpu or a lack of RAM which can be indicative of an IRQ conflict, failing cpu core/RAM or virus/spyware.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

im doing a thorough check of my system with avast now, but i dont know how spyware/virus would get through after a fresh install of windows? after that i'll check cpu usage, i also think that any video i watch has it as well, youtube videos look a bit jittery in the same fashion as my games.

-the 8Gb of DDR3 RAM i got is brand new so i doubt it would be a lack of and/ or failing.
i'll post back when ive tested with task manager


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## BottleSheep (Dec 28, 2011)

AMD cards could be unstable sometimes. Room temps affect the temp of your system. I've had micro-stuttering problems too after a few months of playing with my 5770. It's okay now tho.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

it also happens with my GTX 460 though :/


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

my cpu usage is normal, playing crysis 2 on ultra is around 30-70% depending on whats happening, so now what?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

mini_cola I had a problem very similar to this with youtube videos and other video sites which turned out that I was using the wrong version of my codecs, I was using the 32-bit version of my codecs instead of the 64-bit for my 64-bit version of windows.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

codecs would affect games? also the stuttering is slightly less noticable on lower resolutions, my current is 1920x1080


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

Codecs shouldn't affect games really, but you mentioned you were having issues when watching videos online which codecs can affect. It's likely not a codec issue, but better to be safe than sorry.

As far as fixing the rest of your problem, try the steps on this page: http://www.playtool.com/pages/troubleshooting/intro.html

Let me know what you come up with.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

followed the steps, mainly didnt really apply or i had already done it, i tried a new chipset driver, thats helped a little bit :L


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

So you ran MemTest86 and Prime95 both and checked your power supply...?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

no i havent? but doesnt memtest86 test RAM? i'll try prime95 later  whats it do?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

All 3 of those steps were listed on the page that you said you tried and that none of those things applied to you...

memtest86 does indeed test your ram as described here: http://www.playtool.com/pages/memtest/memtest.html
and prime95 tests cpu stress levels under load as described here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html

And finally you will want to check your PSU as described below:
Fix #9: check your power supply

An overtaxed power supply can cause many different video card problems. Unfortunately, power supply problems can also be extremely difficult to diagnose. The best way to be sure that the power supply is not causing problems is to swap in a known-good high-end power supply. For most folks that's not a realistic option. You may also be able to recognize a power supply problem by checking whether the voltages are in range. The easy way to check voltages is using a motherboard monitoring utility which came with your computer or motherboard. These utilities can check things like the power supply voltages, internal temperatures, and fan speeds. If you have such a utility then check that the voltages are where they belong. If you don't have a motherboard utility then you can try SpeedFan, SensorsView, or Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, some motherboards don't measure their own voltages very accurately. To get an accurate voltage reading on those motherboards requires opening up the computer and checking the voltages with a voltmeter. If you happen to be enough of an electronics geek to own one then you can get an accurate reading that way. Otherwise you can resort to using the motherboard utilities. There are three main voltage values to check: 3.3 volts, 5 volts, and 12 volts. According to the official specification all three of those voltages must be within 5 percent. But in real life it's better if they are closer than that. So 3.3 volts should be between 3.2 to 3.4 volts. 5 volts should be from about 4.8 to 5.2 and 12 volts should be from 11.6 to 12.4. If the voltages are outside of that range, it's not proof of a power supply problem but it's not good. Some video cards tolerate voltages which are off better than others. With most new video cards, the 12 volt value is the one which is most likely to cause problems. If the 12 volt value suddenly drops when you start up a 3D game, that's a bad sign. But ultimately, the only way to know for sure that a power supply is the cause of your problems is to have the problems disappear after swapping in a better supply.

These may or may not be the problem, but being that you have swapped video cards, hard drives and motherboards, it would seem that these would be your best options remaining to check.

Also, (I probably should have asked this sooner) are these "stutters" present when playing local games and videos or only when you are watching/playing something online...? If all of these problems are occurring only when on-line then you may have a faulty lan/ethernet card, router, modem or faulty wiring between yourself and your isp hub...


