Can you help me with Witcher 3 please ?- severe stuttering/hitching

Moirae

I'm so frustrated, you just have no idea.

I've had the game for a while but have always had this problem. I had to replace my ram recently and my video card.

The sound is driving me utterly batty. Incidentally, this is happening with Mass Effect Andromeda too though I assumed that it's a new game so that was the reason. Now I'm starting to think it's not.

 So, my current system is asrock z87 extreme6, core i7-4771 (unparked), 16 gb dual channel dominator gaming ram, gtx 970, WD Black 2TB HDD 7200 RPM SATA 6GB 64 MB cache on windows 8.1

Since I have new hardware, thought I'd see if that was the problem and try to fix it. Yeah, that didn't work. It's just as bad as before. And I've spent hours... no days... trying every possible solution I can find on the net.

I did a clean install, set the game to high priority in Task Manager, Unparked all my core's, used rivatuner to set the fps and kept rivatuner running at the time I played the game and shut it off (just to see if that was the problem), turned off all extra programs, even my antivirus and antimalware programs, tried running with vsync on in game and in nvidia control panel, and I've tried leaving it off in one and on in the other then alternating it, I've tried changing fps in game from unlimited, 30 fps, and 60 fps, I've tried antialiasing on and off in both NCP and in game, motion blur is off because I can't stand it, as is vignetting for the same reason, setting max prerendered and virtual prerendered to 1 in NCP, triple buffering on and off, power management is set to max performance, single display performance mode (since I only have one monitor), multi frame sampling is off, hairworks off. I've tried running the game at the lowest settings possible and using my cpu to run the physx and the gpu. Seriously, I've tried every combination of all of these.

 Hours and hours I've put in to this. I don't know what's causing it. I asked on the computer website I've been part of for years but had 49 people look at it and not say a word. I really need help and I thought since this site is more active, I might be able to beg some help from all of you.

And, it still does this...

Moirae

Double post

laxie

Does it only happen in Witcher and Mass Effect?

It's unlike anything I've seen before. It seems quite different to when the graphics are too demanding for the hardware. So tinkering with the graphics settings probably won't make any difference.

Try using the Windows resource monitor (Start -> type in "resmon"). Start it before you start the game, leave it running and see what's going on with CPU usage when the game runs. I'm suspecting something might be fishy there, given the sound stuttering.

Moirae

It even happens a bit with EQ2 though it's not sound stuttering then, it's more riding a horse and the like and it doesn't happen as often. You think it's my cpu then? I'll take a look after I get back from the grocery. It feels like I'm running a system ten years old when I'm not. 

laxie

Based on the specs you listed, it should be running perfectly fine.

One thing that comes to mind are temperatures. If the CPU / GPU gets excessively hot, it may throttle itself down to prevent damage. So if, for some strange reason, the PC is constantly boiling hot, you might see things like this happen.

Checking the temperatures and the CPU/GPU load will at least help you eliminate some of these hypothetical cases.

There are more knowledgeable people here though (e.g. @Quizzical ) . So best wait for their opinion before making any extensive replacements.

johnisme

I played both games with the same gpu and ram with a 2600k and no issues whatsoever,download Core Temp and see what temperatures your cpu's are running at,also is your gpu fan spinning really fast and noisy?

Cleffy

I found that doing GPU-based post processing effects in addition to the games post processing effects severely affects performance in the Witcher in general. I also had to turn on VSync as it would just push my GPU 100% even if it was unnecessary.
I would start by going to your nVidia control panel, and setting all the game settings to Let application decide aside from VSync. Force VSync on.

Moirae

Core Temp says my cores are running around 200 fehr degrees when I'm not playing the game so they are definitely hot. My house temperature says it's 73 degrees in here. So it would be running higher when I am heavy in to playing. Maybe my cpu fan isn't working anymore because it's totally silent. My gpu fan is pretty much silent all the time too, though it does spin up occasionally. 

So I started the game, ran from the crossroads marker at the very beginning to the bodies hanging near White Orchard, and it started doing that stuttering thing within 10 seconds. 

The resources for my cores for each one is showing not a single one is going above 20% usage. No change on Core Temp. 

I'm going to go check my bios and see if it's saying anything about my cpu fan. 

Cleffy

You are indeed hitting the temp when Intel CPUs begin the throttle.

Moirae

Awwww, crap. Well that might explain all of it. I'll look at newegg for a cooler for my cpu. Thank you for your help. 

Thoth_Moshe

Might be update 1.07, its worse for dual cores but it does happen for quad cores as well. I used Process Tamer and it stopped.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/forum/en/the-witcher-series/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/tech-support/pc-aa/57231-possible-solution-to-long-freeze-with-dual-thread-cpu

Process tamer https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/

laxie

Moirae said:

Awwww, crap. Well that might explain all of it. I'll look at newegg for a cooler for my cpu. Thank you for your help. 

