How do I stop this stuttering its been happening for about 4 years. It’s starting to drive me crazy considering how much I have spent on my build.

Troubleshooting Persistent Gaming Stutters: Steps to Diagnose and Resolve Performance Issues

Experiencing persistent stuttering during gameplay can be incredibly frustrating, especially after investing significant time and money into your gaming PC build. If your system has been exhibiting periodic performance hitches across multiple titles for several years, it’s understandable to seek a systematic approach to identify and resolve the root cause.

Common Symptoms of PC Stuttering in Games

Players often report issues such as:
– Frame drops that cause visual jitters
– Uneven gameplay pacing
– Recurrent stuttering even after software tweaks

In some cases, these issues persist across different hardware configurations and game titles, indicating underlying hardware or software conflicts.

System Specifications and History

For context, many users with similar issues operate on a setup featuring:
– Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (upgrade from a previous Ryzen 5 3600X)
– Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (upgraded from a GTX 1660)
– Storage: SSDs
– Power Supply and Case: Unchanged hardware components

Notably, the stuttering began several years ago, even before upgrading to the current GPU and CPU. The issue appears across many titles, including demanding games like Hell Let Loose, Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, and Squad.

Initial Troubleshooting Steps

1. Software and Driver Updates
2. Ensure your graphics driver is up-to-date. Visit NVIDIA’s official website or use GeForce Experience for the latest drivers.

3. Update your motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers to ensure optimal hardware compatibility.

4. Game Settings Optimization

5. Lower graphics settings and resolution to see if performance improves.

6. Disable V-Sync and Frame Rate Caps temporarily to test stability.

7. System Monitoring

8. Use tools like MSI Afterburner or HWMonitor to observe CPU, GPU, and temperature usage during gameplay.

9. Check for thermal throttling or CPU/GPU utilization spikes that could cause stuttering.

10. Background Processes & System Resources

11. Close unnecessary background applications.

12. Ensure that Windows power settings are set to ‘High Performance’.

13. Disk and Storage Checks

14. Run disk health diagnostics to rule out SSD or HDD issues.
15. Enable Windows Game Mode for better resource allocation.

Hardware-Oriented Considerations

Given that software adjustments haven’t yielded a solution, the