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

well, i did just about all all the things on that link, i ran memtest a while back on my old RAM, and they were fine, but i just upgraded to 8Gb of DDR3 literally 2 weeks ago, so i didnt bother to run memtest due to new RAM not solving it, but i didnt see prime95 in the link, must of overscanned it :L 

and the stutter is singleplayer and multiplayer, its like a frame skips every now and again (depending on game, how much it happens, half life original gameplay is literally like every 2 frames is missed so you "skip" through the game)

its not internet related, i'll look at some of those utilities to measure power


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i did prime95 and no errors came about, but my cpu did hit about 72*C after about 10 minutes of full out testing, i'll look at sensorsview or similiar later for voltage checks


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

melanie-Amaro said:


> Need Help
> My old laptop has been having a stuttering problem with games for a couple of years now. Itll stutter for around five seconds, run smooth for around ten seconds, stutter again for five, run smooth for ten. Itll keep doing that until I stop playing and close the game. It doesnt start doing the stutter the second I start the game, itll start maybe around five minutes into the game and not quit its pattern. It doesnt matter what game, how old it is, it does this to all.
> 
> It also does this while watching online videos. I cant watch anything on, for example, Hulu, or Gametrailers, without it doing the same stutter pattern.
> ...


Please post system specs/dx diag and have you tried the steps already mentioned in this thread?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

mini_cola said:


> i did prime95 and no errors came about, but my cpu did hit about 72*C after about 10 minutes of full out testing, i'll look at sensorsview or similiar later for voltage checks


Oh wow, 72*c is bad... Is this a custom build or factory build? Check your heat sink, thermal paste, cpu and gpu fans. And still check your PSU.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

its a custom build, i recently put a new mobo in (means changing cpu over) so i might have put the thermal paste on a bit badly, but thats not the cause, because the stuttering appeared before, the motherboard swap was to try and stop stutter, + new DDR3 was to be installed aswell  im gonna check psu now


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

sensorsview pro isnt picking up my fans or voltage? what to do or other software?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

mini_cola said:


> sensorsview pro isnt picking up my fans or voltage? what to do or other software?


Try SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php if SpeedFan doesn't pick them up crack the case and make sure your fans are connected to the motherboard.

For your voltage head into your BIOS and look for "hardware monitor" or something similar and look for your voltages in your BIOS.

Alternatively if you have your own voltmeter, you can crack the case and do the readings yourself.

Also, if you have a power supply that is known to be in working order (i.e brand new or working just fine on a high-end gaming system, etc...) you can swap the PSU out and see if it fixes the problem.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i looked through speedfan, its measures my voltages and +12v rail is aparently hovering around 10.6?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

Well, I would prefer the voltage readings from a volt/multi-meter or from the BIOS readings as SpeedFan may not be entirely accurate on voltage, but IF SpeedFan is correct (and I wouldn't trust SpeedFan too much on voltages, what I mainly wanted to see is if SF sees your fans and also what temps are you getting with SF, sorry I should have mentioned that in my previous reply) then that is bad. 12V rail should be between 11.4 and 12.6

My advice would be to go and get some thermal paste for your heat-sink if SF confirms your temps are high, check your fans to make sure they are connected to the motherboard if SF isn't reading them (check them anyway to make sure they're snugly fit) and as someone who's going to do custom builds, upgrade and repair your own system I highly recommend having your owndigital (or analog, I prefer analog but most people prefer the 
"user-friendly" digital interface) multi-meter, if you can afford it get yourself any Fluke brand multimeter, if not then head to Radio Shack and tell them you need a multimeter appropriate for working on pc's.

But for the time being what are the voltage readings from your BIOS? And bear in mind that even if the voltages are ok in the BIOS that does not mean that they are ok when the system is under heavy load (i.e. playing a game or watching a movie...).


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i'll go grab some more thermal paste and reapply, SF does pick up my fans and temps, later on i'll look into the bios for a voltage check  
thanks so far.


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

No problem, always happy to help when I can. I've had my fair share of computer frustrations, lol...


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

my mobo is showing 11.968v on my 12v rail, now what?


