Studder non stop on new machine

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little help. After watching all those cool videos on YouTube about DCS I went out and bought a high-end PC that I was hoping could run DCS smoothly. See a list of hardware build Info below. I download the standard build 2.5.6 and I have tried the Beta as well. I loaded a training missions with different setting all producing the same noticeable studders as I move my head around with Track IR. I have tried different video setting from high to low. Tried different missions and different terrain and aircraft. No different.

I loaded a training mission and with the plane paused while the instructor is talking I see the framerate dropping out every second from 70 FPS down to 20 FPS and then back up. I notice the B sweep on the radar is not smooth and my head movement with Track IR is jerky. As I roll the aircraft 360 degrees around (Aileron roll) I can see it pausing during the maneuver ever second or so briefly in the roll making the maneuverer look jerky.

I've tried the lowest video settings and even lowered my resolutions. I tried turning G-sync off and even turned off all applications I could running in the background off. I checked the Nvidia drivers are up-to-date. Deleted DCS and reinstalled. Nothing gets rid of these studders.

Not sure what else to try. I spoke with Digital Storm the company that built the PC and they tested it with their software and they say everything is running fine on the PC. They tried loading the CPU and Graphics card and all looks good. They suggested I reach out to the DCS community for help. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

Feetwet :helpsmilie:

PC Hardware

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha

System Memory: 128GB DDR4 3200MHz

Graphics Card: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB

Storage Drive: 3x SSD M.2 (2TB Seagate FireCuba) (MVM Express) (Gen 4 PCIe)

Cooling: Liquid Cooled

Monitor: LG UltraGear 38GL950G (3840x1600 native)

There is no way in all that's holy you shouldn't be able to maintain 60fps even at 4k with those specs. I would run DCS in window mode and then check the task manager while it's running for anything odd. Also try running Haven Benchmark (free download) and max everything out. Let that run for a few cycles check to see if pc freezes or you get any weird artifacts on the screen. You should be able to maintain 40-50fps final score at 4K resolution much much higher at 1080p. Try those and see what you get.

Edit: If you have any other games to try what are the performance specs of those? I run default settings on my NVIDIA stuff at 4K on a 2070 and I maintain 40-50fps no problem. With other applications if it's doing the same thing you may have a HW problem.

You have great system. It should run DCS fine.

Regarding stutter you can try this

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Eeagle%2Eru%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D251377&share_tid=251377&share_fid=74365&share_type=t&link_source=app

Good luck and welcome to DCS.

We tried Heaven Benchmark with all settings maxed out and it was smooth as silk. We also ran DCS in windows mode while looking at the Task Manager and Performance tab and we did not see anything abnormal that we could see. Even with the plane not moving paused in the air with the training mission still running the framerate was dropping out from 60 FPS down to 40 or sometimes 20 FPS and right back up.

This is my first game so I have not loaded anything else. But the tech tried FurMark Benchmark, Heaven Benchmark and CPU Loading software and everything ran ultra smooth.

Thanks for the feedback.

Feetwet

For giggles you might want to check temps and possible CPU throttling. Stock cooler?

I don't how to check that. The technician from Digital Storm tried adding MSI burner last night to over clock the GPU by 100 Mhz, which had no affect so I took it off.

Thanks for trying to help Bignewy.

Regards,

Feetwet

For giggles you might want to check temps and possible CPU throttling. Stock cooler?

We checked all the temps and everything looked good. The stuttering happens right away even before the CPU and GPU heat up. The cooling system on this system is quite beefy and if you want to take a look at it you can go to Digital Storms website and look at the Aventum X. It looks part artwork part functionality. Very cool to watch no pun intended.

Thanks for the advice.

Feetwet

I cannot use gsync in windowed mode with dcs or other games. I need to use full screen.

Is dcs the only game you have tried?

is your gpu set to use maximum power?

Hi BIGNEWY,

I checked with the tech and he said that the GPU is clocked for what they consider stable operation but is close to the Max. Last night they tried adding MSI Afterburner and I believe it was showing a base clock on the GPU of 300 MHz and they boosted it to 405 MHz, which did not remove any of the stuttering. I also noticed that it always starts right away in any mission, plane or terrain. We tried shutting down apps running in the background while checking CPU temp, GPU temps and access to the M.2 drives to see if their was any correlation. Since it's my first flight sim in a very long time I am left scratching my end. I would have thought this much RAM, CPU and graphics card would have no issues with DCS. Appreciate any help.

Regards,

Feetwet

I cannot use gsync in windowed mode with dcs or other games. I need to use full screen.

 

Is dcs the only game you have tried?

Only game I have bought so far since it's a new computer.

I tried turning G-Sync off on the video drive and V-Sync is not checked in DCS. I do not have any other games, but the technician that built the computer tried several benchmarking software programs that really pushed the GPU and one that is designed to pushed the CPU and they all ran very well.

I am running a new monitor as well LG UltraGear 38GL950G with is an 38 inch monitor running in its native resolution of 3840x1600. I'm wondering has anyone had problem running in this resolution with DCS?

Thanks,

Feetwet

If the system is over clocked you may find it is overclocked to much, can you try without an overclock?

Hi BIGNEWY,

When I got the machine they explained that they do not overclock the New AMD Ryzen 9 chipset. It's base clock is 3.7 MHz and it throttles on its own to 4.5 MHz. They say its best to not over clock AMD for stability reasons.

I was wondering whether my monitor the LG UltraGear 38950G 38 inch running in its native resolution of 3840x1600 might be an issue.

I tried running DCS in a much lower resolution by going into the game and lowering the resolution, but it had no affect on the stuttering ever second. It would still stutter all the time making a simple aileron roll look choppy.

