In game stuttering / unstable framerate

[8MadDog8]

Hey guys,

I have had a bit of a search for this problem, but i havent been able to come up with anything so far.

Basically i got some new games (the steam potato sack pack ) and when playing a few i get some in-game stuttering.

Two that i can think of is when i play 'super meat boy' or 'the ball', my framerate will spike between 50 to 60 fps.

Basically watching it on fraps it looks like:

______/\______/\______/\______/\______

(pretty much sits on a constant 50fps but then jumps up to 60 every couple of seconds)

Im running the 2 280s in SLI, but i have also tried just running with one, but this makes no difference.
Have tried 266.58 whql and 270.51 beta drivers but with no luck (win7 x64).

Has anyone ever come across a problem like this? Or found a solution?

Is there any settings that i can change for each game in the nvidia control panel that may help?

Any help is appreciated, as its pretty hard to play a fast paced game like SMB when your framerate jumps around. Kinda stumped that it occurs in at least two completely different games as well.

[Ashpool]

do you actually notice it?

[8MadDog8]

Originally Posted by Ashpool

do you actually notice it?

Yeah it is quite noticable.

When the change in framerate occurs there will be a slight pause in the game. Sort of hard to explain, but when the fps spikes, the game will skip a little.

Makes it very annoying in SMB when you are running along, it will pause for a microsecond and then you will be a couple of cm from where you were last (if you know what i mean), especially when you are tying to time jumps perfectly.
Same kind of thing happens in 'the ball', its as if the frame freezes for a tiny second and then jumps ahead a little when it catches up.

[snappy1]

What % of ram is used when it is stuttering?

[flu!d]

What games exactly?

[iNoob]

Enabled vsync?

[8MadDog8]

Cheers for the input guys.

Originally Posted by snappy1

What % of ram is used when it is stuttering?

Im not sure, will have to look tonight. But im fairly certain its not anywhere near 100%

Originally Posted by flu!d

What games exactly?

Super Meat Boy and The Ball

These are the only games i have come across so far that do it, but i will check more tonight.
I can play other games and i dont get this problem, eg. TF2

Originally Posted by iNoob

Enabled vsync?

Yeah VSYNC is enabled by default by the games. I have tried turning it off in SMB (using nvidia control panel) but it stuffs with the game big time (it needs it)

[8MadDog8]

Just an update, i tried most of my other games and the same thing occurs.....

Same thing happens in COD:BO, TF2, Fallout 3.... The framerate will jump between 50-60 fps, and when this happens, there will be a slight amount of lag.
I originally didnt notice it in TF2 as i play with vsync off and therefore the framerate is 100-200, but when its on it will sit on about 50-55 fps and then jump to 60 every couple of seconds.

I just reinstalled the 266.58 drivers, using driver sweeper to do a full uninstall.
Also tried running just one monitor, but this also made no difference.

Could it be related to VSYNC?

So if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated as this is starting to become very annoying!

Edit:
Not sure if this makes any difference, but i just tried super meat boy and put it in windowed mode (still at same res) and the framerate stayed pretty much at a constant 60fps, none of the spiking. Not sure what this means though....

[Barnzz]

I know how you feel(refer to the end pages of NVIDIA 590/580/etc thread for my issues)....your issue is mild compared to what im getting though, you think 60fps to 50fps is bad, contemplate 200+fps down to 40fps that i get in TF2 with xfire 6970's in eyefinity. Wish i could help but I cant help myself atm.

[flu!d]

A drop of 10fps may not be abnormal?!

Are you sure it's an issue before you go chasing a diagnosis? It may just be different loadings on the system while you are playing the game and quite normal?

The other thing to consider is the fact that such non main stream games may not support SLi correctly, although that doesn't explain TF2....

[Barnzz]

Originally Posted by 8MadDog8

Edit:
Not sure if this makes any difference, but i just tried super meat boy and put it in windowed mode (still at same res) and the framerate stayed pretty much at a constant 60fps, none of the spiking. Not sure what this means though....

Theres a chance that SLi is not being utilised in windowed mode that could be whats going on there, you'd have to check. But I just ran TF2 in windowed mode and I get the same thing, no stuttering but Xfire doesnt seem to work. I read on another forum that Sli can be hit and miss in windowed mode, sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt, I dont have an NVIDIA setup myself to test.

[8MadDog8]

Thanks for the input guys. I think i might have to a few more tests and see if i can narrow it down any further....

Originally Posted by flu!d

A drop of 10fps may not be abnormal?!

It is when it didnt used to do it, and when it introduces lag into the game. I dont really care about the framerate changing all the time, but its when the game lags for half a second it gets very annoying.

Originally Posted by flu!d

Are you sure it's an issue before you go chasing a diagnosis? It may just be different loadings on the system while you are playing the game and quite normal?

I doubt that it is different loadings on the systems when it does it because it occurs in every game i have tried. It also just doesnt happen in game (when standing still and when moving) but it also occurs in the in-game menus which seems like a pretty static loading situation to me

[Bertross]

Hey you to chaps with the shuttering loss of framerates I want you both to try something.

1st off maddog can you tell me your psu spec and I want you to re seat both your GPUs.

For both of you I want you ton buy or use another set of SLI and or CF ribbons. Might as well yeah.

[hodgy1971]

Also you can try to enable triple buffering when using V sync. I think it can be found in the control panel

[8MadDog8]

Cheers for the help guys.

I tried just running one card by itself (sli disabled and also physically one card) but still had no luck....

I have also tried triple buffering, and once again this did not help either....

Anyone else got any other ideas?