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## osteen-j (Jan 11, 2012)

Hello everyone, I hope somebody techsavy enough can help me here.
I build a PC last summer and since then, I always experience some little stutter in nearly every games I played. The stuttering is more like little frame skipping when I move the mouse around, it is really annoying and bugging me out. Games never feel smooth, even if they run at 60-100 fps. It is not frame rate drops, I monitor it with fraps. Last week I bought a Gtx 570 in hope to clear that issue, but it didn't change anything ( I had a 5850 before ). Of course I did all the elementary steps and tried everything, testing all video options in both nvidia control panel and in-game. Even at very low settings games still have this little frameskipping/stuttering problem when I look around.
Since a new videocard didn't change anything, I suspect the problem comes from the CPU/Mobo/Ram/HDD but I don't know how to test that, and I don't have access to spare pieces.
Heres is my actual setup :
- Windows 7 64 bit
- Motherboard : M4a785 TD V EVO
- Amd phenom II x4 955 BE
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK
- GIGABYTE GV-N570OC-13I Rev2.0 GeForce GTX 570 
- Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 
- HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.C 0F10383 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 
- Monitor : Benq G2420HD
Of course I tried with different drivers versions also, and I cleaned them properly with driver sweeper, etc etc.
For example, I can run Battlefield 3 at high/ultra settings with an average of 40-50 fps depending of the maps, but it doesn't feel smooth at all, I can notice the frame skipping when looking around. I played in the BIOS to deactivate the cool'n'quiet feature and disable the onboard video card, but it didn't change anything. I also defragmented my HDD several times, unplugged and plugged back the ram sticks, monitored the performances using MSI afterburner, GPU-z, cpu-z, etc, nothing seems anormal.
So I would appreciate if someone could help me with that, since I'm too much annoyed by this frameskipping to enjoy any videogames on my PC, which should be able to run them smoothly.
Thanks for your time.
Edit : Vsync/triple buffering / etc doesn't change anything. Like I said, I tweaked all the video settings and it don't change anything, I'm pretty confident it is not a gpu problem. Also, when I watch movies, when there's camera panning or horizontal (or vertical) movement, I can see the same kind of stuttering. Also my computer is clean, I don't have any malwares or virus, and windows run the minimal number of processes in the background.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

you have the same problem as me, ive swapped out my entire pc but cpu, psu and dvd drive


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i downloaded, HWmonitor, that reads me 12v rail at 14.17v! 
now i dont think my psu is the problem, mobo says 11.9, speedfan say 10.6 and now HWmonitor with 14.17, so i think its the mobos one, which is fine, so i only have my cpu left, but i dont know why my cpu would cause stutter


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

bump? im really tearing my hair out on this


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

mini_cola said:


> bump? im really tearing my hair out on this


I feel pretty confident that your issue here is the high cpu core temp. Apply thermal paste (go liquid cooling if you need to) and see if that fixes your problem. Your cpu over heating will cause frame-skip under load.


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

osteen-j - Have you been through all the steps already mentioned in this thread?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

how much thermal paste should i apply? apparently the size of a pea is good?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

This article covers applying thermal paste in pretty good detail: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_install_cpu_and_apply_thermal_paste

Let me know your results


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

my thermal paste should arrive by wednesday, its just i live in the country side, so i cant just go and grab some :L


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

I was born and spent a good portion of my life in Pennsylvania so I can relate, I remember having to drive 30 minutes minimum to the nearest store, lol...


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

put new thermal paste in, temps are lower  though it still stutters


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

Ok, so you've updated your drivers, swapped your ram, hard drives, motherboards, gpu's, we've confirmed that your fans are plugged in, your BIOS says your voltages are good, memtest86 and Prime95 came back all clear, we've got your temps lowered...

I'm sure you did and I should have asked this sooner but you have scanned this system for viruses/malware right? 

The only possible problems I can think of are that your PSU readings in your BIOS may be off and maybe the PSU is the problem or there's a problem with the cpu or a problem with the gpu's expansion slot itself.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i think the psu is likely here now, but i'll have to wait to test that with another. or it could be my cpu  the pci-e slot is fine because it happened on my old board aswell  i'll just have to wait then... sorry for my langauge but OMG, this ****ing sucks D:


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

No need to apologize to me, I understand the frustration and have uttered a few expletives myself in a quest to fix a pc problem, lol... I'll keep thinking on it, I can't shake the feeling that there's something I'm not considering.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

got any ideas, i disabled HPET again but that made no difference, i looked up some stuff with it and found a 'C6' or something like that, what is it?

