Microfreezing in driving games ONLY wtf?

I fired up my gaming PC to actually play games for the first time in months yesterday. I've only used it recently to use Mixcraft Studio 8 or remote into work. My daughter plays Sims 4 on it as well.

Specs:

i7 6700K 4.0Ghz
Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI motherboard
16Gb DDR4 RAM (Evo Potenza)
ASUS Dual GeForce 1060GTX 3Gb
480Gb aData SSD SATA3
750W Corsair PSU
Logitech G27 / XBox One joypad controller
Win 10 Pro up to date

I have 4 sound adapters (two really) which are:

1) M-Audio Audiophile 24 bit - which is only used for music/sound production
2) On board audio card
3) Sony Pulse headphones (USB out sound - used for gaming)
4) HDMI sound to the TV (disabled)

When I play games I usually play either with the on board audio or with the Sony Pulse wireless headphones which are USB so a separate adapter on their own.

I found that suddenly all the racing games I threw at it are microfreezing. Forza 7, Grid Autosport, any of the Dirt series, F1 2015 (the last one I bought...)

Strangely, I don't get microfreezing in any of the other games like MGS5, Resident Evil 7, Coaster Planet, The Sims 4, Bioshock and so on.

I'll get smooth gameplay for a few minutes then when I least expect it it will freeze a frame on me (sound continues normally) for about 0.5~1.5s or so, just enough for me to lose control of the car and hit a barrier or another car. Super annoying.

In game weather/atmospheric conditions have no effect as it will freeze in broad daylight sunny, rain, snow (Dirt...) , night, or whether there are fireworks or a helicopter, or a crowd.

I've noticed it only happens IN GAME, as in not in any of the cut-scenes, not while I watch a replay or during menu animations.

Things I tried so far (none worked) :

-Update all drivers including sound cards, graphics card, steering wheel...
-Switch between the various sound adapters to see if it made a difference (none)
-Tweak the graphics settings - for example I loathe motion blur so I disabled it, I played with the MSAA settings and lowered the quality to medium instead of ultra BUT I play on a 720p 50" TV with both other monitors turned off in the settings so the TV is my only display when I play, I should be able to play pretty much anything on full ultra at that resolution...
-I always play with all music off (bothers me) so that's not it although I haven't tried turning it on

WTF? Anyone have any ideas I might have missed? The one thing I haven't tried was to play with the XBox One controller instead of the steering wheel but I don't see how that would be relevant.

TIA

Have you tried playing with a xbox controller to see if the issue happens only when you have your G27 plugged in?

edit: saw your last line... I would try that and see what's going on, USB driver issues maybe?

That's my next step. Note that the G27 is always plugged in except when the rare times when I played Call of Duty (any of the PC games) because it messed up the control scheme when trying to "drive" any of the driveable gear like a tank or plane.

Thing that bothers me is that my "old" gaming PC (AMD FX series, 4Ghz, same OS, controller, amount of RAM, SSD but a Radeon 6770 graphics card) never microfroze once in driving games (it did stutter like a fucking machine gun when I played anything based on the Unreal or Half-Life Valve engines though...)

I'll try the controller tonight and report back.

Forza is cool BTW. Fun to play, not too much chit-chat unlike the Grid Autosport series which is also fun to play but the cut-scenes make me want to throw the TV across the room.

Did you try playing the game on lower graphic settings ? Who cares about which monitor you are using.

Also, did you try to monitor GPU usage and GPU températures when the stutter appears ?

Also, try playing with a single GPU configuration and see what happens.

Iv heard of micro freezing happening in gta5 if your ram is too slow. Game isnt able to render the map itself fast enough.

Reason i suspect this. Im assuming in dry conditions you get fastest lap times and put a higher stress on the game engine..

Whats your ram's speed and CL?

goshko said:

Did you try playing the game on lower graphic settings ? Who cares about which monitor you are using.

Also, did you try to monitor GPU usage and GPU températures when the stutter appears ?

Also, try playing with a single GPU configuration and see what happens.

Click to expand...

I did lower the settings, removed MSAA, lowered the particle effects quality and removed motion blur. No effect whatsoever.

It doesn't ALWAYS microfreeze - that's the thing. It's random, doesn't come in clusters. Sometimes it will microfreeze when there's a lot of action like at the start of a race or in a heated corner when I'm trying to outbrake an opponent, other times it will microfreeze when I'm on a straightaway on my own minding my own business.

I do wonder though - and I've not researched it - would modern GPUs be optimized for 1080p and not like running at 720p?

Jelly_Belly said:

Iv heard of micro freezing happening in gta5 if your ram is too slow. Game isnt able to render the map itself fast enough.

Reason i suspect this. Im assuming in dry conditions you get fastest lap times and put a higher stress on the game engine..

Whats your ram's speed and CL?

Click to expand...

It's literally this kit:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_1326&item_id=098616

Taken from the box:



I'm thinking it's somehow related to the wheel. I will test with the Xbone controller and report back later tonight.

Est-ce que tu joues avec clavier/souris ou une manette ou volant/pédale?!