Thanks for any advice.

Feetwet

It looks like the problem has something to do with Track IR and DCS. I tried turning off Track IR by not loading it and went into DCS and loaded the same missions and noticed almost no stuttering. But how can you really fly DCS without Track IR?

I then tried different settings like locking my resolution and monitor at 60Hz and turning V-Sync in the game on. Nothing worked. The only way to get rid of the stuttering is to get rid of Track IR unless someone knows how to fix this issue. I just can't see flying DCS without Track IR. I pray there is a fix to this. I really want to get back into DCS.

Anyone have any advice.

Regards,

Feetwet

TrackIR causing stuttering is very odd as the application takes very little system resources to run. Do you have a Anti Virus program on there by chance? You can enable max performance by going into nvidia control panel under manage 3d settings is a power management mode. Change it to prefer maximum performance and apply it. The only other thing I can think of is to go into your controls for the plane with TrackIR running and under view you will see bindings for the trackIR headset. Unbind those and see if it still does it.

TrackIR causing stuttering is very odd as the application takes very little system resources to run. Do you have a Anti Virus program on there by chance? You can enable max performance by going into nvidia control panel under manage 3d settings is a power management mode. Change it to prefer maximum performance and apply it. The only other thing I can think of is to go into your controls for the plane with TrackIR running and under view you will see bindings for the trackIR headset. Unbind those and see if it still does it.

I enabled Max Performance and turned off Windows Defender and it didn't seem to help. I'm still seeing the frame rate dropping from 60 fps to 40 fps and then back up, while that's happening it causes a micro stutter with head movement and everything around me include my aircraft. What's interesting is when I point my Track IR at the ceiling so the receiver cannot see it the micro stutters stop. I may not be able to see in front of me, but I can see my aircraft rolling smoothly just before it crashes. This is definably a problem with Track IR and DCS and I'm hoping someone might know a fix for it. Maybe Track IR has a problem with newer monitors and higher refresh rates. I did try locking my refresh rate 60 Hz which did not help.

Thanks,

Feetwet

There are several reports that TrackIR may be the cause of those stutters when not perfectly synced with monitor refresh rates, maybe take a look over here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3711080&postcount=34

I had good success reducing microstutters with SMT (Hyperthreading) off on my Ryzen (I am quite sensible to microstutters in racing and flying simulators). But I do not know if this could help with these probably track ir related stutters.

I just think you can give SMT off a try anyway.

You have great system. It should run DCS fine.

Regarding stutter you can try this

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Eeagle%2Eru%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D251377&share_tid=251377&share_fid=74365&share_type=t&link_source=app

 

Good luck and welcome to DCS.

Hi Oceandar,

Thanks for your post. I saw BIGNEWY post earlier and tried adding the Autoexec.cfg. I copied the one he posted and place it in the Config directory of DCS and reboot just in case. It still stutters like mad. What I have noticed is if I place my hand over the Track IR receiver blocking the signal it stops stutters and the frame rate stays at 60 FPS. When I lift my hand it goes back to drop the frame rate by half and then back up causing the stutter.

Thanks for idea to try.

Feetwet

Can you select 60Hz refreshrate on your monitor (instead of the 144Hr native), then set VSync ON and try again?

Can you select 60Hz refreshrate on your monitor (instead of the 144Hr native), then set VSync ON and try again?

Hi Lange,

I have selected my monitor refresh rate to 60Hz and set DCS VSync to on. It is still stuttering when I look around I see the FPS drop below 60 every other second and then bounce back up to 60 FPS. It seems whenever it drops, it stutters for a micro second making it very uncomfortable to fly smoothly. The only way to get rid of the stutters it is to turn Track IR off or Freeze it.

Thanks for trying to help.

Feetwet

is your gpu set to use maximum power?

I don't how to check that.

Nvidia Control Panel: right click on your desktop, it should be there in that menu.

Then:

I'm nowhere near the settings of your machine but I got a new PC a month or so back running on an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz GeForce RTX 2070, M2 SSD and it was running perfectly .... until two updates ago (beta) now my frame rates are all over the place (especially near ground) making it unplayable at times. I've crashed several Harriers in a hover through the severity of it and I've not changed a single DCS or graphics setting -

I was pinning my hopes on another update soon to sort it (or switching to stable) - Monitoring my computer I never get any max or severe spikes over CPU/Memory or GPU but I have noticed my GPU running at less than 40% most of the time :-(

Hope you get a solution

Nvidia Control Panel: right click on your desktop, it should be there in that menu.

Then:

 

Hi Lange,

Thanks for the idea I do have it set to Maximum Performance which has no effect. I thought the problem might be tied to Track IR, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I feel like it's a product of the rapidly changing Frame Rate in DCS. I'm was just trying a training mission and at the beginning of the mission the plane is paused while everything in the cockpit is still working, including the radar. I notice the B-Sweep line starts skipping across the screen about six seconds after the start of each mission. It's like for 4 to 6 seconds everything is smooth and then suddenly the frame rate starts dropping in half and bouncing back up very quickly and everything in the cockpit from B-sweep line on radar to head movement with Track IR all start skipping. Even if I watch outside and look at an aircraft flying by I will see it pause momentarily. It take about a few seconds on the start of every missions, but once it starts it never stops bouncing the framerate and everything in the sim gets jerky.

I do hope this problem can be fixed or a least I find a way to minimize it so I can at least fly DCS.

Regards.

Feetwet :(

Just a shot in the dark here but have you tried track ir in a different USB port. I don't know if you have it in a USB 3 port as some new mobos tend not to have many USB 2 ports anymore but I always have mine in a USB 2 port when I play ARMA.