EDIT: i found that the stutter is also present during normal pc usage, such as moving my mouse across the screen, it does it, so is scrolling pages etc, its all jumpy, which is what the stutter is like 
this help anyone knowing it happens ALL the time D:


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

C6 is a power saving feature (also known as deep power down). When your computer enters c6 state it saves the cpu architectural state in a special static RAM that is fed from an independent power source, C6 then drops the cpu voltage to "0" and your computer enters "sleep" mode.

I have seen other cases on the internet where people have had problems with HPET and C6 slowing down their system dramatically (even just desktop activity) and causing frame skip, though I have no experience with this issue first-hand.. 

C6 is not vital to the system and can be disabled if you would like to try disabling it to see if it will fix your problem (this is done from your BIOS).

Let me know what results you come up with.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

i went into BIOS, i searched up and down, yet i couldnt find any 'C6' or 'deep power down' setting anywhere :S where in a BIOS would i want to dig at?


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## c4n10 (Dec 30, 2011)

It should be under "Advanced CPU Features" or something similar. Hard to say because I don't know what BIOS you have. BIOS programs differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.

For the time being try to look for something along the lines of "Advanced CPU Features" and I will try to research your specific system's BIOS settings.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

ive been looking, still haven't found it, the closest i found was 'C1E', any idea?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

bump


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## Skivvywaver (Mar 18, 2001)

Turning off C1E disables intel's speed step. Your CPU will run at it's highest mhz all the time.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

still have it


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

1) Did you do a clean install of windows after you changed the motherboard?
2) Is this your mobo http://www.msi.com/product/mb/G41M-P23.html#/?div=Basic?
3) What was the the brand and model of the RAM that you put in?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

mine is the p25, i put some corsair RAM in there, i think it was there value stuff, so not so brill, and i did do a fresh install.

im thinking of selling off the parts and buying a new pc, since this pc is literally new parts bundled together :L


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

It's a lot easier to work on these machines if you have spare parts to change out to test with. Can be frustrating. The value RAM should be Ok as long as it was DDR3 800/1066.


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

1066, its good


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## Skivvywaver (Mar 18, 2001)

I just went through a day yesterday. My video cards and my soundblaster xfi card decided not to play well together. I was getting stuttering in older THX based games that couldn't be believed. Turning crossfire off did nothing. I did notice that before the stuttering would start that my audio would garble. I could watch video, listen to music, run benches till the cows come home and it wouldn't happen. In game...booommm!

Pulled my sound card and went to onboard (this board has decent onboard sound) and the problem is gone. Guess I had a conflict going on?


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## mini_cola (Dec 27, 2011)

hey guys, i know its been a while, but i managed to get my hands on a GTX 480 the other day, and that hasnt solved the stutter aswell, do you think i should get an i5 2500k? i think the cpu is bottlenecking and thats the stuttering problem?


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

I would suspect your CPU personally. if it's not processing the data/commands it may be the reason for stuttering, however a conflict like Skivvy mention is a not-far off probability either


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## FDB (May 19, 2012)

Basically I just registered here because I'm going through the same exact problem 'mini_cola' was dealing with, and I even have pretty similar specs.

I don't know if this guy's still around but I found out that I stop having the issue when I disconnect from the Internet, whether I do it by unpluggin my router, or through any other way.

I also didn't use to have this problem until a few weeks ago, and then overnight it started doing it... although it only happens with games. Not on Youtube (nor streaming videos in general), not on Windows itself.

BTW:
*System Specs:*
MOTHERBOARD: *Gigabyte P55A-UD3P.*
PROCESSOR: *Intel i7 @ 2.80 GHz.*
RAM: *4GB DDR3, OCZ REAPER.*
VGA: *ATI RADEON XFX 6870 HD.*
OS: *Windows 7 x64.*


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