FPS and Input Delay Spikes on Valorant, and Other Games.

Understanding and Troubleshooting FPS and Input Delay Spikes in Valorant and Other Games

Gaming performance issues, such as fps drops and input lag, can significantly impact your gaming experience. If you’ve recently encountered unpredictable fps fluctuations and input delays in titles like Valorant and Counter-Strike 2, you’re not alone. In this article, we’ll explore potential causes and effective troubleshooting steps to address these common problems.

Symptoms Observed

Frequent fps spikes ranging from 20 to 200 fps in Valorant
Inconsistent “CPU wait GPU time” measurements, with spikes from 1ms to 90ms
Occasional fps stuttering and stability issues in Counter-Strike 2
Overall gameplay experience becomes choppy, affecting responsiveness

System Specifications

Operating System: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 570 8GB
Motherboard: MSI A520 M-A Pro

Initial Troubleshooting Steps Taken

Clean reinstallation of graphics drivers
Adjustments to settings within AMD Software
Reinstallation of the affected games
Benchmarking and stress testing using Cinebench and FurMark
Monitoring temperatures and system stability with HWINFO and TechGPU-Z

System Performance and Stability Checks

During stress tests, CPU and GPU temperatures remained within safe limits:
– CPU averaging around 80°C at full load
– GPU temperatures between 70°C and 80°C

These results suggest that thermal issues are unlikely to be the primary cause of the performance hiccups. Moreover, system stability was maintained during testing, indicating no apparent hardware faults.

Potential Causes and Recommendations

While your hardware appears to be functioning correctly, several other factors could contribute to game performance dips:

Background Applications:
Close unnecessary background processes that may consume CPU, GPU, or disk resources. Use Task Manager to identify and terminate such processes.
Power Settings:
Ensure your Windows power plan is set to “High Performance” to prevent throttling.
Windows Updates and Drivers:
Keep Windows up to date, as well as your GPU drivers. Sometimes, beta drivers or outdated software can cause issues.
In-Game Settings:
Lower in-game graphical settings to reduce the load on your GPU and CPU during gameplay.
System Disk Health:
Check your storage drives for errors or fragmentation. An SSD or HDD playing up can cause st