I was having temperature issues with my 4790k. Apparently, the stock coolers that come with the CPU aren't meant to cool enough for high intensive operations. That is something that never dawned on me until recently - they semi-expect you to buy your own cooler for gaming.

The Noctua coolers are very popular. I went for the Noctua NH-D15, which instantly fixed any temperature concerns. It's a beast though, so make sure to measure the PC case before you order one. Some of the bigger coolers don't fit into smaller cases.

Phry

Have never used a stock cooler ever, having a good cooling solution for your CPU is pretty much a necessity for gaming, though i'd also add that fans both on the front and the rear of the case to ensure a good flow through of air is important too.

Moirae

On my last rig, I had an aftermarket cooler. Stupidly, I never got one for this one. 

I bought this one since it has such great ratings for the lga 1150

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186093

That's the Arctic Freezer i11 CPU Cooler. I'm debating on case fans for the front and back of the case as well. Really, it depends how much the cooler helps. 

laxie

Moirae said:

I'm debating on case fans for the front and back of the case as well. Really, it depends how much the cooler helps. 

You don't have any fans on the case now?
I'd imagine at least either front or back fan would be a necessity. Not just for the CPU, but for all parts overall. Otherwise, the air is just sitting there.

Dullahan

If you're hitting 93c, even without a fan and using stock heatsink, you probably need to reseat your heatsink on your cpu with fresh thermal paste. That means cleaning the top of cpu chip, bottom of heat sink, applying proper paste and making sure it's secured down tight. Only time I've ever seen temps like that are when a cpu isn't seated properly.

Not sure what the normal load temps are on your cpu, but usually anything over 80c is danger zone. 93 means stability problems and/or crashing and shut downs.

Moirae

laxie said:

Moirae said:

I'm debating on case fans for the front and back of the case as well. Really, it depends how much the cooler helps. 

You don't have any fans on the case now?
I'd imagine at least either front or back fan would be a necessity. Not just for the CPU, but for all parts overall. Otherwise, the air is just sitting there.

I do but they obviously aren't doing a very good job. I can see them spinning (managed to jag my finger with one of them last night since I wanted to be sure they were working), but they are virtually silent. 

I do, however, not have one on the bottom of the case, or on the top, even though there are connectors for them there. I will have to buy some for those spots. There is a fan on the front, one in the back, and the stock cooler on my cpu. They obviously aren't powerful enough. So I just ordered that after market cooler for my cpu. I'm looking at case fans, though I want to see how good a job the after market cooler does first. 

Moirae

Dullahan said:

If you're hitting 93c, even without a fan and using stock heatsink, you probably need to reseat your heatsink on your cpu with fresh thermal paste. That means cleaning the top of cpu chip, bottom of heat sink, applying proper paste and making sure it's secured down tight. Only time I've ever seen temps like that are when a cpu isn't seated properly.

Not sure what the normal load temps are on your cpu, but usually anything over 80c is danger zone. 93 means stability problems and/or crashing and shut downs.

Well honestly it's my own dumb fault. I was lazy with this build. I've built rigs before and they have done just fine (I overclocked the last build but not this one. After 4 years, it was burning out. I just built everything new rather than worry about it anymore, it was easier), but I decided not to buy an after market cooler this time around. I'm going to clean and replace the paste when I install it. 

At this very moment, I'm running EQ2 in the background while I'm typing this, and the temps are running 93c and higher. 

Dullahan

Moirae said:

Dullahan said:

If you're hitting 93c, even without a fan and using stock heatsink, you probably need to reseat your heatsink on your cpu with fresh thermal paste. That means cleaning the top of cpu chip, bottom of heat sink, applying proper paste and making sure it's secured down tight. Only time I've ever seen temps like that are when a cpu isn't seated properly.

Not sure what the normal load temps are on your cpu, but usually anything over 80c is danger zone. 93 means stability problems and/or crashing and shut downs.

Well honestly it's my own dumb fault. I was lazy with this build. I've built rigs before and they have done just fine (I overclocked the last build but not this one. After 4 years, it was burning out. I just built everything new rather than worry about it anymore, it was easier), but I decided not to buy an after market cooler this time around. I'm going to clean and replace the paste when I install it. 

At this very moment, I'm running EQ2 in the background while I'm typing this, and the temps are running 93c and higher. 

Okay well if you don't feel like cleaning and reapplying paste, at least make sure the cpu and heatsink are making proper contact and that it's snapped/screwed/bolted down properly. I believe if you pop it off and put it back on again making proper contact, your temps will immediately go down. Seen that problem many a time working pc repair.

Moirae

Oh oh, I could just kiss you guys. I just installed the new cooler and ran Witcher 3, EQ2, AND MEA and NO stuttering. Thank you thank you thank you. It's fixed because of your suggestions. The temperature has crashed by 60 degrees and is now running at around 30 for games like Witcher 3. Thank you thank you thank you.