K well its not your ram. Thats for sure. Drivers are up to date which would be my #1 suspect....

Any luck with xbox controller?

Haven't tried last night. Got home late, made pasta sauce, bread, by the time I was done I was also tired. Tonight I have a dentist appointment so prolly not. FML...


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Ptete le ssd? J'avais des stutters dans les jeux de valve (csgo) avec mon vieux intel. Jai fait le switch avec un samsung et pu aucun problemes de stutter

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Flat said:

Ptete le ssd? J'avais des stutters dans les jeux de valve (csgo) avec mon vieux intel. Jai fait le switch avec un samsung et pu aucun problemes de stutter

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Click to expand...

C'est pas du stutter - c'est du microfreeze. L'image gele pendant une seconde.

lord_galathon said:

C'est pas du stutter - c'est du microfreeze. L'image gele pendant une seconde.

Click to expand...

Its so weird.... i dont understand why its only in racing games... do you play gta5? Does it free in gta5 races?

Only thing i can think of is that its the wheel as thats only thing that changes when you play racing games. But then you said drivers are up to date!! What about pedals?

Sorry for double post. I cant edit post on mobile for some reason.

I meant "does it freeze in gta5 races"

I don't play GTA. Doesn't microfreeze in any other games but racing.

It does NOT freeze when I play Rocket League but then I use an XBONE controller.

I also think the issue is the wheel. I will report back once I test out Forza7 and/or Grid Racedriver with the XBONE controller and the wheel unplugged.

Reminds me of me when I drink.

I can drink anything from milk to juice to coffee to beer to wine to scotch to absinthe - no problem.

When I drink normal fucking water I will automatically choke on the first gulp.

3GB de VRAM c'est vraiment pas assez, sur la 1060 3gb a ma blonde sa faisait sa aussi dans certains jeux. (sauf que moi c'etait 1080p)

Wally West said:

3GB de VRAM c'est vraiment pas assez, sur la 1060 3gb a ma blonde sa faisait sa aussi dans certains jeux. (sauf que moi c'etait 1080p)

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OK mais pourquoi juste les jeux de course? J'ai zero microfreeze dans les autres jeux que je joue sur le PC... J'ai fini MGS5 a 2K res tout a Ultra sur le meme PC avec tres peu de lag et pas de microfreeze ou stutter.

Je suspecte encore le volant/pedales mais j'attends d'avoir le temps de tester avec la manette Xbone pour confirmer. Peut-etre ce soir si j'arrive de bonheur a la maison, hier je suis arrive tard encore une fois.

lord_galathon said:

OK mais pourquoi juste les jeux de course? J'ai zero microfreeze dans les autres jeux que je joue sur le PC... J'ai fini MGS5 a 2K res tout a Ultra sur le meme PC avec tres peu de lag et pas de microfreeze ou stutter.

Je suspecte encore le volant/pedales mais j'attends d'avoir le temps de tester avec la manette Xbone pour confirmer. Peut-etre ce soir si j'arrive de bonheur a la maison, hier je suis arrive tard encore une fois.

Click to expand...

Mind you mgs5 very well optimized.. vram is a possibility. But id expect it to lag on all games where hes not up to spec. Not just racing games..

lord_galathon said:

OK mais pourquoi juste les jeux de course? J'ai zero microfreeze dans les autres jeux que je joue sur le PC... J'ai fini MGS5 a 2K res tout a Ultra sur le meme PC avec tres peu de lag et pas de microfreeze ou stutter.

Je suspecte encore le volant/pedales mais j'attends d'avoir le temps de tester avec la manette Xbone pour confirmer. Peut-etre ce soir si j'arrive de bonheur a la maison, hier je suis arrive tard encore une fois.

Click to expand...

generallement Stutter=RAM/VRAM dans la tapis ou le jeux est mal optimiser pour le CPU et il load 1 core. Forza c'est optimiser jusqu'a 60fps, apres sa sa fait dure.

Wally West said:

generallement Stutter=RAM/VRAM dans la tapis ou le jeux est mal optimiser pour le CPU et il load 1 core. Forza c'est optimiser jusqu'a 60fps, apres sa sa fait dure.

Click to expand...

Wait. En HAUT de 60FPS ca fait dur?

Je me demande si l'engine est pareil pour Grid Autosport.

Si c'est le cas je vais checker s'il y a un FPS limit dans les settings des deux avant de debrancher mon cockpit.

lord_galathon said:

Wait. En HAUT de 60FPS ca fait dur?

Je me demande si l'engine est pareil pour Grid Autosport.

Si c'est le cas je vais checker s'il y a un FPS limit dans les settings des deux avant de debrancher mon cockpit.

Click to expand...

Ce que je veux dire pour Forza est que beaucoup de hardware est capable d'avoir le 60fps, facile, mais en haut de sa la difficulter devient exponentiel.
GTA en haut de 170FPS sa stutter en maudit
Si ta un TV 60HZ, aucune raison de pas mettre le VSYNC, même chose pour ton écran.