I recently built my first gaming PC with an MSI B850 Gaming Plus WIFI motherboard, 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, an MSI 850W power supply, and an RTX 5080. Many games, especially those made with Unreal Engine, have noticeable micro-stuttering even though the system seems powerful. Cyberpunk 2077 runs well at 1440p with maximum settings and full path tracing, but games such as ARK, Palworld, and Black Myth: Wukong stutter frequently. EXPO is enabled, the display cable is connected to the graphics card, and the SSD is a 1TB Acer drive. Temperatures look normal: the GPU reaches roughly 60–63°C and the CPU around 80°C during heavy use, with no obvious thermal throttling. I have already disabled overlays, including Discord, but I am still trying to determine whether this is shader compilation, drivers, monitoring software, hardware configuration, or something else.
5 Answers
The fact that a very demanding game runs smoothly while several Unreal titles stutter points more toward game-engine behavior, asset streaming, or shader compilation than a defective CPU or GPU. Try a frame-rate cap a few frames below your monitor's refresh rate, use a consistent graphics preset instead of changing settings repeatedly, and compare results with the game's shader cache rebuilt. If only certain titles show the problem, look for patches or known stutter fixes for those specific games.
Your 850W power supply should generally be sufficient for this hardware if it is a good-quality, modern unit and the graphics card is connected correctly. I would not jump straight to a 1000W model unless monitoring shows power-limit events, shutdowns, or unstable clocks. Also verify that the GPU power connector is fully seated and that EXPO is stable; if needed, test briefly with EXPO disabled to rule out memory instability.
Use a frame-time monitor such as CapFrameX or the overlay in a monitoring utility, then compare the spikes with CPU usage, GPU usage, temperatures, clocks, and power draw. Also check that ReBAR is enabled in the BIOS and that your chipset and graphics drivers are current. A clean graphics-driver reinstall with DDU can be worthwhile if the issue started after changing cards or installing drivers.
Temporarily disable every overlay and monitoring hook, including Discord, GeForce features, Xbox Game Bar, MSI Afterburner, and RivaTuner Statistics Server. RivaTuner can cause stutter in some setups, so test with it fully closed or uninstalled rather than assuming it is inactive. If the stutter disappears, re-enable those tools one at a time to identify the culprit.
Unreal Engine games are particularly prone to traversal and shader-compilation stutter. A powerful graphics card does not completely prevent that, especially in games that compile shaders while you play or stream assets in the background. Check whether the frame-time graph spikes while the game is compiling or loading new areas. If the game has a shader-precompilation step, let it finish before playing, and make sure it is installed on a reasonably fast SSD.
The temperatures you reported are normal, so overheating does not sound like the main cause. I would test the driver reinstall and frame-time logging before changing any hardware.